Donna Martin

Infobox soap character | colour = #ffaa44
name = Donna Martin Silver


imagesize =
caption = Donna, portrayed by Tori Spelling
portrayer = Tori Spelling
creater = Darren Star
gender = Female
other_names =
first = "Class of Beverly Hills"
(Beverly Hills, 90210)
episode =
occupation = Fashion designer
Owner of "Now Wear This"
Designer of "Donna Martin Originals" clothing line This
relatives = John Martin (father)
Felice Martin (mother)
Gina Kincaid (half-sister)
children = Unnamed child (sex unknown)
romances = Griffin Stone
Ray Pruitt
Joe Bradley
Noah Hunter
David Silver (Husband)

Donna Martin Silver is a fictional character from the "Beverly Hills, 90210" franchise, portrayed by Tori Spelling from 1990 to 2000.

Background

Donna was introduced in the first season as Kelly Taylor's best friend. For the early part of the first season, the Donna character was a supporting role, but gradually became a main character with her own storylines. Donna grew up in a very wealthy Beverly Hills household, the only child of Dr. John Martin, a successful physician and her mother Felice Martin, a socialite. Donna grew up as a strict Catholic, and her mother's strict rules on morality would be a running storyline for much of the show. Because of this, Donna by choice remained a virgin for much of the show's run, until she was well into college.

In high school, Donna discovered she had dyslexia and struggled at exams. She also almost failed to graduate after she was caught drunk at the senior prom. This led to a student demonstration to support her, and the slogan of her classmates "Donna Martin graduates!" would go on to become a pop culture catchphrase.

Donna graduated from the show's fictional California University with a degree in Fashion & Marketing and would later go on to run her own fashion boutique. In the final season, Donna discovered that her cousin Gina Kincaid, with whom she had a troubled relationship, was actually her half-sister. Then,when Donna's father died, she blamed Gina for his death, but they eventually made up at the funeral.

During the late 90s, she and long time friend Kelly Taylor opened a clothing store, Now Wear This.

Relationships

Donna first became romantically involved with David Silver in high school, after going to a dance together. After they had been dating for a couple of months, David tried to get Donna to have sex with him, at which point Donna admitted to being a virgin and revealed that she wanted to wait until marriage. David agreed to respect Donna's wishes, and they continued dating. David cheated on Donna the next summer, but he apologized and continued to pressure her for sex. Finally, at the senior prom, Donna agreed to have sex with David, but was then caught drinking and her punishment disrupted their plans.

The next year, David's pressures on Donna finally led her to agreed to have sex with him, but she changed her mind at the last minute, and David got upset and broke up with her. David then started doing drugs, including crystal meth. and when Donna found out, she tried to help him. Because of this, Donna and David got back together. Unfortunately, a few months later, Donna found David in the back of a limo, having sex with someone else and they split up once again.

The following year after entering college, Donna became romantically involved with Ray Pruit, a construction worker and budding singer. Ray also agreed to respect Donna's virginity, and wrote a song for her. Ray told Donna that he wasn't going to pressure her into doing anything she was uncomfortable doing. Donna and Ray celebrated the holidays together and their relationship got more intimate. Donna dated Ray for a year, but he eventually became abusive. He knocked her down a flight of stairs in Palm Springs but she lied about what happened and stayed with him. It was only when she learned that Ray had cheated on her with Valerie Malone that she broke up with him. She then got involved with Joe Bradley. A jealous Ray then started to harass the newly formed couple, but decided to drop the charges against Joe then he left town. Joe proposed to Donna, but she tearfully refused and they broke up.

A few months later, a man named Garret Slan tried to rape her at knifepoint, and she was rescued by David. Soon after this, they got back together, but then an angry and jealous Garret reappeared and was believed to be her stalker during early 1997, but it turned out to be the CU TV's camerman Evan Potter, and took Donna hostage at the CU TV station. Evan was later arrested after the hostage and the stalker storyline ended.

Finally, on their college graduation night, Donna and David had sex and decided to move in together, causing a rift with her mother over this decision. But when David forged a check using Donna's name, Donna broke up with him once again. She then had a serious romance with Noah Hunter, but that eventually ended and in the final season, she got back together with David again.

Donna and David got married in the show's series finale in 2000.

90210 (TV Series)

In episode 4, Kelly and Brenda crack a joke about being back at West Beverly and still hearing "Donna Martin Graduates." Also, in conversation Kelly and Brenda mention that Donna has a baby and that it's "so cute." It is unknown whether Donna's child is with David. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhAqh4Rmc70&feature=user]

She is currently the owner of the "Now Wear This" chain of boutiques, which are settled in California and New York. She is also the designer of the "Donna Martin Originals" clothing line which are sold at her store.

Trivia

*Tori Spelling's Donna, along with Jennie Garth's Kelly Taylor, were the longest-running characters in the show, appearing in 292 of the show's 296 episodes, more than any other characters.
*Donna was originally called Donna Morgan early in the first season, but this was changed to Donna Martin.
* In Episode 19 of the ABC Family Series "Greek" the character Beaver chants "Donna Martin Graduates" during a protest.
* In an Episode of season 5 of Gilmore Girls, Lane Kim references Donna's virginity after Lane's boyfriend Zach implies that he wants to sleep with her. Rory tries to comfort Lane saying, "Lots of people wait until they get married to have sex," to which Lane replies, "Yeah, Jessica Simpson and Donna from 90210!"
* Tori Spelling was thought to be returning in the new spin-off "90210", but salary issues arose when Spelling learned that former cast mates Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty would be paid significantly more per episode, and no contract was reached.