BIOGRAPHY

Voted the class clown all through school, playing with action figures which developed a wild sense of imagination, Matt took an acting class and decided acting was for him.

The summer after leaving high school, he was an uncredited extra on Ghoulies III, he got a line onscreen which led to an S.A.G card then an agent. He worked with his parents who own a medical company but decided his real dream was to be an actor. Studying theatre in New York, sleeping on friends floors and bussing tables to get by, he performed on stage on Broadway and in L.A, where he landed the co-host job of Nickelodeon’s “SK8 TV” presenting with skater, Grand Master Tate.
Matt refers to his role as the “all American boy”, along the edgier skate pros, to appease the moms of children watching at home.

Matt’s third ever film audition landed him the part as Chip in John Waters’ “Serial Mom”, setting the path for the offbeat quirky characters that he is best known for such as ‘Cereal Killer’ in Iain Softley’s “Hackers”, filmed in New York and London.
Starring in Wes Craven’s ground breaking and genre rejuvenating “Scream”, Matt stood out in the ensemble cast, adlibbing a lot of his memorable lines that people still quote nowadays. Press hailed him as a new and upcoming star, one of Hollywood’s newest talents.
He proved his dramatic versatility by playing Tim in the dark comedy” Dead Man’s Curve” as well as what many people consider his finest role to date as Stevo, the lead in James Merendino’s “SLC Punk”, which won an Independent Spirit Award.

Matt then turned his hand to producing, with “Spanish Judges”, a film written by a long time friend from his theatre days, Bill Rehor.

Matt met Heather Helm at a friend’s party, within minutes of meeting her, he knew he wanted to travel around the world to be with her. Heather said she was going to Italy for a friend’s wedding and Matt impulsively decided to go too. Matt proposed a few years later in 2000 when they moved in together, “ I had made up this whole book of our past year together, on every page I’d written or drawn something and on the last page I had attached the engagement ring.”

In 2002, “Scooby Doo” came along, the role of a well loved cartoon icon in Shaggy. Matt knew he had to prepare extensively for the role and after working hard on the distinctive voice/walk, he nailed the portrayal of Shaggy. One of his most challenging roles to date, having to act alongside an invisible Scooby who was later computer generated into the scenes.
Matt found it very draining and tough work, yet considers it one of his best roles so far due to the challenge it gave him. The opening weekend was very memorable as Matt explained, “Addison, my daughter was born the weekend the movie opened. The producer called and was like, “Can you believe this?” and I went,” I know, I just had a baby!” He said, “No, the numbers!” and I was like, “Oh, right”.

Needless to say, due to the success of the film, Matt was back reprising his role as Shaggy two years later, as well as his role as a father when Addison was joined by Macy, another daughter.

“Without A Paddle” saw Matt joining Seth Green and Dax Shepherd as they filmed an adventurous buddy comedy in New Zealand, spending three weeks on rapids, working with Burt Reynolds and Bart the bear.

In “The Groomsmen”, the writer and director, Ed Burns realised Matt’s dramatic potential as he read for the film. Matt assumed he’d be given one of the more comedic personas but Ed Burns cast Matt as Des, the father of the group, Matt gave one of his most critically compelling performances.

Matt likes working in independent movies, saying, “I think the end goal in Hollywood is to create your own opportunities and to do the kind of work you really love.”

In 2008, Heather gave birth again, to a baby boy, Liam. As a side project, Matthew is working on a book, offering his perspective of acting, to inspiring young actors from “someone in the middle of a long haul”; interviewing other actors he has worked with.

Matt worked with Drake Doremus, a passionate, young director, for “Spooner”, which saw him reteaming with Christopher McDonald as his screen father. Matt starred as Herman Spooner, still living with his parents and fast approaching 30. As the days tick by, his parents tell Herman to move out, and he meets Rose, portrayed by Nora Zehetner. They have a tentative relationship, leading Herman to find out more about himself. “Spooner” has won many awards and was in competition at Slamdance.

“The Descendants”, starring George Clooney is due to be released on December 18th by Fox Searchlight Pictures as a limited release for an Oscar contender, with a general release in 2011. Matt stars as Brian who has an affair with George Clooney’s character’s wife, who falls into a coma. George Clooney’s character, Matt takes his two daughters on a roadtrip across Hawaii to tell Brian of the news.

Matt is voicing Shaggy for Cartoon Network’s rebooted series of “Scooby Doo:Mystery Incorporated”, taking over for Casey Kasem, who now voices Shaggy’s father.
Launched to a high of over two million viewers and great fan reviews, audiences have been enjoying the modern, yet faithful Scooby Doo series. A Q&A panel, press and signing at San Diego’s Comic Con cemented the fact that Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated seems to be winning over die hard fans and critics alike.

“Home Run Showdown”, formerly known as Home Run Derby, pits Matthew against Dean Cain as sibling baseball coaches, whose little league teams get caught up in their rivalry. Currently filming in Michigan, it reunites Matthew with a former SLC Punk cohort, Annabeth Gish, and his Spanish Judges director, Oz Scott.