Birthdate
March 21, 1962
Birthplace
New York City, New York, United States
Nationality
United States
Professions
Actor, Director, Producer
Companions
Helen Hunt, Jennifer Grey, Penelope Ann Miller, Sarah Jessica Parker
Stage and screen actor Matthew Broderick was already a Tony Award-winning Broadway actor when film audiences fell in love with his 1986 performance as a highly evolved high school truant in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Apart from his onscreen successes, Broderick was one of the most respected musical and comedy stage actors of his generation, with highly acclaimed starring roles in "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and "The Producers." On the big screen, he enjoyed occasional success with broad comedies like "The Cable Guy" (1996) and "Bee Movie" (2007) - as well as his first big hit, the nuclear thriller "Wargames" (1983) - but Hollywood often failed to find a solid place for the mild mannered, bookish-looking New Yorker and he was usually more memorable in independent, character-based films like "Election" (1999) and "You Can Count on Me" (2000). Unlike many teen stars of his generation, Broderick aged gracefully into a mature character actor, starring opposite Nathan Lane in the film adaptation of the musical version of Mel Brooks' "The Producers" (2005), playing a sly cameo as himself in Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck" (2015) and co-starring in the dysfunctional family drama "Manchester by the Sea" (2016) as well as Warren Beatty's Golden Age of Hollywood tale "Rules Don't Apply" (2016). He also maintained a stable Hollywood marriage, wedding Sarah Jessica Parker in 1997 and having twin daughters in 2009.The son of stage and screen actor James Broderick and playwright and artist Patricia Broderick, Matthew Broderick was born in New York City, NY on March 21, 1962. He grew up downtown in Greenwich Village where he attended liberal, arts-oriented private schools and hung out with his father backstage at theaters and movie sets. Broderick loved the atmosphere of the theater from an early age, but the shy kid could not imagine mustering up the nerve to perform, so he thought one day he might have a career as a set designer or a stage manager. But during his teen years at the Walden School, he still ached to be an actor; enough that that desire eventually overcame his fright. Jumping into his new passion, he took a starring role in a school production written by Kenneth Lonergan, the future Oscar-nominated screenwriter, but at that time, his 15-year-old best friend. Broderick's father believed in his son's talent, and starred opposite him in Horton Foote's "On Valentine's Day" Off-Broadway. The teen graduated from high school and began taking acting classes with famed coach Uta Hagen, and in a very short period of time, was making a name for himself on the New York theater scene.In 1981, Broderick won acclaim for his portrayal of David, the adopted gay son of drag queen Arnold Beckoff (Harvey Fierstein) in the Off-Broadway production of "Torch Song Trilogy." Sadly, after only a few early preview performances in his first big show, Broderick's father and acting inspiration died from cancer. The devastated son soldiered on and a glowing review of his performance in The New York Times brought him wider attention and a starring role on Broadway in Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical "Brighton Beach Memoirs." For over a year, Broderick portrayed Eugene Jerome - a Brooklyn teenager and aspiring author - in this Depression-era coming of age tale, winning a Tony Award and Theater World Award for his endearing performance. Not surprisingly, Hollywood came calling. Broderick was flown to L.A. to film his first feature, "Max Dugan Returns" (1982). His follow-up, however, the timely Cold War thriller "War Games" (1983), proved to be a huge summer smash that earned Broderick a following for his portrayal of a teen computer hacker who breaks into a military computer system and unwittingly begins a dangerous face-off between U.S. and Russian nuclear defense systems.Following his first big screen success, Broderick returned to Broadway where he reprised the role of Eugene Jerome in "Biloxi Blues," which foun
