A love of performing was born in the Chapel Anniversaries and Christmas services of his early youth, and was fostered by Tony Best, impassioned and somewhat rebellious Head of Drama at Matt’s secondary school. At the age of 15 Matt was introduced to the Gwent Young People’s Theatre Company, and revelled in professionally directed rehearsals of productions ranging from early French farce to classic Americana & Strindberg. Under the constantly witty and demanding direction of Stephen Badman, Matt stage-managed, supported and took many leading roles in plays at the Melville & Borough theatres, as well as open-air productions at Abergavenny Castle. Workshops & masterclasses on movement, voice, improvisation, meditation and stagecraft complemented the termly productions. He accompanied the professional Gwent Theatre Company on various tours, learning the ropes of stage management & theatrical lighting. In the summer of 1994 Matt successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre of Wales and joined the company for its production of Woyzeck at the John Caird Studio in Cardiff & the Wyeside Arts Centre in Builth Wells. A month resident at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama introduced Matt to the joys of university life, and concentrated daily rehearsal. Matt remained with the company for their 1995 tour to Bangor where he played in Epsom Downs. That summer saw Matt’s last production with GYPT and his first with the fledgling Ad Hoc Theatre whose maiden production of Moličre’s the Hypochondriac took Matt to the Minack Theatre, Cornwall. Matt has returned with the company regularly since, appearing in various Moličre comedies, adaptations of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Emlyn Williams’ story of the Globe Theatre ‘Spring 1600’. In the autumn of 1995 Matt went up to Manchester University to study English & French. He was soon cast in a production of Blood Wedding and his involvement with the University Drama Society saw him take the lead in various productions in Manchester and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As president of the society in 1996/97 Matt directed the society’s largest ever production, with a cast of 55 and a crew of 20, co-directed the Easter Festival of 30 plays and managed to find the time to act in 4 shows, and design the lights for a further 3. In October 1997 Matt moved to Paris where he taught English Literature to Baccalaureate students, and immersed himself in the city’s cultural life. Living in the chic weekend village of Montfort l’Amaury & teaching in the urban jungle of St Denis gave Matt a balanced view of modern Paris, through 2 of its extremes. After returning to Manchester in 1998 to successfully complete his studies Matt spent the summer of 1999 selling corporate advertising to US and Canadian Blue-Chips before moving to Sydney where he launched the Harvest Vending System for Coca-Cola Amatil, worked on the Sydney Olympics 2000 and various campaigns for AC Nielsen, the Australian Labour Party & AsiaOnline. Returning to the UK in late 2000 Matt began a career in Business Development, slowly saving the cash required to train professionally as an actor. Whilst travelling all over the UK Matt crammed his evenings and weekends with theatre, appearing in many Oxford-based productions and getting down to London as often as possible to see shows. When in 2003 the idea of becoming a Company Director was mooted, Matt knew it was time to jump the corporate ship and get to Drama School before he got too used to the company BMW and having an apple orchard in the back garden. Student digs here we come… With various offers Matt decided to accept the offer of Mountview’s 3 year Acting BA, with a full scholarship. In Spring 2007 Matt won the Runner-Up prize and the sole Shakespeare commendation in the prestigious BBC Carleton Hobbs Awards. He graduated with honours from Mountview in June 2007. In July 2007 Matt joined the cast of hit west-end comedy Boeing Boeing as understudy for the leading roles of Robert & Bernard, and appeared in both roles for over 4 weeks at London's Comedy Theatre. In October Matt completed filming on 'Queen Victoria's Men' - the centrepiece of Channel 4's Victorian Season, playing the role of Prince Albert, broadcast in July. In February 2008 Matt made his Radio 4 debut in Terry Pratchett's 'NightWatch', playing Sgt Knock and a host of smaller parts. In April Matt played Alan Bennett in 'Good Evening - A Tribute to Beyond the Fringe', a Celador production for Radio 4; the cast including Rory Kinnear & Benedict Cumberbatch, opposite whom Matt played in 'Zoo Story' at the Edinburgh Fringe back in 1999. In March 2008 Matt travelled to Dubai to appear at the prestigious Centrepoint Theatre as Charlie, Simon, Caroline, Fin, Jock, Mr Harkin, Father Gerard & Clem in 'Stones in his Pockets', the hilarious Marie Jones 2-hander that spent over 4 years in the West-End. On his return Matt played the leading role of Lau in the premiere of Pluto, which played London for 3 weeks before playing Kuiperfest in Calciete, Spain. In June Matt workshopped 'Whispering Happiness' at the Old Vic, part II of Kenneth Emson's celebrated Town/Country trilogy. Summer 2008 saw Matt understudy the roles of Bryan & Frank in controversial comedy Female of the Species at the Vaudeville Theatre, directed by Roger Michell and starring Eileen Atkins & Anna Maxwell Martin. In October Matt recorded his first Doctor Who adventure, playing the apparently malevolent politician Faisal Jensen opposite Paul McGann's Doctor. In November Matt joined Blake Harrison and Stasia Buckle to work on Suicide and Crumble, a new sketch comedy show which will premiere at The Hen & Chickens in March 2009, details here. The New Year saw Matt back on stage with his brother Ben in Kenny Emson's The Things that Never Grew in the Garden at the Hampstead Theatre. In January 2009 Matt joined the BBC Radio Drama Company, working on plays, readings and documentaries for Radios 3 & 4 and the World Service. Playing a huge range of characters he was heard in over a hundred broadcasts, a number of which are now commercially available. In the summer of 2009 Matt returned to perform in the Edinburgh Festival for the first time in a decade, playing Col Decker in A-Team the Musical, and Palin and Jones in Pythonesque. Both shows were well received, and A-Team sold out every performance at the Gilded Balloon. Autumn 2009 saw Matt return to Big Finish, who exclusively produce the Doctor Who audio adventures, to play a range of leading and supporting roles in various adventures, and the baddie in a new Sherlock Holmes mystery. He also recorded a number of unabridged audiobooks for various publishers. Matt can currently be seen as Mr Pointer, the global face of PayPal and be heard on radio campaigns for Ford, Vision Express, Vauxhall and The Samaritans. |
