Profile of Matthew Broderick on Famous Like Me

Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962 in New York, New York) is an American film and stage actor who is perhaps most widely known for his role as the protagonist in Ferris Bueller's Day Off although the most successful film where he has a starring role is The Lion King (voicing the adult Simba).

Broderick's first break came in role in an HB Studio workshop production of Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day, playing opposite his father James Broderick, who was a friend of Foote's. This was followed by a lead role in the off-Broadway production of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy; a good review by New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow brought him to the attention of Broadway. Broderick commented on the effects of that review in a 2004 60 Minutes II interview:

"Before I knew it, I was like this guy in a hot play. And suddenly all these doors opened. And it’s only because Mel Gussow happened to come by right before it closed and happened to like it. It’s just amazing. All these things have to line up that are out of your control."

He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in two Neil Simon plays: Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. In between those plays he starred in WarGames, the summer hit of 1983.

He returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, most notably in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Mel Brooks' stage version of The Producers in 2001, and continues to make films.

He has won two Tony Awards, in 1983 for his featured role in the play Brighton Beach Memoirs, and in 1995 for his leading role in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He was also nominated for The Producers, with the award going to co-star Nathan Lane.

He is scheduled to perform with Nathan Lane in "The Odd Couple", opening on Broadway in October, 2005.

Personal life

He was born in New York City, the son of the late Irish Catholic actor James Broderick and his Jewish wife, the late Patricia Biow. Broderick attended the Walden School, a private school in Manhattan with a strong drama program.

Broderick met Jennifer Grey on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In August 1987, she was with him as he drove on a rain-slicked road on the outskirts of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland. Broderick, possibly on the wrong side of the road, drove his BMW 316 head-on into another car carrying 63-year-old Margaret Doherty and her 30-year-old daughter Anna Gallagher: both women were killed. Broderick had to be cut out of the car; he suffered facial lacerations and a broken thigh. Grey escaped with minor injuries. Broderick had no memory of the event and Grey was distracted at the moment of the accident changing audio tapes and saw nothing. The lack of witnesses, skid marks, or other evidence led Broderick to plead guilty in absentia on February 15, 1988 to the lesser charge of careless driving. He was fined £100.

He met actress Sarah Jessica Parker in 1992 and has been married to her since 1997. The couple has one child, James Wilke Broderick (born October 28, 2002), named after Broderick's late actor father.

Selected filmography

• Max Dugan Returns (1983)
• WarGames (1983)
• Ladyhawke (1985)
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
• Project X (1987)
• Biloxi Blues (1988)
• Torch Song Trilogy (1988)
• Glory (1989) with Denzel Washington
• The Freshman (1990)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Road to Wellville (1994)
• The Cable Guy (1996) with Jim Carrey
• Infinity (1996)
• Addicted to Love (1997)
• Godzilla (1998)
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)
• Election (1999)
• Inspector Gadget (1999)
• You Can Count on Me (2000)
• The Music Man (2003, TV)
• Good Boy! (2003) (voice)
• The Stepford Wives (2004)
• The Last Shot (2004)
• The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Matthew Broderick