Matthew Broderick

Birth name
Matthew Broderick
Born
March 21, 1962 (1962-03-21) (age 45)
New York City, New York,
United States
Spouse(s)
Sarah Jessica Parker (19 May 1997 - present) 1 child
Awards
Tony Awards
Leading Actor in a Musical
1995 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Featured Actor in a Play
1983 Brighton Beach Memoirs
Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is a Tony Award-winning American film and stage actor who is perhaps best known for his role as the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He also received considerable acclaim for his role as Leo Bloom in the 2001 Broadway revival of The Producers.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
- 1.2 Career
- 1.3 Personal life
- 2 Filmography
- 3 Television work
- 4 Stage appearances
- 5 References
- 6 External links
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Biography
Early life
Broderick was born in New York City, the son of actor James Wilke Broderick and Patricia (née Biow),[1] a playwright, actress and painter whose work was posthumously shown at the Tibor de Nagy gallery in New York.[2] Broderick's mother was Jewish[3] and his father a Catholic[4] of Irish descent.[5] Broderick attended grade school at the City & Country School, a progressive Kâ€"8 school in Manhattan; and high school at Walden School (now closed), a private school in Manhattan with a strong drama program.
Career
Broderick's first major acting role came in a role in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day, playing opposite his father James, 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, both plays are part of what is known as the "Eugene Trilogy" . His first movie role was also written by Neil Simon. Broderick debuted in Max Dugan Returns (1983). His first big hit film was WarGames, a summer hit in 1983. Broderick auditioned for the role of Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties and was offered the role, but he had to turn it down because of his movie schedule. Broderick then got the role as the charming, clever slacker in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Broderick, who in real life was in his mid 20s, played a high school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago while avoiding the clutches of the dean of students, who is eager to catch Bueller in the act. The movie remains an 80s comedy favorite today. In 1989's Glory Broderick received good notices for his portrayal of the American Civil War hero Robert Gould Shaw in a script largely written by his mother.
Broderick in the 1990s took two dark comedy roles. The first was that of a bachelor who attracts the friendship of an insane and lonely cable repairman (played by Jim Carrey) in The Cable Guy. The second was that of an Omaha high school teacher determined to stop an overachieving student (played by Reese Witherspoon) from becoming class president in Alexander Payne's Election. Election had also been a coming-of-age role for Broderick; his fans from Ferris Bueller's Day Off noted that where Broderick played a popular student who took an easygoing approach to school, in Election he played a popular teacher who is trying to convince students there is more to education than simply grades and looking good for college admission boards.
Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, most notably his Tony Award winning performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and his Tony Award nominated performance in the Mel Brooks' stage version of The Producers in 2001. He also continues to make feature films, including the 2005 adaptation of The Producers. Broderick played the role of Leopold "Leo" Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail, but which turns out to be successful. In "The Producers" Broderick sings several songs, both alone and with other characters.
Broderick reunited with his co-star from The Lion King and The Producers, Nathan Lane, in The Odd Couple, which opened on Broadway in October 2005. He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his featured role in the play Brighton Beach Memoirs, and one in 1995 for his leading role in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He was also nominated for The Producers, but lost to co-star Nathan Lane.
Personal life
Broderick met actress Jennifer Grey on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1987, Broderick was involved in a multi-car collision while driving in Ireland with Grey (his fiancée at the time). The collision killed a woman and her daughter. Broderick (who fractured his leg and a rib) was cleared of all charges but paid a fee of $175 to the victims' family. Drinking was not involved in the crash. Martin Doherty, the elder victim's son, was quoted by Bill Hoffman in 2002 saying "I would like to reassure him that there are no bad feelings from us." The accident occurred close to the US release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[6]
Broderick met actress Sarah Jessica Parker through her brother. The couple were married on May 19, 1997 in a civil ceremony in a historic deconsecrated synagogue on the Lower East Side; and while Broderick considers himself Jewish,[7][8] the ceremony was performed by his sister, the Reverend Janet Broderick Kraft, an Episcopal priest.[9]
Parker and Broderick's first child, James Wilkie Broderick (born on October 28, 2002), is named after his grandfather James Brian Broderick. His middle name is that of author Wilkie Collins, an author Broderick and Parker greatly admire. They spend a considerable amount of time at their holiday home in County Donegal, Ireland where Broderick spent his summers as a child.
He is left-handed, a fact made evident already in his first movie, Max Dugan Returns, where he is playing baseball. Broderick is an avid baseball fan. His favorite team is the New York Mets.
Filmography
Year
Film
Role
Notes
1983
Max Dugan Returns
Michael McPhee
WarGames
David Lightman
1985
1918
Brother
Ladyhawke
Phillipe Gaston
1986
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller
On Valentine's Day
Brother
1987
Courtship
Project X
Jimmy Garrett
1988
She's Having a Baby
Ferris Bueller
Cameo
Biloxi Blues
Eugene Morris Jerome
Torch Song Trilogy
Alan
1989
Family Business
Adam McMullen
Glory
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
1990
The Freshman
Clark Kellogg/Narrator
1992
Out on a Limb
Bill Campbell
1993
The Night We Never Met
Sam Lester
1994
The Lion King
Adult Simba
Voice
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Charles MacArthur
The Road to Wellville
William Lightbody
1995
The Thief and the Cobbler
Tack the Cobbler
Voice (Miramax version)
1996
The Cable Guy
Steven M. Kovacs
Infinity
Richard Feynman
Also director and producer
1997
Addicted to Love
Sam
1998
Godzilla
Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatapolis
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Adult Simba
Voice
Walking to the Waterline
Michael Woods
1999
Election
Jim McAllister
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget/RoboGadget/John Brown
2000
You Can Count on Me
Brian Everett
2003
The Music Man
Professor Harold Hill
Good Boy!
Hubble
Voice
2004
"The Lion King 1½"
Adult/teenage Simba
Voice
Marie and Bruce
Bruce
The Stepford Wives
Walter Kresby
The Last Shot
Steven Schats
2005
The Producers
Leo Bloom
2006
Strangers with Candy
Roger Beekman
Deck the Halls
Steve Finch
2007
Margaret
Bee Movie
Adam
Voice
Television work
- Cinderella (1985)
- Master Harold...and the Boys (1985)
- A Life in the Theater (1993)
- The Music Man (2003)
Stage appearances
- Torch Song Trilogy (1981)
- Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983)
- Biloxi Blues (1985)
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1995) (revival)
- Night Must Fall (1999) (revival)
- Taller Than a Dwarf (2000)
- The Producers (2001-2002) (returned briefly in 2003)
- Short Talks on the Universe (2002)
- The Odd Couple (2005) (revival)
Preceded by
Boyd Gaines
for She Loves Me
Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical
1995
for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Succeeded by
Nathan Lane
for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
References
^ http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/brodrick/index.html
^ http://www.tibordenagy.com/artists/broderick.html
^ http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=15137
^ McGee, Celia. "Broderick's Set to Bloom In 'Producers'", New York Daily News, 2001-04-18. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
^ http://www.matthewbroderick.net/interview/americanway060101.html
^ http://www.angelfire.com/mb/matthewbroderick/news.html
^ http://www.matthewbroderick.net/article/detour96.html
^ http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/27905/format/html/displaystory.html
^ http://www.matthewbroderick.net/article/people00.html
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Matthew Broderick
- Matthew Broderick at the Internet Movie Database
- Matthew Broderick at the Internet Broadway Database
- Matthew Broderick at the Notable Names Database
- 2004 Story from 60 Minutes II
- Matthew Broderick - Downstage Center 2004 interview at American Theatre Wing.org
- TonyAwards.com Interview with Matthew Broderick