Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor and film director. He made his feature film debut in Over the Edge (1979) and established himself as a teen idol by starring in the films My Bodyguard (1980), Little Darlings (1980), the three S. E. Hinton book adaptations Tex (1982), Rumble Fish (1983), The Outsiders (1983) and The Flamingo Kid (1984). From the late 1980s onward, Dillon achieved further success, starring in Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Singles (1992), The Saint of Fort Washington (1993), To Die For (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), In & Out (1997), There's Something About Mary (1998), and Wild Things (1998). In a 1991 article, famed movie critic Roger Ebert referred to him as the best actor within his age group, along with Sean Penn.[1]
Matt Dillon | |
|---|---|
 Dillon at the 2010 FICG | |
| Born | Matthew Raymond Dillon February 18, 1964 |
| Occupation | Actor, director |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Family | Kevin Dillon (brother) |
In the 2000s, he made his directing debut with City of Ghosts (2002) and went on to star in the films Factotum (2005), You, Me and Dupree (2006), Nothing but the Truth (2008), Sunlight Jr. (2013) and The House That Jack Built (2018). For Crash (2004), he won an Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He had earlier been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for narrating Jack Kerouac's On the Road. In 2015, he starred in the first season of the FOX television series Wayward Pines, for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award.
Early life
Dillon was born in New Rochelle, New York, to Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for Union Camp, a toy bear manufacturer.[2][3] His paternal grandmother was the sister of comic strip artist Alex Raymond, the creator of Flash Gordon.[4] Dillon is the second of six children with one sister and four brothers, one of whom is actor Kevin Dillon. He is of mostly Irish descent, with some Scottish and German ancestry.[5] Dillon was raised in a close-knit Roman Catholic family.[6][7][8] He grew up in Mamaroneck, New York.[9]
Career
In 1978, Jane Bernstein and a friend were helping director Jonathan Kaplan cast the violent teen drama Over the Edge when they found Dillon cutting class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont. Dillon auditioned for a role and made his debut in the film.[10] The film received a regional, limited theatrical release in May 1979, and grossed only slightly over $200,000.[11] Dillon's performance was well-received, which led to his casting in two films released the following year: the teenage sex comedy Little Darlings, in which Kristy McNichol's character loses her virginity to a boy from the camp across the lake, played by Dillon, and the more serious teen dramedy My Bodyguard, where he played a high-school bully opposite Chris Makepeace. The films, released in March and July 1980, respectively, were box office successes[12] and raised Dillon's profile among teenage audiences.
Another of Dillon's early roles was in the Jean Shepherd PBS special The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters.[13][14] The only available copies of this film are stored at UCLA, where a legal dispute makes it unavailable to the public.
One of his next roles was in Liar's Moon, where he played Jack Duncan, a poor Texas boy madly in love with a rich banker's daughter. In the early 1980s, Dillon also had prominent roles in three adaptations of S. E. Hinton novels: Tex (1982), The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983). All three films were shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hinton's hometown. The Outsiders and Rumble Fish had Dillon working with Francis Ford Coppola and Diane Lane. He followed those up with The Flamingo Kid in 1984. He made his Broadway debut with the play The Boys of Winter in 1985. Dillon did voiceover work in the 1987 documentary film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. In 1985, Dillon was namechecked in the lyrics of the Roger Daltrey song 'After The Fire' (written by Pete Townshend). In 1989, Dillon won critical acclaim for his performance as a drug addict in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy.
Dillon continued to work in the early 1990s with roles in films like Singles (1992). He had a resurgence when he played Nicole Kidman's husband in To Die For (1995), as well as starring roles in Wild Things (1998) and There's Something About Mary (1998), for which he received an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.
In 2002, he wrote and directed the film City of Ghosts, starring himself, James Caan and Gérard Depardieu. In 2005, he starred in Factotum, a film adaptation of an autobiographical work by Charles Bukowski. Two years later he received critical praise and earned Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for his role in Crash, a film co-written and directed by Paul Haggis. In 2005, Dillon co-starred in Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded and on March 11, 2006 hosted Saturday Night Live, in which he impersonated Greg Anderson and Rod Serling in sketches.
Dillon starred in the comedy You, Me and Dupree, opposite Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson. The film opened on July 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006, Dillon was honored with the Premio Donostia prize in the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
Dillon contributed his voice as the narrator, Sal Paradise, in an audiobook version of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. In 2006, he narrated Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.
Dillon appeared in several music videos during his career. He made a cameo appearance as a detective in Madonna's Bad Girl music video which also stars Christopher Walken. Dillon appeared in 1987 in the music video for "Fairytale of New York" by the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues, playing a cop who escorts lead singer Shane MacGowan into the "drunk tank". In 2007, the band Dinosaur Jr. hired Dillon to direct the video for their single "Been There All The Time" from the album Beyond. That year, he guest-starred on The Simpsons episode "Midnight Towboy". Early in 2015 he played the role of a Secret Service agent in the FOX 10-episode series Wayward Pines.
In 2018, Dillon played the lead role in the Lars von Trier thriller The House That Jack Built.[15]
Personal life
Dillon is an aficionado and collector of Latin music, with a large collection of vinyl, including a notable library of Cuban 78s.[16]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Over the Edge | Ritchie White | |
| 1980 | My Bodyguard | Melvin Moody | |
| Little Darlings | Randy Adams | ||
| 1982 | Tex | Tex McCormick | |
| Liar's Moon | Jack Duncan | ||
| The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters | Ralph | Television film | |
| 1983 | The Outsiders | Dallas "Dally" Winston | |
| Rumble Fish | Rusty James | ||
| 1984 | The Flamingo Kid | Jeffrey Willis | |
| 1985 | Target | Chris Lloyd / Derek Potter | |
| Rebel | Sergeant Harry Rebel | ||
| 1986 | Native Son | Jan Erlone | |
| 1987 | The Big Town | J. C. Cullen | |
| 1988 | Kansas | Doyle Kennedy | |
| 1989 | Drugstore Cowboy | Bob Hughes | |
| Bloodhounds of Broadway | Regret | ||
| 1991 | A Kiss Before Dying | Jonathan Corliss | |
| Fishing with John | Himself | ||
| Women & Men 2 | Eddie Megeffin | Television film | |
| 1992 | Singles | Cliff Poncier | |
| 1993 | The Saint of Fort Washington | Matthew | |
| Mr. Wonderful | Gus DeMarco | ||
| 1994 | Golden Gate | Kevin Walker | |
| 1995 | To Die For | Larry Maretto | |
| Frankie Starlight | Terry Klout | ||
| 1996 | Grace of My Heart | Jay Phillips | |
| Albino Alligator | Dova | ||
| Beautiful Girls | Tommy "Birdman" Rowland | ||
| 1997 | In & Out | Cameron Drake | |
| 1998 | There's Something About Mary | Patrick "Pat" Healy | |
| Wild Things | Sam Lombardo | ||
| 2001 | One Night at McCool's | Randy | |
| 2002 | Deuces Wild | Fritzy Zennetti | |
| City of Ghosts | Jimmy Cremming | Also director and writer | |
| 2003 | Abby Singer | Himself | |
| 2004 | Employee of the Month | David Walsh | |
| Crash | Officer John Ryan | ||
| 2005 | Loverboy | Mark | |
| Factotum | Henry Chinaski | ||
| Herbie: Fully Loaded | Trip Murphy | ||
| 2006 | You, Me and Dupree | Carl Peterson | |
| 2007 | The Simpsons | Louie (voice) | TV series (1 episode: "Midnight Towboy") |
| 2008 | Nothing But the Truth | Patton Dubois | |
| 2009 | Old Dogs | Barry | |
| Armored | Mike Cochrane | ||
| 2010 | Takers | Det. Jack Welles | |
| 2011 | Modern Family | Robbie Sullivan | TV series (1 episode: "Princess Party") |
| 2012 | Girl Most Likely | George / The Bousche | |
| 2013 | Pawn Shop Chronicles | Richard | |
| The Art of the Steal | Nicky Calhoun | ||
| Sunlight Jr. | Richie Barnes | ||
| 2014 | Bad Country | Jesse Weiland | |
| 2015 | Wayward Pines | Ethan Burke | TV series (10 episodes) |
| 2017 | Rock Dog | Trey (voice) | |
| Going in Style | Hamer | ||
| 2018 | The House That Jack Built | Jack | |
| Running for Grace | Doc | ||
| Head Full of Honey | Nick | ||
| 2019 | Nimic | Father | Short film |
| Proxima | Mike | ||
| 2020 | Capone | Johnny | |
| The Great Fellove | N/A | Documentary Director and executive producer |
Awards and nominations
References
- Ebert, Roger (April 26, 1991). "Review: A Kiss Before Dying". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago, Illinois: Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012 – via rogerebert.com.
- "Cigar Aficionado - People Profile - Matt Dillon". Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- "Matt Dillon Biography (1964-)". Filmreference.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- "Fordham golf coach has way with the brush". USA Today. October 9, 2001. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- "Matt Dillon". IMDb. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- Dillon, Matt (August 6, 2005). "Behind the mask". London: The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
- Flynn, Paul (August 11, 2005). "Matt's Crash landing". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on April 22, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
- Rader, Dotson (July 23, 2006). ""You Don't Shut the Door on Hope"". Parade. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- Grant, Lee (May 6, 2005). "The outsider". San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- Over the Edge: An Oral History of the Greatest Teen Rebellion Movie of All Time September 2009, Vice Magazine. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- "50 Top-Grossing Films". (Week ending May 23, 1979). Variety, pp. 9.
- "Matt Dillon box office tallies". Archived from the original on November 22, 2006. Retrieved March 10, 2006.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "NTW Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters, The". Main.wgbh.org. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- Fleming, Mike Jr. (November 2, 2016). "Lars Von Trier Sets Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz For 'The House That Jack Built'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
- "Matt Dillon's passion for Latin music". www.recordonline.com. January 13, 2007. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
External links
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