Matt Lauria

Matthew "Matt" Lauria (born June 22, 1984)[1][2] is an American actor and musician. He made his television debut on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in 2007. He is best known for his roles as Luke Cafferty on the NBC/DirecTV drama Friday Night Lights, Ryan York on the NBC family drama Parenthood, and starred as Ryan Wheeler on the Audience drama Kingdom.[3]

Matt Lauria
Born
Matthew Lauria

(1984-06-22) June 22, 1984
Virginia, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA)
OccupationActor, musician
Years active2005–present
Spouse(s)
Michelle Armstrong
​
(m. 2006)​

Early life and education

Lauria was born in Virginia and moved to Ireland with his family when he was seven. His father was an animator and an artist.[4] He has two sisters.[4] He spent his formative years growing up in Dublin and moved back to the U.S. to attend high school. He received his formal acting training from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in their drama conservatory, where he earned a BFA in drama.

Career

Within a few weeks of moving to New York City, Lauria successfully made his television debut as Winthrop on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. Soon after he finally landed a substantial recurring role on the NBC romantic sitcom Lipstick Jungle as Roy Merritt, where he co-starred with Brooke Shields, Andrew McCarthy and Robert Buckley.

Lauria landed his first starring role as Luke Cafferty, #44 of the East Dillon Lions, in the Emmy award-winning NBC/DirecTV drama Friday Night Lights,[5] for which he moved to Pflugerville, Texas in order to film. Lauria remained on the show until it ended in 2011. After finishing Friday Night Lights, Lauria moved to Chicago, Illinois after being cast as Caleb Evers in the Fox crime drama The Chicago Code. The show was cancelled after one season.[6]

He co-starred as Charlie Carnegie on the ABC drama pilot Gilded Lilys created and produced by Shonda Rhimes.[7] From 2012 to 2015, Lauria had a recurring role as Ryan York, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, on the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons of the NBC family drama Parenthood, reuniting with former Friday Night Lights showrunner Jason Katims.[8] He also starred as Ryan Wheeler on the DirecTV drama series Kingdom which premiered on the Audience Network in the fall of 2014.[9] In 2019, he appeared in two action thrillers, opposite Gina Rodriguez and Ismael Cruz Córdova in Miss Bala, directed by Catherine Hardwicke,[10] and Shaft, directed by Tim Story.[11]

Personal life

Lauria is an avid electric guitarist.[12] On August 26, 2006, he married musician Michelle Armstrong.

Filmography
Nick Jonas, Joanna Going, Lauria, Frank Grillo and Jonathan Tucker at the premiere of Kingdom in October 2014

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2005 Raccoon Sam Roxbury Short film
2009 8 Easy Steps VeggieLite Short film
2015 Ma Cowboy
2019 Miss Bala Brian Reich
2019 Shaft Major Gary Cutworth
2020 To Leslie Handsome Outlaw Filming

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2007 30 Rock Winthrop Episode: "Jack Gets in the Game"
2008 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Jake Lally Episode: "Neighborhood Watch"
2008–2009 Lipstick Jungle Roy Merritt Recurring role, 13 episodes
2009 The Forgotten Eric / John Doe Episode: "Living Doe"
2009–2011 Friday Night Lights Luke Cafferty Main role, 26 episodes
2011 The Chicago Code Caleb Evers Main role, 13 episodes
2011 Burn Notice Ethan Episode: "Square One"
2011–2012 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation FBI agent Matthew Pratt 3 episodes
2012 Person of Interest Adam Saunders Episode: "Risk"
2012–2015 Parenthood Ryan York Recurring role, 25 episodes
2013 Gilded Lilys Charlie Carnegie TV movie
2014 It Could Be Worse Nelson Episode: "Uncharted Territory"
2014–2017 Kingdom Ryan Wheeler Main role, 40 episodes
2017 Dimension 404 Evan Episode: "Impulse"
2019 Traitors Peter McCormick Main role, 6 episodes
2019 Into the Dark Guy / John Deakins Episode: "Down"
2019 Dickinson Ben Newton Recurring role (season 1), 5 episodes
2019–2020 Tell Me A Story Jackson Pruitt Main role (season 2), 10 episodes
2020 Little Birds Bill Main role, 6 episodes

References
  1. "Matt Lauria". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  2. "Twitter". Twitter.com/mattlauria. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  3. "Instagram". Instagram.com/mattlauria/. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  4. Blank, Matthew (January 29, 2013). "PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: "Friday Night Lights" and Really Really Star Matt Lauria". Playbill.com. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  5. Ausiello, Michael (August 17, 2009). "Exclusive: 'Friday Night Lights' recruits 'Lipstick Jungle' hottie". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  6. Ausiello, Michael (May 10, 2011). "Fox Cancels Human Target, Lie To Me, Chicago Code, Two Others". TVLine. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  7. Ben Lee (March 2, 2012). "'Friday Night Lights' star Matt Lauria cast in ABC's 'Gilded Lilys'". Digital Spy. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  8. Ausiello, Michael (July 31, 2012). "Exclusive: Parenthood Recruits from Friday Night Lights Again, Casts Matt Lauria as [Spoiler]". TVLine. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  9. Mitovich, Matt (October 7, 2014). "Matt Lauria, Jonathan Tucker Preview DirecTV's MMA Drama Kingdom, Duke It Out Over Parenthood's Amber". TVLine. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  10. Kroll, Justin (July 19, 2017). "Matt Lauria and Cristina Rodlo Join Gina Rodriguez in 'Miss Bala' Remake (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  11. N'Duka, Amanda (January 8, 2018). "Matt Lauria Joins New Line's 'Shaft' Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  12. "Friday Night Lights - Cast Bios: Matt Lauria". nbc.com. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
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