Biography

Matthew C. Ryan was born Matthew Ryan Carreiro in Fall River, Massachusetts. He is the middle child of Louis G. Carreiro Jr., a physical chemist, and Kathryn Edith Carreiro (née Mello), a chemical lab technician. He has Portuguese, English, and French ancestry. Matthew spent most of his youth in southeastern Massachusetts, and graduated from the prestigious Portsmouth Abbey High School, in Portsmouth RI. He was an avid baseball, tennis, and billiards player.

Having graduated from Providence College, in Providence Rhode Island, Matthew moved to Los Angeles, CA to continue his acting studies. His technique hails from three different acting philosophies that formulated out of the Group Theater in the late 1930's and include Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, and Lee Strasberg. While he isn't a purist when it comes to method acting, Matthew has a take what you can use philosophy derived from the three techniques that Stanislavsky so influenced. His mentors and peers are members, teachers, and graduates of UCLA, The Strasberg Institute, and The Actor's Studio.

Matthew caught the acting bug at age six after landing a supporting role and participated in chorus at his school's annual Christmas play in 1982. But it wasn't until the springtime production of Robin Hood where he played Robin's lead Merry Man, scoring the cool bow and quiver, that he developed his love affair with his audience. He played four musical instruments first trying the trombone, and then moving on to the woodwinds, saxophone, flute, and oboe. He is a proficient saxophonist and was a member of several chamber groups. Matthew continues his love of music today through singing, aspiring to one day work in animation and live musical theater.

However, Matthew is no stranger to film and TV sets having numerous featured cameo appearances on Warner Television shows like The Big Bang Theory (2007), Chuck (2007), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), and 2 Broke Girls (2011) to name a few. His love of sitcom he attributes to working several seasons behind the scenes on According to Jim (2001), starring Jim Belushi; whom Matthew accredits some of his comedic timing. His first acting job was at Paramount Studios on the television set of The Singles Table (2006) where he appeared opposite actor John Cho in a coffee shop playing a hipster guy which never aired. But, Matthew's small screen debut occurred on Ugly Betty (2006), episode 116, "Derailed", filmed at Raleigh Studios Hollywood, where he played a concerned subway passenger. While he is still awaiting his breakthrough role on the big screen, he did appear briefly in a scene in Fox Searchlight's, Water for Elephants (2011), playing a laughing Benzini Brother's roustabout, opposite a scantily dressed Robert Pattinson.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous and Chris Harrington <Chris.Harrington@universalmedia.co.us>