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| Birth Name(s) : Matthew Modine |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Matthew Modine Biography
Modine, the youngest of seven children, was born in Loma Linda, California, the son of Dolores (née Warner), a bookkeeper, and Mark Modine, who managed drive-in theaters. He spent his formative years growing up in Utah. When Modine was ten years old, he saw a documentary about the making of the film Oliver!. Inspired by the young actors and their performances, Modine decided to become an actor. He found a dance school in Provo, Utah and began taking tap dancing lessons. He also joined the junior high school Glee Club when his family moved to Midvale, Utah. He attended Marian Catholic High School for two and a half years (where his nickname was "Matt the Rat", only because it rhymed), then graduated from Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, California. Modine moved to New York City to study acting. It was there that he began working with the legendary acting teacher Stella Adler.
His first film role was in John Sayles' Baby It's You. His performance caught the eye of director Harold Becker, who cast him in Vision Quest (Crazy for You) based on the novel by Terry Davis. It was the director Robert Altman that propelled Modine into international stardom with his film adaptation of David Rabe's play Streamers. Modine and his fellow castmates won an unprecedented Best Actor prize from the Venice Film Festival for this tragic story of young American soldiers about to be shipped to Vietnam. Modine played Mel Gibson's brother in Mrs. Soffel and starred with Nicolas Cage in Alan Parker's Birdy. The film was awarded a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Modine might be best known for his role as "Private Joker," the main character of Stanley Kubrick's 1987 war movie Full Metal Jacket. Afterward, he played the dangerous young criminal, Treat, in Alan Pakula's film version of the hugely successful play Orphans by writer Lyle Kessler and the goofy, earnest Det. Mike Downey, in Jonathan Demme's screwball comedy Married to the Mob opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Modine was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performances in And the Band Played On and What the Deaf Man Heard.
In 1995, he worked opposite Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island, a movie that is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest box office flop of all time. In 1999, he made his feature directorial debut with If... Dog... Rabbit. This came after the success of three short films that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival: When I was a Boy (co-directed with Todd Field) Smoking written by David Sedaris, and Ecce Pirate.
His most recent films include The Go Go Tales, "Have Dreams, Will Travel", Opa!, and Mary, which won a prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Canadian girl-pop band, Pony Up!, wrote and recorded a song called "Matthew Modine" on their self-titled debut album. Actor Martin Short's character Jiminy Glick has made repeated references to his twin sons, Matthew and Modine.
In the song, "Babysitting is a Bum Deal," from the comedic album, "Family Guy: Live in Vegas" (2005), one line of the character Stewie's obnoxious lyrics say: "And I grunted and pooped out a poop that looked something like Matthew Modine!" In 2007, a Baltimore based music blog featured a fictitious movie trailer titled, "Rad II: The Matthew Modine Challenge". The concept stems from an encounter the actors had with Modine in the Spring of 2006 at a restaurant near the Washington Monument. Modine challenged the boys to race to the top of the monument and back in under 15 minutes without vomiting. |
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