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Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is a Tony Award-winning American film and stage actor who is best known for his roles as the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the adult Simba in Disney's The Lion King. He also played Leo Bloom in the 2001 Broadway production of The Producers (and the 2005 movie version), and played Colonel Robert Shaw in the Civil War drama Glory. A boyishly affable, stage-trained lead since the 1980s who has displayed gifts for both comedy and drama, Matthew Broderick became established in NYC theater before scoring a big screen success as a young computer wiz caught up in nuclear intrigue in "WarGames" (1983). He has enjoyed significant collaborations with two major playwrights--Neil Simon, who provided the young actor with memorable comic roles, and Horton Foote, who allowed him to hone his dramatic skills. Broderick debuted on stage at age 17 in a workshop production of Foote's "On Valentine's Day" with his late father James Broderick and went on to win acclaim for his portrayal of David, the adopted gay son of drag queen Arnold Beckoff (Harvey Fierstein) in the Off-Broadway production of "Torch Song Trilogy". Broderick was born in New York City, the son of Patricia (née Biow), a playwright, actress and painter whose work was posthumously shown at the Tibor de Nagy gallery in New York, and James Broderick, an actor. Broderick's mother was Jewish and his father a Catholic of Irish descent. Broderick attended grade school at the City & Country School, a progressive K–8 school in Manhattan; and high school at Walden School (now closed), a private school in Manhattan with a strong drama program. Broderick's career accelerated with parts in two Neil Simon projects: "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1982-83), the first in a semi-autobiographical trilogy wherein Broderick created the part of Eugene Jerome, a character based on Simon as a youth, and the feature "Max Dugan Returns" (1982). He won a Tony Award for the play and positive notices for his feature debut. Broderick reprised the role of Eugene in "Biloxi Blues", the second installment of the trilogy, for both the 1984 Broadway production and the 1988 film adaptation helmed by Mike Nichols. The actor also worked on various Foote projects, appearing in the 1986 film version of "On Valentine's Day" (broadcast on PBS as "Story of a Marriage, Part 2"), "1918" (1985) and Off-Broadway in "The Widow Claire" (1986-87). 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. This was followed by the role of Philippe Gaston in Ladyhawke, in 1985. 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 23, 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 80's comedy favorite today. In 1989's Glory, Broderick received good notices for his portrayal of the American Civil War hero Robert Gould Shaw. He may be best known, however, as the charmingly manipulative titular character of John Hughes' popular teen comedy "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986). Yet, his subsequent transition to adult leads has been fitful and uneven. Broderick's first romantic lead was opposite Harvey Fierstein in the film version of "Torch Song Trilogy" (1988), this time not as his son but as his lover. He was impressively convincing as the young commander of the first Black Union regiment in the acclaimed Civil War drama, "Glory" (1989). Broderick joined forces with Dustin Hoffman and Sean Connery for Sidney Lumet's "Family Business" (1989), a critical and commercial misstep. Reverting to a comic juvenile part, he fared better as "The Freshman" (1990) opposite Marlon Brando. Sporting a beard, the baby-faced actor next joined an ensemble of bright young talents for the romantic comedy "The Night We Never Met" (1993), which failed to make much impact. Ironically, Broderick enjoyed his greatest screen success (to date) in relative anonymity as the voice of the adult Simba in Disney's cartoon blockbuster "The Lion King" (1994)--he would reprise the role for the direct-to-video sequels "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride" (1998) and "The Lion King 1/2" (2004). Broderick in the 1990s took on his famous role as the adult lion, Simba, in the spectacularly successful animated film, The Lion King. Furthermore, he distinguished himself in 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. Broderick returned to his theatrical roots for the acclaimed 1995 Broadway revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". In the original production, Robert Morse interpreted what would become his signature role as an outwardly simple soul who lucks into good fortune. In contrast Broderick made his character a bit more knowing and openly ambitious yet still emerges as a likeable sort. His vocal mettle found official confirmation as he walked off with the Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. Broderick took a leave from the show to film "The Cable Guy" (1996), playing the hapless customer whose life becomes nightmarish after encountering Jim Carrey's title character in Ben Stiller's black comedy-thriller. When he returned to the Broadway musical in early 1996, he was teamed with his future wife Sarah Jessica Parker in the female lead. In 1996, the compact, dark-haired actor switched gears and stepped behind the cameras to helm "Infinity", a biopic of Nobel laureate Richard Feynman that featured a script by his mother. Although the film was not widely seen, Broderick proved effective in his first outing as a filmmaker. He also starred as Feynman and shared a nice chemistry with his leading lady, Patricia Arquette. The following year, he began to portray a string of darker characters ranging from the jilted boyfriend out for revenge in "Addicted to Love" (1997) to the schoolteacher determined to stop an overachiever from becoming student body president in "Election" (1999). He continued in the same vein, playing a blustery bank manager who engages in an adulterous affair with one of his employees in the Sundance hit "You Can Count on Me" (2000), written and directed by childhood pal Kenneth Lonergan. 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. As the 90s wound down and into the new millennium, Broderick continued to alternate between the screen and the stage, squeezing in appearances on Broadway as a baby-faced killer in the National Actors Theatre revival of "Night Must Fall" in 1999, a newlywed opposite Parker Posey in Elaine May's comedy misfire "Taller Than a Dwarf" (2000) and as Leo Bloom, Nathan Lane's sidekick in the 2001 musical adaptation of Mel Brooks' hilarious movie comedy "The Producers"--the later role became something of a sensation, earning the actor a Tony nomination and securing him a role in the planned movie adaptation (or re-adaptation, as the case may be). That musical-comedy success also led the actor to take on the enduring role of Professor Harold Hill in an ABC television version of the perennial favorite "The Music Man" (2003). Broderick returned to the big screen for the Frank Oz-helmed remake of the cult classic "The Stepford Wives" (2004), a more satirical-minded take that cast the actor alongside Nicole Kidman as an upwardly mobile couple whose lives are suddenly overwhelmed by the all-too-perfect community of Stepford; followed by "The Last Shot" (2004), playing a movie director-screenwriter who finds financing for his latest project but soon discovers that the producer is actually an undercover FBI agent working on a mob sting operation. Next it was back to Broadway to reunite with Lane for a 2005 revival of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," with Broderick taking on the role of fussy Felix Unger. 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. Broderick met actress Jennifer Grey on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and in 1987 was briefly engaged to the actress. Broderick met actress Sarah Jessica Parker through her brother. The couple 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, the ceremony was performed by his sister, the Reverend Janet Broderick Kraft, an Episcopal priest. Parker and Broderick's 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 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. |
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