Jump to content

Matthew Broderick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Llyean (talk | contribs) at 04:04, 18 May 2009 (→‎Accident). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Matthew Broderick
Broderick at the 2009 premiere of Wonderful World
OccupationActor
Years active1979–present
SpouseSarah Jessica Parker (1997–present)

Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American award-winning film and stage actor who is best known for his roles as the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Nick in Godzilla and David Lightman in WarGames. He voiced Simba (adult) in the Academy Award winning film The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He also played Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers, and played Colonel Robert Shaw in the Civil War drama Glory.

Early life

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.[1][2] Broderick's mother was Jewish, and his father a Catholic of Irish descent.[3][4][5] Broderick attended grade school at the City & Country School (a progressive K–8 school in Manhattan) and attended high school at Walden School (a defunct private school in Manhattan with a strong drama program).

Career

Broderick's first major acting role came in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day, playing opposite his father, 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; then, 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.

Broderick in Sweden during his promotion of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, December 1986.

He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon Eugene Trilogy including the plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. 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 a 1980s' comedy favorite today and is one of Broderick's best-known roles (particularly with teenage audiences). In 1989's Glory, Broderick received good notices for his portrayal of the American Civil War hero Robert Gould Shaw.

In the 1990s, Broderick took on the role as the adult lion, Simba, in the successful animated film, The Lion King. Also, 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 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. Also, he 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, not only alone but with other characters.

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 is currently appearing on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28, 2009.[6]

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 Tony Award, Best Actor in a Musical, for the The Producers but lost to Lane. To date, Matthew Broderick is the youngest winner of the Tony Award, Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Personal life

Broderick met actress Jennifer Grey on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and in 1986 was briefly engaged to her.

Broderick and his wife Sarah Jessica Parker in 2009.

Broderick met actress Sarah Jessica Parker through her brother. The couple married on May 19, 1997 in a civil ceremony in an historic deconsecrated synagogue on the Lower East Side; and although Broderick considers himself culturally Jewish,[7][8] the ceremony was performed by his sister, Janet Broderick Kraft, an Episcopal priest.[9] Parker and Broderick have one child, James Wilkie Broderick, born on October 28, 2002. On April 28, 2009, it was confirmed that Broderick and Parker are expecting twin girls this summer through surrogacy.[10]

Although they live in New York City, 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, in which he plays baseball.

Broderick is an avid baseball fan. His favorite team is the New York Mets. He narrated the DVD "Shea Goodbye: 45 Years of Amazin", which chronicled the life of Shea Stadium.

Accident

On August 5, 1987, Broderick was in Ireland, vacationing with Grey, when their rented BMW veered into the wrong lane on a country road in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh and smashed head-on into a car driven by Anna Gallagher, 30. She and her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, died instantly.

Broderick spent four weeks in a Belfast hospital with a fractured leg and ribs, collapsed lung and concussion. Grey suffered minor injuries.

Broderick told authorities he had no recollection of the crash and did not know why he was in the wrong lane. "I don't remember the day. I don't remember even getting up in the morning. I don't remember making my bed. What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very strange feeling going on in my leg," he said at the time.[11]

Broderick was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced a prison term of up to five years. He was later convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined £175. The victims' family called the case "a travesty of justice."[11]

Broderick agreed to meet with the family of the two women in the spring of 2003 so that the family could gain some sense of closure on the accident.[11]

Work

Film

Template:Filmography table head ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- |rowspan="2"|1983 | Max Dugan Returns | Michael McPhee | |- | WarGames | David Lightman | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor |- |rowspan="3"|1985 | 1918 | Brother | |- | Master Harold...and the Boys | Hally | Nominated — CableACE Award for Actor in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special |- | Ladyhawke | Phillipe Gaston | |- |rowspan="2"|1986 | Ferris Bueller's Day Off | Ferris Bueller | |- | On Valentine's Day | Brother | |- |1987 | Project X | Jimmy Garrett | |- |rowspan="3"|1988 | She's Having a Baby | cameo | |- | Biloxi Blues | Eugene Morris Jerome | |- | Torch Song Trilogy | Alan | |- |rowspan="2"|1989 | Family Business | Adam McMullen | |- | Glory | Colonel Robert Gould Shaw | |- | 1990 | The Freshman | Clark Kellogg/Narrator | |- | 1992 | Out on a Limb | Bill Campbell | |- | 1993 | The Night We Never Met | Sam Lester | |- |rowspan="3"|1994 | The Lion King | Adult Simba | (voice only) |- | Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle | Charles MacArthur | |- | The Road to Wellville | William Lightbody | |- | 1995 | The Thief and the Cobbler | Tack the Cobbler | (voice only) |- |rowspan="2"|1996 | The Cable Guy | Steven M. Kovacs | |- | Infinity | Richard Feynman | |- | 1997 | Addicted to Love | Sam | |- |rowspan="3"|1998 | Godzilla | Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos | |- | The Lion King II: Simba's Pride | Adult Simba |(voice only) |- | Walking to the Waterline | Michael Woods | |- |rowspan="2"|1999 | Election | Jim McAllister | Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor |- | Inspector Gadget | Inspector Gadget/RoboGadget/John Brown | |- | 2000 | You Can Count on Me | Brian Everett | |- |rowspan="2"|2003 | The Music Man | Professor Harold Hill | |- | Good Boy! | Hubble | (voice only) |- |rowspan="4"|2004 | The Lion King 1½ | Adult/teenage Simba | (voice only) |- | Marie and Bruce | Bruce | |- | The Stepford Wives | Walter Kresby | |- | The Last Shot | Steven Schats | |- | 2005 | The Producers | Leo Bloom | |- |rowspan="2"|2006 | Strangers with Candy | Roger Beekman | |- | Deck the Halls | Steve Finch | |- |rowspan="2"|2007 | Then She Found Me | Ben | |- | Bee Movie | Adam Flayman | (voice only) |- |rowspan="3"|2008 | Diminished Capacity | Cooper | |- | Finding Amanda | Taylor Peters | Nominated — Prism Award for Performance in a Feature Film |- | The Tale of Despereaux | Despereaux | (voice only) |- |rowspan=2|2009 | Wonderful World | Ben Singer | |- | Margaret | TBA | awaiting release |}

References

  1. ^ "Matthew Broderick". Genealogy.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  2. ^ "Biography: Patricia Broderick". Tibor de Nagy. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  3. ^ Tom Tugend (16 December 2005). "Bialystock and Bloom Tell the Truth". JewishJournal. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  4. ^ Celia McGee (18 April 2001). "Broderick's Set to Bloom in 'Producers'". The New York Daily News. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  5. ^ Mark Seal (1 January 2006). "Magical Mystery Tour". American Way. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  6. ^ Jones, Kenneth.Broadway's Philanthropist, Starring Broderick, Goes On Sale",playbill.com, February 20, 2009
  7. ^ Rachelle Unreich (1996). "Matthew Broderick: one of the guys". Detour Magazine. pp. p.38-42. Retrieved 2008-05-19. {{cite news}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  8. ^ Nate Bloom (2005-12-16). "Celebrity Jews". Jewish News Weekly. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  9. ^ Serena Kappes (2000-11-10). "Friend Finds He Can Count on Broderick". People. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  10. ^ "Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick to Have Twins!". People. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  11. ^ a b c Bill Hoffmann. "Broderick's Guilt". New York Post. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matthew Broderick.

{{subst:#if:Broderick, Matthew|}} [[Category:{{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:1962}} 

|| UNKNOWN | MISSING = Year of birth missing {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:LIVING}}||LIVING=(living people)}}
| #default = 1962 births

}}]] {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:LIVING}} 

|| LIVING  = 
| MISSING  = 
| UNKNOWN  = 
| #default =

}}

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matthew_Broderick&oldid=290650024"