Background and career
Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received two Tony Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Broderick was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star in 2006 and the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017. Broderick took early roles in WarGames (1983) and Ladyhawke (1985) before playing the title role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He then acted in Project X (1987), Biloxi Blues (1988), Torch Song Trilogy (1988), Glory (1989), The Freshman (1990), The Cable Guy (1996), Election (1999), Inspector Gadget (1999), You Can Count on Me (2000), The Producers (2005), Deck the Halls (2006), and Tower Heist (2011). He also directed himself in Infinity (1996) and voiced Simba in The Lion King (1994) and Adam in Bee Movie (2007). On stage, he has won two Tony Awards, the first for Best Featured Actor in a Play for the Neil Simon play Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983) and the second for Best Actor in a Musical for the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1995). He starred alongside Nathan Lane in the musical comedy The Producers (2001), the revival The Odd Couple (2005), and the showbiz comedy It's Only a Play (2014). He starred in the Broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It (2013) which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. On television, Broderick has guest starred in 30 Rock, Louie, Modern Family, The Conners, Better Things, and Only Murders in the Building, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He played Professor Harold Hill in the television film The Music Man (2003) and Richard Sackler in the Netflix miniseries Painkiller (2023).
Matthew Broderick was born on March 21, 1962, in Manhattan, the only son of Patricia (née Biow), a playwright, actress, and painter, and James Broderick, an actor and World War II veteran. His mother was Ashkenazi Jewish, a descendant of emigrants from Germany and Poland. His father was a Catholic of Irish and English descent. He has two sisters. His maternal grandfather was advertising executive Milton H. Biow. Broderick attended grade school at City and Country School in Manhattan and high school at the private Walden School, also in Manhattan. He received acting training at HB Studio.
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, a friend of Foote's. This was followed by a supporting role as Harvey Fierstein's gay adopted son, David, in the off-Broadway production of Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy; then, a good review by The 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 was replaced on Torch Song by Jon Cryer, who "closely resembled" Broderick. 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. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in Brighton Beach Memoirs. Broderick is a founding member of Naked Angels. Cryer also became a standby and replacement for Broderick on this role. As of 2024, he remains the youngest winner of the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Broderick's first film role as Michael McPhee in 1983's Max Dugan Returns was also written by Neil Simon, but his first big hit film was WarGames, a summer hit in 1983, in which he played the main role of Seattle teen hacker David Lightman. Broderick next played Philippe Gaston in Ladyhawke, in 1985. Broderick then won the role of the charming, clever slacker in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At the age of 23, Broderick played the titular high school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago. A 1980s comedy favorite, the film is one of Broderick's best-known roles (particularly with teenage audiences). Also in 1987, he played Air Force research assistant Jimmy Garrett in Project X. In 1988, Broderick played Harvey Fierstein's ill-fated lover, Alan, in the screen adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy. He starred in the 1989 film Glory alongside Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington, and received favorable reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw, whom Broderick physically resembled.
In the 1990s, Broderick appeared as Clark Kellogg in The Freshman in 1990, was the voice of adult Simba in Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King, and voiced Tack the Cobbler in 1995's Arabian Knight, Miramax's version of The Thief and the Cobbler in which the lead character was originally intended to be mute by Richard Williams. He won recognition for two dark comedy roles: bachelor Steven Kovacs in 1996's The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey, and a high school teacher in Alexander Payne's 1999 film Election with Reese Witherspoon. He also played Dr. Niko Tatopoulos in 1998's Godzilla, and the title character in Disney's Inspector Gadget in 1999. Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, winning a Tony Award for his performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Broderick then starred alongside Nathan Lane in the Mel Brooks 2001 stage version of The Producers which was a critical and financial success. He played Leopold "Leo" Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail that turns out to be successful. Broderick was nominated for another Tony Award but lost to his co-star Nathan Lane. The musical went on to win the most Tony Awards in history with 12 wins. Broderick and Lane reprised their roles in the 2005 film adaptation of the same name. Broderick starred in a 2004 off-Broadway production of the award-winning Larry Shue play The Foreigner as the witty Charlie Baker. He was 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 appeared on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28, 2009. In the 2000s, Broderick starred as Brian in the 2000 drama You Can Count on Me, voiced Hubble in the 2003 film Good Boy!, starred with Nicole Kidman in the 2004 film The Stepford Wives (a remake of the 1975 film of the same name), starred opposite Danny DeVito in the 2006 Christmas comedy film Deck the Halls, was the voice of Adam Flayman in the 2007 animated comedy Bee Movie, and voiced Despereaux in 2008's The Tale of Despereaux. Broderick starred with Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda in the comedy Tower Heist in 2011.
He returned to the Broadway stage in spring 2012 to star in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. He notably starred in the 2015 Broadway adaptation of Sylvia, a play by A.R. Gurney directed by Daniel J. Sullivan. In 2018, it was announced that he was cast in the main role of Michael Burr in the Netflix comedy-drama series Daybreak. Broderick made his West End debut in The Starry Messenger in May 2019, co-starring with Elizabeth McGovern. In 2022, Broderick returned to Broadway in a revival of Plaza Suite where he starred alongside his wife Sarah Jessica Parker. In 2024, the production transferred to the Savoy Theatre, London. In 2023, Broderick played Laird Becker in the comedy film No Hard Feelings, and appeared as himself in two episodes of the Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building. His performance in the latter earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. On June 16, 2025, it was announced that Broderick would star as Tartuffe in a new production of Tartuffe alongside Bianca Del Rio, Francis Jue, and Amber Gray at the New York Theatre Workshop.
