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Ferris Bueller
Background:
“I just want the money and the fame and the adoration, and I don't want any of
the other stuff.” Matthew Broderick
First noticed for his Tony-winning performance in the hit Broadway play
“Brighton Beach Memoirs” (1983), Matthew Broderick later gained moviegoers’
recognition while portraying the charmingly manipulative title role in John
Hughes' popular teen comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). Since then, he
played roles in such films as The Lion King (1994, as the voice of Simba), The
Road to Wellville (1994), The Cable Guy (1996), Godzilla (1998), Election
(1999), Inspector Gadget (1999), You Can Count On Me (2000) and The Stepford
Wives (2004). He won another Tony for his performance in “How To Succeed in
Business Without Really Trying” (1995) and made his directional debut with
Infinity (1996, he also produced and starred). In 2001, Broderick had another
Broadway success with the Mel Brooks musical “The Producers” (2001, nominated
for a Tony) and will soon be seen in its big screen adaptation, directed by
Susan Stroman.
The 5' 8" tall double Tony-winner Matthew Broderick was once involved with
actresses Helen Hunt (b. June 15, 1963; met on set of 1985's Project X),
Jennifer Grey (b. March 26, 1960; engaged in late 1980s after meeting on the set
of Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Lili Taylor (b. February 20, 1967) and Penelope
Ann Miller (b. January 13, 1964; dated during filming of Biloxi Blues). He is
currently the husband of Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and has one
son with her.
The Father’s Son
Childhood and Family:
"I'm Jewish, but I've never been attracted to religion, and I don't know what
the hell to make of anything." Matthew Broderick
The son of late actor James Broderick (died on November 1, 1981, best known as
The Father in the old ABC series Family (1976-1980)) and playwright/screenwriter
Patricia Broderick, Matthew Broderick was born on March 21, 1962, in New York,
New York. He has two sisters: Janet Craft (Episcopal minister) and Martha
Broderick (therapist).
Matthew Broderick is Polish-Jewish on his father's side and Irish-Catholic on
his mother's side. He attended the Walden School in New York. On May 19, 1997,
Broderick tied the knot with actress Sarah Jessica Parker (b. March 25, 1965).
They welcomed their first child, James Wilke Broderick, into the world on
October 28, 2002.
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Career:
"From the time I was 7 until 14, the last thing I wanted to be was an actor. But
that was mostly out of fear. I got very frightened about being in front of an
audience. I guess I loved it so much I was afraid I wouldn't be any good at it."
Matthew Broderick
Young Matthew Broderick played soccer and football at the Walden School in New
York, but turned to acting after suffering a knee injury. His first professional
acting job was playing Brother Vaughn in a workshop production of Horton Foote's
play "Valentine's Day" in 1980. The next year, he won the role of David, the
teen adopted by drag queen Arnold Beckoff, in Harvey Fierstein's Off-Broadway
play "Torch Song Trilogy."
The portrayal of Michael McPhee, the son of Marsha Mason's character, in Herbert
Ross' comedy Max Dugan Returns (1983, starring Jason Robards), was Broderick's
film acting debut. He followed it up with the starring role of a young hacker
who accidentally logs on to the Department of Defense's network in the same
year's film, John Badham's sci-fi thriller WarGames. On stage, Broderick debuted
on Broadway playing Eugene Jerome in Neil Simon's semi autobiographical play
"Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1982-1983) and won a Featured Actor Tony Award. He
later reprised the role of Eugene Jerome in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues"
(1984-1985).
Broderick continued to act on screen. In 1985, he starred in the Showtime
production of Athol Fugard-written Master Harold...and the Boys and in Ken
Harrison's moving story of a small Texas town in 1918, adopted from Horton
Foote's play, 1918. He also played Phillipe Gaston, the Mouse, a thief who
escapes from the prison, in Richard Donner's Oscar-nominated Ladyhawke (1985,
with Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer) and played the stage role of Brother
Vaughn in Ken Harrison's wide screen adaptation of On Valentine's Day (1986,
opposite Hallie Foote and William Converse-Roberts). He then reunited with
Horton Foote in the Off-Broadway production of "The Widow Claire."
In 1986, Broderick enjoyed a big breakthrough screen role as the title
character, tricky but harmless fast-talker Ferris Bueller, in writer-director
John Hughes' comedy movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The successful film was
turned into a disappointing TV series in 1990, which starred Charlie Schlatter
as Ferris and Jennifer Aniston as his sister, Jeannie. After appearing in On
Valentine's Day (1986), Courtship (1987), Project X (1987) and She's Having a
Baby (1988), Broderick reprised his stage role as Eugene Morris Jerome, Neil
Simon's alter ego, in the film version of Simon's Biloxi Blues (1988), directed
by Mike Nichols. That same year, Broderick received positive reviews when he
joined Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein in Paul Bogart's
wide screen adaptation of the play Torch Song Trilogy (also with Anne Bancroft).
The rest of the 1980s watched Broderick playing Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the
leader of the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, in Edward
Zwick's Glory (based on Robert Gould Shaw's letters and Lincoln Kirstein's book)
and teaming with Sean Connery and Dustin Hoffman as three generations of a
family formerly linked to organized crime, in Sidney Lumet's adaptation of
Vincent Patrick's novel, the crime comedy Family Business. More roles arrived in
the early 1990s. Broderick acted opposite screen legend Marlon Brando, in
writer-director Andrew Bergman's The Freshman (1990) and was cast in Out on a
Limb (1992) and The Night We Never Met (1993). Broderick also appeared on TV
alongside Jack Lemmon, playing two repertory stage actors, in the TNT movie A
Life in the Theatre (adopted from David Mamet's play) and provided his voice for
the adult Simba in Disney's animated big hit The Lion King (1994, Broderick also
sang).
On Broadway, Broderick took home a second Tony Award for his brilliant
performance in the revival of the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying" (alongside wife Sarah Jessica Parker). After costarring in Jim
Carrey’s vehicle The Cable Guy (1996), Broderick co-produced, directed and
starred (as Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman) in the biopic
Infinity (based on Richard Feynman's books, scripted by mother Patricia
Broderick). He also played good-natured astronomer Sam, opposite Meg Ryan, in
Griffin Dunne's sparkling, dark, romantic comedy Addicted to Love (1997, also
with Kelly Preston) and starred as a scientist who leads in the tracking of a
nasty, brutish and very tall rampaging monster in Roland Emmerich's high-tech,
big-budgeted Japanese A-bomb monster movie Godzilla (1998).
Alexander Payne, in his adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel, cast Broderick as
Jim McAllister, a popular teacher and student government adviser, in Election
(1999, with Reese Witherspoon). David Kellogg then gave Broderick the title role
of an inept security guard turned world's greatest cybernetic police officer, in
Inspector Gadget, inspired by the popular cartoon character of the same name.
Broderick also returned to stage and played the lead role in the National Actors
Theater Broadway revival of "Night Must Fall."
Entering the new millennium, Broderick appeared as a bank manager in the
Sundance hit penned and helmed by childhood friend Kenneth Londergan, You Can
Count on Me (starring Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo) and starred as Professor
Harold Hill, an energetic con artist, in the ABC remake of the legendary
Broadway musical and 1962 film, The Music Man (2003). On stage, Broderick
appeared with Parker Posey in the ill-fated Broadway comedy written by Elaine
May, "Taller Than a Dwarf" and costarred with Nathan Lane in the Broadway
musical "The Producers," which gave Broderick a Tony nomination.
In 2004, Broderick portrayed the husband of Nicole Kidman’s character in Frank
Oz's comic re-imagining of the 1975 suspense classic, The Stepford Wives (based
on Ira Levin's book), shared the title role of Marie and Bruce with Julianne
Moore in Tom Cairns' drama comedy film with the same name, and costarred with
Alec Baldwin in Jeff Nathanson's ensemble comedy The Last Shot (as a struggling
filmmaker). More recent, Broderick appeared in actor-writer-director Paul
Dinello's prequel to the critically acclaimed series featuring Jerri Blank, the
comedy Strangers with Candy (with Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert).
Broderick just completed Susan Stroman’s big screen adaptation of the Tony-Award
Winning musical, The Producers, in which he reprised his role as Leo Bloom, the
mousy accountant of Nathan Lane's character, along with Will Ferrell and Uma
Thurman. He will lend his voice to the Simba character again in the upcoming
animated movie Kingdom Hearts II and will share the screen with young talented
actress Anna Paquin in writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret.
“I slip from workaholic to bum real easy.” Matthew Broderick
Awards:
