Early life and education

Broderick was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of Patricia (née Biow), a playwright, actress, and painter, and James Broderick, an actor and World War II veteran. His mother was Jewish (a descendant of immigrants from Germany and Poland). His father was a Catholic of Irish, and some English, descent. Broderick attended grade school at City and Country School (a progressive K-8 school in Manhattan) and 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 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 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 film 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, in which he played the main role of David Lightman, a Seattle teen hacker. This was followed by the role of 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 age 23, Broderick played a high school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago. The film remains a 1980s comedy favorite today, and 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 gay lover, Alan, in the screen adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy. In the 1989 film Glory, he received favorable reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw, whom Broderick incidentally physically resembled at the time.

In the 1990s, Broderick voice of the adult Simba, in Disney's successful animated film The Lion King, and also voiced Tack the Cobbler in Miramax's controversial version of The Thief and the Cobbler, which had originally been intended as a silent role. He won recognition for two dark comedy roles. The first was that of a bachelor in The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey. The second was that of a high school teacher in Alexander Payne's Election with Reese Witherspoon.

Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, most notably with his Tony Award-winning performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and his Tony Award-nominated role in the Mel Brooks 2001 stage version of The Producers. In the latter production, he played Leopold "Leo" Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail, but which turns out to be successful. Broderick reprised the role in the 2005 film adaptation of the same name.

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 appeared on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28, 2009. 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.

Personal life

Family

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. Although Broderick considers himself culturally Jewish, the ceremony was performed by his sister, Janet Broderick Kraft, an Episcopal priest.

Parker and Broderick have a son, James Wilkie Broderick, born in 2002. In April 2009, it was confirmed that Broderick and Parker were expecting twin girls through surrogacy. Broderick and Parker's surrogate delivered their twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, in 2009. Broderick is a New York Mets fan, while Parker supports the New York Yankees, and their son the Boston Red Sox.

Although the couple lives in Manhattan, Broderick and Parker spend a considerable amount of time at their holiday home near Kilcar, a village in County Donegal, Ireland, where Broderick spent his summers as a child. They also have a house in The Hamptons.

Family ancestry

In March 2010, Broderick was featured in the NBC program Who Do You Think You Are?. Broderick stated that his participation in the ancestry research program emotionally reconnected him with the role he played in Glory 22 years earlier, as he discovered a paternal great-great-grandfather, Robert Martindale (incidentally sharing the same given name as his Glory character), who actually was a Union soldier. A veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg, Martindale, who belonged to the 20th Connecticut, was killed in the aftermath of the Battle of Atlanta and was eventually interred in an unnamed grave at the Marietta National Cemetery. Having identified the grave with the help of historian Brad Quinlin, Broderick's research enabled him to give his ancestor his name back. In the same program, Broderick discovered that his paternal grandfather, James Joseph Broderick II, whom he had never known, had been a highly decorated combat medic in World War I, having earned his distinctions during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

1987 car accident

On August 5, 1987, Broderick was in a car accident in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, while vacationing with Jennifer Grey, whom he had begun dating in semi-secrecy during the filming of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The accident, which was the event through which their relationship became public, occurred when, at the wheel of a rented BMW, Broderick crossed into the wrong lane and collided head-on with a Volvo driven by Anna Gallagher, 28, accompanied by her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, who were both killed instantly in the accident. Broderick suffered a fractured leg, fractured ribs, a concussion, and a collapsed lung. Grey received minor injuries, including severe whiplash. 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. Broderick was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced up to five years in prison, but was later convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined $175, which the victims' family called "a travesty of justice". Martin Doherty, whose sister and mother were killed in the crash, later stated that he forgave Broderick, amid plans to meet with Broderick in 2003, in order to gain a sense of closure. In February 2012, when Broderick was featured in a multimillion-dollar Honda commercial aired during the Super Bowl, Doherty said a meeting with Broderick had not taken place and that Broderick "wasn't the greatest choice of drivers knowing his past."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Max Dugan Returns	Michael McPhee
1983	WarGames	David Lightman	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actor
1985	1918	Brother
1985	Ladyhawke	Philippe Gaston
1986	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	Ferris Bueller	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1986	On Valentine's Day	Brother
1987	Project X	Jimmy Garrett
1988	Biloxi Blues	Eugene Morris Jerome
1988	Torch Song Trilogy	Alan Simon
1989	Family Business	Adam McMullen
1989	Glory	Col. Robert Gould Shaw
1990	The Freshman	Clark Kellogg
1992	Out on a Limb	Bill Campbell
1993	The Night We Never Met	Sam Lester
1994	The Lion King	Adult Simba (voice)
1994	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	Charles MacArthur
1994	The Road to Wellville	William Lightbody
1995	The Thief and the Cobbler	Tack the Cobbler (voice)
1996	The Cable Guy	Steven M. Kovacs	Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
1996	Infinity	Richard Feynman	Also producer and director
1997	Addicted to Love	Sam
1998	Godzilla	Dr. Niko Tatopoulos
1998	The Lion King II: Simba's Pride	Simba (voice)	Direct-to-video
1998	Walking to the Waterline	Michael Woods
1999	Election	Jim McAllister
1999	Inspector Gadget	Security Officer John Brown / Inspector Gadget / Evil RoboGadget
2000	You Can Count on Me	Brian Everett
2003	Good Boy!	Hubble (voice)
2004	The Lion King 1½	Adult Simba (voice)	Direct-to-video
2004	Marie and Bruce	Bruce
2004	The Stepford Wives	Walter Kresby
2004	The Last Shot	Steven Schats
2005	The Producers	Leo Bloom
2005	Strangers with Candy	Roger Beekman
2006	Deck the Halls	Steve Finch
2007	Then She Found Me	Ben Green
2007	Bee Movie	Adam Flayman (voice)
2008	Diminished Capacity	Cooper Kennedy
2008	Finding Amanda	Taylor Peters Mendon
2008	The Tale of Despereaux	Despereaux (voice)
2010	Wonderful World	Ben Singer
2011	Margaret	John Van Tassel
2011	Tower Heist	Mr. Fitzhugh
2011	New Year's Eve	Mr. Buellerton	Uncredited
2013	Skum Rocks!	Himself	Documentary
2015	Dirty Weekend	Les Moore
2015	Trainwreck	Matthew Broderick	Cameo
2016	The American Side	Borden Chase
2016	Rules Don't Apply	Levar Mathis	Completed
2016	The Gettysburg Address	Narrator	Documentary; In post-production
2016	Look Away	Murray	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Lou Grant	Mike	Episode: "Generations"
1985	Faerie Tale Theatre	Prince Henry	Episode: "Cinderella"
1985	Master Harold...and the Boys	Hally Ballard	Television film; Nominated - CableACE Award for Actor in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special
1988-98	Saturday Night Live	Himself / Host	2 episodes
1993	A Life in the Theatre	John	Television film; Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1995	Frasier	Mark (voice)	Episode: "She's the Boss"
2003	The Music Man	Professor Harold Hill	Television film
2008-12	30 Rock	Cooter Burger	2 episodes
2010	Louie	Matthew Broderick	Episode: "Heckler/Cop Movie"
2010	Beach Lane	Mike Brennan	Unsold pilot
2012	Adventure Time	Dream Warrior (voice)	Episode: "Who Would Win"
2012	Modern Family	Dave	Episode: "Mistery Date"
2013	Untitled Tad Quill project	Jack Lewis	Unsold pilot
2015	The Jim Gaffigan Show	Matthew Broderick	Episode: "Wonderful"
2016	Adventure Time	Spirit of the Forest (voice)	Episode: "Flute Spell"

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Torch Song Trilogy	David
1983	Brighton Beach Memoirs	Eugene Jerome	Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
1985	Biloxi Blues	Eugene Morris Jerome
1986-87	The Widow Claire	Horace Robedaux
1995	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying	J. Pierrepont Finch	Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical
1999	Night Must Fall	Dan
2000	Taller Than a Dwarf	Howard Miller
2001-02	The Producers	Leopold "Leo" Bloom	Nominated - Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical
2004	The Foreigner	Charlie Baker
2005	The Odd Couple	Felix Unger
2009	The Philanthropist	Phillip
2009	The Starry Messenger	Mark Williams
2012-13	Nice Work If You Can Get It	Jimmy Winter
2014-15	It's Only a Play	Peter Austin
2015	Sylvia	Greg

Charities

Matthew Broderick supports the following charitable cause: Autism.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]