Skip to main content
Matthew Modine

Matthew Modine

Acting1959Loma Linda, California, USA

Biography

Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He shared the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actor as part of the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's film Streamers (1983). He went on to play lead roles in several high-profile films throughout the 1980s, including Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), and Married to the Mob (1988). He gained further prominence for playing U.S. Marine James T. "Joker" Davis in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). 

Other notable films include Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), Cutthroat Island (1995), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Oppenheimer (2023). On television, he portrayed Dr. Don Francis in the HBO film And the Band Played On (1993), Sullivan Groff on Weeds (2007), Ivan Turing in Proof (2015), and Dr. Martin Brenner on Netflix's Stranger Things (2016–2022).

Modine has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for his work in And the Band Played On and What the Deaf Man Heard and received a special Golden Globe for him and the rest of the ensemble in Short Cuts. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for And the Band Played On.

Acting History

2026
Protector
as Colonel Joseph Lavelle
2025
Zero Day
TVas Richard Dreyer6 eps
The Better Sister
TVas Bill Braddock8 eps
The Simpsons
TVas Dr. Stern (voice)1 eps
2024
Hard Miles
as Greg Townsend
2023
Retribution
as Anders Muller
Oppenheimer
as Vannevar Bush
100 Years of Warner Bros.
TVas Self2 eps
2020
Chance
as Coach Mike
2019
Foster Boy
as Michael Trainer
2018
Speed Kills
as George Bush
Filmworker
as Self
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
as Secretary of Defense James Riley
Backtrace
as MacDonald
2017
The Hippopotamus
as Michael Logan
Stranger Things
TVas Dr. Martin Brenner / Dr. Martin Brenner (archive footage)1 eps
2015
Unity
as Narrator (voice)
The Brainwashing of My Dad
as Himself - Narrator
Proof
TVas Ivan Turing10 eps
2014
Guests
as Theodore Foster
Altar
as Alec
2013
Jobs
as John Sculley
Family Weekend
as Duncan Dungy
2012
2011
Too Big to Fail
as John Thain
2010
The Trial
as Mac
The Trial
Producer
2008
Cowboy
as Cowboy
Cowboy
Writer
Cowboy
Director
2007
Weeds
TVas Sullivan Groff15 eps
2006
The Bedford Diaries
TVas Jake Macklin8 eps
Kettle of fish
Executive Producer
2005
Mary
as Tony Childress / Jesus
Transporter 2
as Jefferson Billings
Opa!
as Eric
The Tony Danza Show
TVas Self - Guest1 eps
Into the West
TVas Samson Wheeler6 eps
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TVas Gordon Rickett1 eps
2004
Hollywood North
as Bobby Myers
Funky Monkey
as Alec McCall
The Winning Season
as Honus Wagner
2003
Overnight
as Self
Le Divorce
as Tellman
The West Wing
TVas Marco Arlens1 eps
Hitler: The Rise of Evil
TVas Fritz Gerlich2 eps
2002
Redeemer
as Paul Freeman
2001
2000
Very Mean Men
as Bartender
Bamboozled
as Himself
1999
Notting Hill
as Actor (uncredited)
Any Given Sunday
as Dr. Ollie Powers
1997
The Blackout
as Matty
1995
Cutthroat Island
as William Shaw
Fluke
as Thomas P. Johnson / Voice of Fluke
Lo + plus
TVas Self - Guest
1994
Jacob
as Jakob
The Browning Version
as Frank Hunter
1993
Short Cuts
as Dr. Ralph Wyman
And the Band Played On
as Dr. Don Francis
1992
Equinox
as Henry Petosa / Freddy Ace
Wind
as Will Parker
1990
Pacific Heights
as Drake Goodman
Memphis Belle
as Dennis Dearborn
1989
Gross Anatomy
as Joe Slovak
1988
Married to the Mob
as Mike Downey
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TVas Self - Guest
1987
Full Metal Jacket
as Pvt. Joker
Orphans
as Treat
1985
Vision Quest
as Louden Swain
1984
Mrs. Soffel
as Jack Biddle
The Hotel New Hampshire
as Chip Dove / Ernst
Birdy
as Birdy
1983
Streamers
as Billy
Private School
as Jim Green
1975
Saturday Night Live
TVas Self - Host

Social Media

Personal Info

Known For
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
3/22/1959(66 years old)
Place of Birth
Loma Linda, California, USA
Matthew Modine - Acting | MaTAb