Matt Dillon's Real Name: Matt Dillon

Quick answer: Matt Dillon's real name is Matt Dillon. He is an American actor, born February 18, 1964, in New Rochelle, New York, later known for films including Drugstore Cowboy and Crash.

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Matt Dillon. Independent publishers used here record that public name rather than a longer legal form, so the public name is used in the title. Encyclopedia.com and TV Insider independently date the birth to February 18, 1964, in New Rochelle, New York. TV Insider, alone among the sources cited here, also lists the fuller form Matthew Raymond Dillon; because that form is not independently confirmed in the other sources used here, it is not used in the title. Encyclopedia.com says he is the son of Paul, an investment manager and portrait painter, and Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and that his brother is the actor Kevin Dillon. CBS News independently says he was reared in a large Catholic family and that one of his brothers is Kevin Dillon.

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com says he made his film debut in Over the Edge in 1979 after being spotted by casting director Vic Ramos. CBS News independently says that after his discovery by a talent agent in his middle school in suburban New York, he made his name in My Bodyguard and Little Darlings, both released in 1980. Encyclopedia.com lists early 1980s credits including Dallas Winston in The Outsiders (1983) and Rusty James in Rumble Fish (1983), as well as The Flamingo Kid (1984). CBS News independently says The Flamingo Kid (1984) first suggested potential beyond teen stardom, and TV Insider independently cites The Outsiders (1983) as a source of that teen stardom.

Encyclopedia.com says he won a 1989 Independent Spirit Award for best male lead for Drugstore Cowboy. CBS News and TV Insider independently highlight that 1989 film; CBS News also says he won an Independent Spirit Award for it. Encyclopedia.com lists a later Blockbuster Entertainment Award for There's Something About Mary (1999); CBS News and TV Insider independently name that 1998 comedy among his credits. TV Insider also says he won an Independent Spirit Award for best supporting actor for Paul Haggis's Crash (2005) and describes him as an Oscar nominee. CBS News, in a March 1, 2006, piece on the Academy Awards nominees, discusses Crash among his later ensemble work, alongside To Die For (1995) and In & Out (1997).

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Matt Dillon are looking for the American actor described here.