Actor / Director Profile

At eighteen, Matt Keeslar moved from Adrian, Michigan to New York City to attend the Juilliard School of Drama. The Juilliard faculty had selected him to fill one of twenty spots in "Group 24", the twenty-forth class to participate in Juilliard's rigorous acting program. Along with the group projects Matt performed at Juilliard, he also played the title role in a touring production of Moliere's Don Juan, directed by Joseph Chaiken; produced and starred in a student production of "Waiting for Godot; and participated in several interdepartmental productions, including playing the title role in Igor Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale. Although Juilliard prohibited working while in school, Matt signed with ICM in his second year and immediately won roles in Quiz Show, directed by Robert Redford, and Renaissance Man, directed by Penny Marshall. In fact, Penny Marshall specifically called Michael Kahn, the dean of the drama department, asking if Matt could take a semester off to star in her film. Michael Kahn demurred, and Penny offered Matt a part he could film over a weekend during the school year. The pressures of work versus school came to a head when Matt won a lead role in the movie Safe Passage, in which he played the son of Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard. Though the producers had scheduled Matt's scenes to be shot over Juilliard's spring break, a snow storm pushed back his filming days into the school year. The ensuing conflict forced him to drop out of Juilliard after completing his third year. Matt went on to star in many professional plays in New York and regionally. He originated the roles of Boyd in Nicky Silver's Fit to be Tied, Nathan Hale in David Stanley Ford's The Interrogation of Nathan Hale, Bo in Laura Cahill's Mercy, and Ricky in Jack Heifner's Earth to Bucky. He established a strong working relationship with South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, where he performed plays and staged readings. Despite his love of theatre, Matt worked in film and television most frequently. Some of the highlights from his film career include: Waiting for Guffman, The Last Days of Disco, Scream III, and Art School Confidential. He guest-starred in several television projects, and starred in The Middleman, a series for ABC Family in which he played the title role.