Matthew Arkin

Last updated
Matthew Arkin
Born (1960-03-21) March 21, 1960 (age 64)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Alma mater Wesleyan University
Fordham University School of Law
Occupation(s)Actor, instructor, author
Years active1969–present
Spouse
Pamela Newkirk
​
​
(m. 1993;div. 2011)​
Children2
Father Alan Arkin
Relatives Adam Arkin (brother)
David I. Arkin (paternal grandfather)

Matthew Arkin (born March 21, 1960) is an American actor, acting instructor, and author.

Contents

Early life and education

Arkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jeremy Yaffe, a nurse, and actor Alan Arkin. He is the younger brother of actor Adam Arkin. After his parents separated when he was an infant, Arkin was raised by his mother in California until age 7. [1] He then lived with his father and stepmother, actress Barbara Dana, and half-brother Anthony Dana Arkin, in Greenwich Village. In 1968, Arkin and his brother were directed by their father in the Academy Award nominated short film People Soup. [2] Arkin attended Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York. [3] Arkin graduated from Wesleyan University and earned a J.D. degree from Fordham University School of Law. [1] Although he was raised in a non-denominational household, Arkin is Jewish and identifies with Jewish culture. [4]

For five years Arkin practiced law with small firms in Tarrytown and White Plains, New York. [3] He quit to pursue a career in acting. When asked why he would give up a career in law, Arkin pointed out a laughing audience and said, ""You hear that sound? You know how many people I made laugh when I was a lawyer? None... well, maybe a few judges." [1]

Career

Acting

Arkin studied acting at the HB Studio [5] under Uta Hagen, Austin Pendleton and Sheldon Patinkin. In 1993, he debuted on Broadway in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor and continued during the production's national tour. He played Ben Silverman in the 1997 Broadway revival of The Sunshine Boys . Arkin was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play [6] for his role as Gabe in the 1999 Off-Broadway premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Dinner with Friends . [3] Arkin played the role of Reggie Ellis in the 2006 Broadway production of Losing Louie . [7]

Arkin also appeared in a variety of films and television shows, including All My Children (2007), Law & Order (1991-2009) and 100 Centre Street (2001).

At the South Coast Repertory in Orange County, California, Arkin originated roles in the world premieres of Richard Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair (2009) [8] and Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis (2011). [2] In 2013, Arkin portrayed the 600-pound main character in the West Coast premiere of Samuel Hunter's The Whale. [9]

Teaching

Beginning in 2008, Arkin taught acting technique at the HB Studio in New York City [10] and later at the Actors Studio in Los Angeles. [11] In 2015, Arkin accepted the position as Director of the Acting Intensive Program at South Coast Repertory in Southern California. [12]

Author

In 2016, Arkin published the detective novel In the Country of the Blind. [13]

Personal life

Arkin married Pamela Newkirk in May 1993 with whom he has two children. They divorced in 2011.[ citation needed ] He resides in Pasadena, California. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Arkin</span> American actor and filmmaker (1934–2023)

Alan Wolf Arkin was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. Murray Abraham</span> American actor (born 1939)

F. Murray Abraham is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award, four Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He came to prominence for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri in the drama film Amadeus (1984) for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Margulies</span> American playwright

Donald Margulies is an American playwright and academic. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Dinner with Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Arkin</span> American actor and director

Adam Arkin is an American actor and director. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony as well as three primetime Emmys, four SAG Awards, and a DGA Award. In 2002, Arkin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special for My Louisiana Sky. He is also one of the three actors to portray Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck on Monk. Between 2007 and 2009, he starred in Life. Beginning in 1990, he had a recurring guest role on Northern Exposure playing the angry, paranoid Adam, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, he portrayed villain Ethan Zobelle, a white separatist gang leader, in Sons of Anarchy and as Principal Ed Gibb in 8 Simple Rules (2003–2005). His brother Matthew is also an actor, as was his father Alan Arkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Noth</span> American actor (born 1954)

Christopher David Noth is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on Law & Order (1990–1995), Big on Sex and the City (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on The Good Wife (2009–2016).

Peter Frechette is an American actor. He is a stage actor with two Tony Award nominations for Eastern Standard and Our Country's Good, and frequently stars in the plays of Richard Greenberg. He is well known on TV for playing hacker George on the NBC series Profiler and Peter Montefiore on Thirtysomething. In film, he is known for playing T-Bird Louis DiMucci in the musical Grease 2.

Richard Greenberg is an American playwright and television writer known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class American life. He has had more than 25 plays premiere on and Off-Broadway in New York City and eight at the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, California, including The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, and Hurrah at Last.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Lucas</span> American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director

Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arye Gross</span> American actor (born 1960)

Arye Gross is an American actor, who has appeared on a variety of television shows in numerous roles, most notably Adam Greene in the ABC sitcom Ellen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Pendleton</span> American actor (born 1940)

Austin Campbell Pendleton is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakin Matthews</span> American actor

Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. Best known as Herb Kelcher in My Two Dads (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), Joe Heffernan in The King of Queens (1998-2007), and as Reverend Sikes in Desperate Housewives (2004–2012).

Three Days of Rain is a play by Richard Greenberg that was commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 1997. The title comes from a line from W. S. Merwin's poem, "For the Anniversary of My Death" (1967). The play has often been called Stoppardian but Greenberg says he wasn't aware of Stoppard's work before he wrote the play but instead claims 1967 BBC series The Forsyte Saga was a much greater influence. Three Days of Rain was nominated for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen McKinley Henderson</span> American actor

Stephen McKinley Henderson is an American actor. Henderson trained at Juilliard School for acting and later became a resident member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis from 1976 to 1981. He came to prominence as a character actor often performing the plays of August Wilson. He has received nominations for two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Vulture named Henderson as one of "The 32 Greatest Character Actors Working Today".

The Violet Hour is a play by Richard Greenberg which premiered at the South Coast Repertory in 2002 and ran on Broadway in 2003.

Brooklyn Boy is a play by American playwright Donald Margulies. The play premiered in 2004 at South Coast Repertory and then on Broadway in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas G. Waites</span> American actor

Thomas G. Waites is an American actor and acting instructor born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Waites runs an eponymous acting studio in New York City. He has been a member of the Actors Studio since 1984.

Daniel John Sullivan is an American theatre and film director and playwright.

Melissa van der Schyff is a South African-born Canadian award-winning actress, singer, comedian and songwriter who is best known for her work on Broadway. She was nominated for a 2012 Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for "Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical" for originating the role of Blanche Barrow in the Broadway Musical Bonnie & Clyde, which opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City on 1 December 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Kemp</span> American actress

Elizabeth Kemp was an American actress and acting coach.

<i>The Whale</i> (play) 2012 play by Samuel D. Hunter

The Whale is a play written by Samuel D. Hunter. The play, set in Moscow, Idaho, tells the story of a 600-pound obese man who hides from the world and stays in his apartment. He cannot stop eating to the detriment of everyone around him, including his estranged daughter.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ridel, Michael (November 17, 1999). "He's Arkin up the Right Tree Matthew is a Hir in 'Dinner'". New York Post. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 Hodgins, Paul (April 26, 2011). "Matthew and Adam Arkin finally share a stage in O.C." Orange County Register . Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Klein, Alvin (March 5, 2000). "Another Arkin in Father's Footsteps". The New York Times .
  4. ↑ Goldfarb, Myra Yellin (February 7, 1993). "For Matthew Arkin, Family Has Played A Leading Role". The Morning Call . Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  5. ↑ HB Studio Alumni
  6. ↑ "Nominees and Recipients". 2000. Drama Desk. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  7. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (October 13, 2006). "Dad Had Adultery; the Son Is Stuck With Adulthood". New York Times. p. E2. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (March 12, 2009). "Arkin, Gross, Hinkle and O'Hara Will Star in Premiere of Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair". Playbill. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  9. ↑ Ng, David (March 17, 2013). "Bringing heft to 'The Whale' at South Coast Repertory". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Wood, Mark Dundas (April 9, 2010). "Those Who Can". Backstage. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  11. ↑ "Matthew Arkin Joins SCR's Teaching Faculty". Press Announcement. South Coast Repertory. May 21, 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Matthew Arkin Appointed Director of South Coast Repertory's Acting Intensive Program". Press Release. Costa Mesa, California: South Coast Repertory. January 30, 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  13. 1 2 Royalty, Catherine (September 17, 2016). "Matthew Arkin". Local Author Spotlight. Los Angeles Public Library. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.