Matthew Porretta

Last updated
Matthew Porretta
Born
Matthew Charles Porretta

(1965-05-29) May 29, 1965 (age 58)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActor
Years active1993–present
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Spouse
Gleice
(m. 20122014)
Children2

Matthew Charles Porretta (born May 29, 1965) is an American television-, voice-, and film-actor, known for his appearances in Wings, Beverly Hills, 90210 , and Robin Hood: Men in Tights . He has also appeared on Broadway and in video games, where he is known for his voice role for the titular character in Alan Wake and its sequel, Alan Wake II , and as Dr. Darling in Control . He is now voicing Alan Wake in Dead by Daylight, he is the first new character of 2024.

Contents

Life and career

Porretta was born in Darien, Connecticut, into a show-biz family: His father, Frank Porretta, was a famous opera-singer and musical-theater actor. His mother, Roberta, is also a trained singer and was Miss Ohio 1956.

By the age of 25, Porretta was already a veteran of Broadway and a student at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1990 Porretta broke into television with recurring roles on shows like Wings and Beverly Hills, 90210. In 1993 he was given his first major movie role, as Will Scarlet O'Hara in Mel Brooks' spoof Robin Hood: Men in Tights. [1] Porretta starred as Robin Hood in his own TV series four years later. [2] Since 1997 he has starred in many independent movies and been featured in commercials for McDonald's and Arrowhead Water. In 1994 he appeared in the original Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim's Passion . [3]

In 2010, Porretta portrayed the titular character of the psychological action thriller video game Alan Wake by Remedy Entertainment. He also portrayed Dr. Casper Darling in Remedy's Control . [4]

Personal life

Porretta has four siblings. The eldest, Frank Porretta III, is a successful opera singer. His other brother, Greg, has guest-starred with Matthew on television. His sisters, Anna and Roberta, are also in the entertainment industry; Anna was a writer for Talk Soup .

Porretta has two sons with ex-wife Gleice; Luigi (born May 22, 2001) and Enzo (born April 13, 2008). The children were born while Porretta and Gleice were in a relationship. The couple eventually married in 2012 and divorced in 2014. Porretta is still living in Darien with his sons.

In December 2016, Porretta was involved in a bar fight in which an assailant hit Porretta with a beer mug causing severe injuries, scars on the left side of his face and partial loss of vision on his left eye. In March 2017, Porretta filed a lawsuit against the bar owner and alleged attacker. The lawsuit moved forward in June 2019, with the outcome still unknown. [5] [6]

Filmography

Television

YearProjectRoleNotes
1993 Beverly Hills, 90210 Dan Rubin10 episodes
1993 Class of '96 ClaudeEpisode: "Breaking up Is Hard to Overdue"
1993 South Beach RichardEpisode: "Wild Thing"
1996 Wings David BarnesEpisode: "Love at First Flight"
1996–1998 The New Adventures of Robin Hood Robin Hood23 episodes
2000 Code Name: Eternity LeethanEpisode: "Death Trap"
2004 Without a Trace OscarEpisode: "Doppelgänger"
2005 CSI: NY Ron BogdaEpisode: "Hush"
2010 Imagination Movers Stanley SpillburgerEpisode: "Seeing Stars"
2010 Bright Falls Alan WakeEpisode: "Clearcut"
2015 Deadbeat Crosby / Matthew Biscotti5 episodes
2019 The Blacklist SchmockEpisode: "General Shiro"

Film

YearProjectRoleNotes
1993 Robin Hood: Men in Tights Will Scarlet O'Hara
1995 Dracula: Dead and Loving It Handsome Lieutenant at Ball
1999 Desperate But Not Serious Gene
1999Kate's AddictionDylan Parker
1999Turkey. Cake.Jimmy
2003Dream WarriorCaleb

Video games

YearProjectRoleNotes
2010 Alan Wake Alan Wake (voice)
2012 Alan Wake's American Nightmare Alan Wake, Mr. Scratch (voice)
2013 Grand Theft Auto V The local population
2013 The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Additional voices
2016 Quantum Break Alan Wake (voice)
2019 Red Dead Online The local pedestrian population
2019 Control Dr. Casper Darling (live acting and voice), Alan Wake (voice)
2023 Starfield Marco Graziani / Mooch (voice)
Alan Wake II Alan Wake, Scratch (voice), Dr. Casper Darling (live acting and voice)
2024 Dead by Daylight Alan Wake [7]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryWorkResultRef.
2013NAVGTR AwardsLead Performance in a Drama (Alan Wake) Alan Wake's American Nightmare Nominated [8]
Supporting Performance in a Drama (Mr. Scratch)Nominated
2019 The Game Awards Best Performance (Dr. Casper Darling) Control Nominated [9]
2023 Golden Joystick Awards Best Lead Performer (Alan Wake) Alan Wake 2 Nominated [10]
2024 British Academy Games Awards Performer in a Leading Role Longlisted [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Rickman</span> English actor (1946–2016)

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was an English actor and director. Known for his distinctive deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), performing in modern and classical theatre productions. He played the Vicomte de Valmont in the RSC stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, and after the production transferred to the West End in 1986 and Broadway in 1987, he was nominated for a Tony Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Lane</span> American actor (born 1956)

Nathan Lane is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been seen on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. Lane has received numerous awards, including three Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, the Olivier Award, three Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, The New York Times hailed Lane as "the greatest stage entertainer of the decade".

<i>Robin Hood: Men in Tights</i> 1993 film by Mel Brooks

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. The film was produced and directed by Mel Brooks, co-written by Brooks, Evan Chandler, and J. David Shapiro based on a story by Chandler and Shapiro, and stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut. It includes frequent comedic references to previous Robin Hood films, particularly Prince of Thieves, and the 1938 Errol Flynn adaptation The Adventures of Robin Hood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Hale Sr.</span> American actor (1892–1950)

Alan Hale Sr. was an American actor and director. He is best remembered for his many character roles, in particular as a frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn, as well as films supporting Lon Chaney, Wallace Beery, Douglas Fairbanks, James Cagney, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, and Ronald Reagan. Hale was usually billed as Alan Hale and his career in film lasted 40 years. His son, Alan Hale Jr., also became an actor and remains most famous for playing "the Skipper" on the television series Gilligan's Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Rees</span> Welsh actor (1944–2015)

Roger Rees was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Van Patten</span> American actor (1928–2015)

Richard Vincent Van Patten was an American actor, comedian, businessman, and animal welfare advocate, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He was best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford on the television series Eight Is Enough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Lake</span> Finnish video game writer and director

Sami Antero Järvi, better known by his pen name Sam Lake, is a Finnish video game writer and director. He is the creative director at Remedy Entertainment, known for his writing on the popular Max Payne video game series, and Alan Wake.

<i>Alan Wake</i> 2010 video game

Alan Wake is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game was released in May 2010 for the Xbox 360, with a Windows version following in February 2012 and a remastered version released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows in October 2021, as well as a Nintendo Switch version in October 2022. The story follows bestselling crime thriller novelist Alan Wake as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife's disappearance during a vacation in the small fictional town of Bright Falls, Washington, all while experiencing events from the plot of his latest novel, which he cannot remember writing, coming to life.

Will Scarlet is a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He is present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son.

Robert Ridgely was an American actor, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work.

Euan Douglas George Morton is a Scottish actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Boy George in the musical Taboo, receiving nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award for his performance. He played the role of King George in the musical Hamilton on Broadway from July 2017 to September 10, 2023.

<i>The New Adventures of Robin Hood</i> American-French television series

The New Adventures of Robin Hood is an action adventure television series that premiered on January 13, 1997, on TNT. The show was based on the legend of Robin Hood, the English folk hero, and was filmed in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was produced and distributed by Dune Productions, M6, and Warner Bros. International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronny Graham</span> American actor, director and composer

Ronny Graham was an American actor and theater director, composer, lyricist, and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Lewis</span> American actor, singer (born 1963)

Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.

The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main antagonist in the legend of Robin Hood. He is generally depicted as an unjust tyrant who mistreats the local people of Nottinghamshire, subjecting them to unaffordable taxes. Robin Hood fights against him, stealing from the rich, and the Sheriff, in order to give to the poor; it is this characteristic for which Robin Hood is best known. The Sheriff is considered the archenemy of Robin Hood, as he is the most recurring enemy of the well-known outlaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilkka Villi</span> Finnish actor (born 1975)

Ilkka Villi is a Finnish actor and writer, best known internationally for his work in the Alan Wake video games as well as the crime drama series Bordertown. He has played a variety of roles in theatre, television, and film.

Frank Porretta Jr. was an American tenor who had an active career performing in operas, musicals, and concerts from 1952 through 1971. He had a particularly fruitful relationship with the New York City Opera from 1956 to 1970 where he sang a highly diverse repertoire; including roles in new operas by composers Norman Dello Joio, Carlisle Floyd, Vittorio Giannini, and Robert Ward. For the NBC Opera Theatre he portrayed The Astronaut in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's Labyrinth.

<i>Control</i> (video game) 2019 video game

Control is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games. The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in August 2019, and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in February 2021. Cloud-based versions for the Nintendo Switch and Amazon Luna were released in October 2020, followed by a version for Stadia in July 2021. Two paid expansions have been released.

<i>Alan Wake 2</i> 2023 video game

Alan Wake 2 is a 2023 survival horror video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games Publishing. The sequel to Alan Wake (2010), the story follows best-selling novelist Alan Wake, who has been trapped in an alternate dimension for 13 years, as he attempts to escape by writing a horror story involving an FBI special agent named Saga Anderson.

References

  1. Pereira, Chris (September 10, 2019). "The Actor Behind Control's Dr. Darling Has A Very Surprising Past Movie Role". Gamespot.
  2. Knight, Stephen (2003). Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. Cornell University Press. p. 173. ISBN   9780801438851.
  3. Simon, John (May 23, 1994). "...Sondheim's Passion score is a glutinous mass—all the songs sound the same; this Grease-for-today is politically correct..." New York Magazine. Vol. 27, no. 21.
  4. Esteves, Ricardo C. (September 4, 2020). "Control: AWE". gamereactor.eu.
  5. "Lawsuit Moves Forward from Assault in Darien Bar: Report". 4 August 2018.
  6. Kayata, Erin (April 14, 2017). "Former '90210,' 'Robin Hood' actor sues after bar assault". The Darien Times.
  7. Wilson, Mike (January 17, 2024). "New 'Dead by Daylight' Trailer Spotlights Upcoming 'Alan Wake' Chapter and Perks [Watch]". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  8. "Journey wins Game of the Year". NAVGTR Awards. March 24, 2013. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  9. Spangler, Todd (November 19, 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 Nominees: 'Death Stranding,' 'Control' Lead the Field (Full List)". Variety . Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  10. Loveridge, Sam (November 10, 2023). "Here are all the Golden Joystick Awards 2023 winners". GamesRadar+ . Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  11. "The 60 Best Video Games of 2023". BAFTA. 14 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.