Short Biography

Matthew Ryan Phillippe is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s, starring in a string of teen-oriented films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54. Phillippe`s more recent roles include the 2005 Academy Award-winning ensemble film Crash and the 2006 war drama Flags of Our Fathers. In 2007 he starred in Breach, a movie based on the true story of FBI Operative Eric O`Neill who is assigned to shadow and help catch his boss, Robert Hanssen, a spy for the Soviet Union and Russia, in the act of selling secret material.

Phillippe was born Matthew Ryan Phillippe in New Castle, Delaware, the son of Susan, who ran a day care center in the family`s house, and Richard Phillippe, who worked for DuPont. He has three sisters. Phillippe attended New Castle Baptist Academy, where he played basketball and soccer, as well as earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do; he was also the Yearbook Editor in his senior year. At the age of fifteen, he became interested in an acting career, inspired by a neighbor`s suggestion. A casting agent spotted Phillippe in a barbershop two years later, and began sending him to auditions in New York.

Phillippe`s acting career began with an appearance in ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. His character Billy Douglas, whom he played from 1992 to 1993, was the first gay teenager in a daily soap opera, causing a stir. After leaving the show, Phillippe moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in a number of small parts in various television shows including Matlock and movies, including 1996s White Squall.

Phillippe was cast in the 1997 horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, which co-starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film was a success in October of that year, and led to Phillippe gaining wider renown and being cast in a few more high-profile films, including 54 in 1998 and 1999`s Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of the Choderlos de Laclos` novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The latter film, which also starred Phillippe`s future wife, Reese Witherspoon, as well as his I Know What You Did Last Summer co-star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, was a success among its intended teenage audience, cementing Phillippe`s ability to play characters that require sex appeal.

In the years following, Phillippe appeared in the crime drama The Way of the Gun, starred as a famed software engineer in the thriller Antitrust, and co-starred in Robert Altman`s critically-acclaimed Gosford Park, which featured several of Britain`s most respected actors. Subsequently, Phillippe had supporting parts in the films Igby Goes Down (2002) and Crash (2005), which won the Oscar for Best Picture. His 2003 film, The I Inside, premiered on cable.

In 2006, Phillippe played real-life Navy corpsman John Bradley in the war film Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood and following the journey of the United States Marines who lifted the flag at the battle of Iwo Jima. Phillippe has said that the film was the "best experience" of his career because of its "personal meaning" to him, and that he would have "given [his] life" to fight in World War II, noting that both of his grandfathers fought in the war. Phillippe`s role was positively received by film critic Richard Roeper, who specified that he thought it was Phillippe`s best performance to date. Phillippe`s most recent role was in the thril

Miscellaneous Information

Distinctive Features

His Tattoos

Friends and Family

Charles Louis "Deacon" Phillipe (Distant Relative)

David E. Siegel [Friend]

Betty Witherspoon (ex Mother-In-Law)

John Witherspoon (ex Father-In-Law)

John. D Witherspoon (ex Brother-In-Law)

David E. Siegal [Friend]

Seth Green [Friend]

JD Harmeyer [Friend]

Breckin Meyer [Friend]

Katelyn Phillippe [Sister]

Lindsay Phillippe [Sister]

Kirsten Phillippe [Sister]

Susan Phillippe [Mother] (His mother works in pre- and post-natal care.)

Richard Phillippe [Father] (His father is a chemical technician.)

Pets

Coco Channel Dog

Chi Chi Rodriguez Dog

Frank Sinatra Dog

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