Matt Craven Canadian actor Date of Birth: 10.11.1956 Country: Canada

Biography of Matt Craven

Matt Craven, a Canadian actor, was born in 1956 in Ontario, Canada. His father passed away shortly after his birth, and at six months old, Matt moved with his sister and mother to their hometown of St. Catharines, where he spent his childhood.

Matt's first passion was sports, particularly hockey during the winter and baseball during the summer. Despite being a successful student in high school and hoping to continue his education, his mother's struggling hairdressing business forced him to drop out and start working. Initially, he believed it would only be for a year, but he never returned to school.

He began his adult life with a series of temporary jobs, working as a firefighter, mechanic, ship laborer, truck driver, and general laborer. Eventually, his mother's business improved, but instead of returning to school, the now grown-up Matt continued working. He left home to work on the Canadian National Railway, and in the mid-1970s, he embarked on a three-month journey through Europe.

Upon his return, he found himself searching for job opportunities through newspaper ads. It was during this time that Matt stumbled upon an audition for the role in the play "Dracula." Before calling to sign up, he decided to attend a theater performance to get an insider's look into the world he was considering pursuing. That evening, he returned home a changed man - Matt Craven had fallen in love with acting. He landed the role in "Dracula" and began what would become a brilliant career with over sixty roles in film and television.

His film debut came with a small role in Ivan Reitman's comedy "Meatballs," where he had the opportunity to work alongside Bill Murray and Harvey Atkin. Instantly, his career took off, with offers for new roles pouring in from both television and film producers and directors. By the end of the 1980s, he had already appeared in over a dozen films, including J. Lee Thompson's "Happy Birthday to Me," Barry Levinson's "Tin Men," and Martin Lavut's "Palais Royale," where he played the lead character, Gerald Price. He also appeared in several television series.

As the years went by, Matt's name climbed higher on the movie credits, and he found himself working alongside some of Hollywood's brightest stars. He starred alongside Denzel Washington in Tony Scott's action thriller "Crimson Tide," worked with Michael Biehn in Charles Wilkinson's "Breach of Trust," and met Patrick Stewart during the filming of Roger Christian's action film "Conspiracy Theory." In 2000, he had the opportunity to work with Alec Baldwin and Brian Cox in Yves Simoneau's historical drama "Nuremberg." He also worked with director Alan Parker in the crime drama "The Life of David Gale" in 2000. In 2006, Tony Scott invited him to join the cast of his film "Deja Vu," once again starring Washington.

Some of Matt's recent works include Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," a film about the legendary bank robber John Dillinger. However, his schedule already includes projects for 2010 and 2011.

Matt Craven is married to Salli Craven, and they have two children, daughter Josephine and son Nicholas. He considers them his main work and greatest achievement in life.