Matthew Lauria (born August 16, 1982) is an American actor and musician. He made his television debut on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', tak ...

'' in 2007. He is best known for his roles as Luke Cafferty on the NBC/

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

drama '' Friday Night Lights'', Ryan York on the NBC family drama '' Parenthood'', and Ryan Wheeler on the

Audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), o ...

drama '' Kingdom''. In 2021, Lauria appeared as a series regular on the crime television series '' CSI: Vegas''.

Early life and education

Lauria was born in Virginia and moved to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

with his family when he was seven. His father was an animator and an artist. He has two sisters. He spent his formative years growing up in Dublin and moved back to the U.S. to attend high school. He received his formal acting training from the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Govern ...

in their drama conservatory, where he earned a BFA in drama.

Career

Within a few weeks of moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Lauria successfully made his television debut as Winthrop on the NBC sitcom ''

''. Soon after, he landed a recurring role on the NBC romantic sitcom '' Lipstick Jungle'' as Roy Merritt, where he co-starred with

Brooke Shields Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress and model. She was initially a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film '' Pretty Baby'' (1978). She continued to model into ...

Andrew McCarthy Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as ''St. Elmo's Fire'', ''Pretty in Pink'', and '' Less ...

and Robert Buckley. Lauria landed his first starring role as Luke Cafferty, #44 of the East Dillon Lions, in the Emmy award-winning NBC/

drama '' Friday Night Lights'', for which he moved to

Pflugerville, Texas Pflugerville ( ) is a city in Travis County, Texas, United States, with a small portion in Williamson County. The population was 65,191 at the 2020 census. Pflugerville is a suburb of Austin and part of the Austin–Round Rock–San M ...

in order to film. Lauria remained on the show until it ended in 2011. After finishing ''Friday Night Lights'', Lauria moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

after being cast as Caleb Evers in the Fox crime drama '' The Chicago Code''. The show was cancelled after one season. He co-starred as Charlie Carnegie on the ABC drama pilot ''Gilded Lilys'' created and produced by Shonda Rhimes. From 2012 to 2015, Lauria had a recurring role as Ryan York, a veteran of the

Afghanistan war War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: * Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see a ...

, on the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons of the NBC family drama '' Parenthood'', reuniting with former ''Friday Night Lights'' showrunner

Jason Katims Jason Katims (born November 30, 1960) is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known as the creator of several television series, including '' Relativity'' (1996), '' Roswell'' (1999–2002), '' Friday Night Lights' ...

. He also starred as Ryan Wheeler on the

drama series '' Kingdom'' which premiered on the

Audience Network Audience Network (also known as Audience from 2016 until 2020) was an American pay television channel that was owned by AT&T. It featured a mix of original and acquired series, specials, and feature films. The network operated as a commercial-fre ...

in the fall of 2014. In 2019, he appeared in two action thrillers, opposite Gina Rodriguez and Ismael Cruz Córdova in '' Miss Bala'', directed by

Catherine Hardwicke Helen Catherine HardwickeAccording to the State of Texas. ''Texas Birth Index, 1903–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. (born October 21, 1955) is an American film director, p ...

, and ''

Shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

'', directed by

Tim Story Timothy Kevin Story (born March 13, 1970) is an African American film director. He is best known for '' Barbershop'' (2002), the ''Fantastic Four'' (2005) and the ''Ride Along'' franchise. He has been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for Ou ...

. In 2019 and 2020, he played the role of Jackson Pruitt on the TV series '' Tell Me A Story''. In 2020, he also played the role of Bill on the TV series '' Little Birds''. Starting in 2021, he played the role of Josh Folsom on the hit show '' CSI: Vegas''.

Personal life

Lauria is an avid

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

ist. On August 26, 2006, he married musician Michelle Armstrong.

Filmography

Film

Television

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauria, Matt Living people Male actors from New York City Male models from Virginia American male television actors Male actors from Alexandria, Virginia University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni 21st-century American male actors American male film actors Male actors from Dublin (city) 1982 births