Matthew James Gallant (born June 25, 1964) is an American

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people who garnered fam ...

. He was the host of ''The Planet's Funniest Animals'' on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

, as well as shows on MTV, ESPN2, G4, NFL Network, Fine Living, ABC and

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

. Gallant hosted Simon Cowell's ''

American Inventor ''American Inventor'' is a reality television series based on a competition to be named America's best inventor. It was conceived by Simon Cowell and the producers of ''American Idol'', and premiered on ABC in March, 2006. It was organized as a ...

'' in 2007, and currently co-hosts "The List" on the Scripps Network
TheListtv.com

Early career

Born on June 25, 1964, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, and raised in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connec ...

. Gallant studied

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

where Gallant worked in the sports information department and broadcast university

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

games. He held an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

covering sports news at Channel 6 in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. After graduating, Gallant moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

where he became a page at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and filled audiences for shows such as ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the '' Late Night''. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by ...

''. He then hired an agent who managed to find him minor roles in television adverts and

soaps Soap is a surfactant cleaning compound used for personal or other cleaning. SOAP is a computer network protocol (originally an acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol), a protocol specification in computer networks. Soap or SOAP may also refer ...

. He then moved on to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where he auditioned for some small roles. Eventually, Gallant hosted shows including ''X-Treme Energy'', ''The Planet's Funniest Animals'', and ''

''. In 2004 Gallant gave the Commencement speech at the University of Rhode Island, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts for his career achievements and fundraising & volunteer work with the Make a Wish Foundation that helps children with life-threatening illnesses.

References

External links

The Planet's Luckiest Host
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallant, Matt 1964 births Living people Participants in American reality television series Television personalities from Syracuse, New York People from Westport, Connecticut