Leslie Matthew Heath is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

actor, producer, radio host, sports commentator, columnist and musician. He played Danny Parker on '' Back Of The Y Masterpiece Television'' and Dick Johansonson in the feature film '' The Devil Dared Me To''. He was guitarist and singer for the 2000s band Deja Voodoo. He has worked on shows for

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

in the UK and appeared on '' Eating Media Lunch''. Heath previously hosted the Matt and Jerry Breakfast Show with

Jeremy Wells Jeremy Wells (born 19 January 1977) is a New Zealand Broadcast media, media personality who hosts the Radio Hauraki breakfast show with Manaia Stewart, ''Seven Sharp'' alongside Hilary Barry, and ''Taskmaster New Zealand''. Career Wells fir ...

on Radio Hauraki. He has been a columnist for ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

'' since June 2014 and provides

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

commentary for The Alternative Commentary Collective. Heath runs the motion graphics company ''Vinewood Animation Studios'' with Philip Brough. In 2018, he co-hosted '' The Moment'' with Mike Lane on TVNZ Duke throughout the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Heath is the author of a cookbook titled "The Best of Leslie's Kitchen".

Personal life

Born on the 20th of April, Heath was given the first name Leslie as a tribute to his mother's favourite actor

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...

. Co-host Jeremy Wells announced Heath's legal name on the Hauraki Breakfast Show, prompting Heath to acknowledge while his birth certificate says Leslie, he goes by the name Matt and would like an apology. As a result of this, several listeners of the breakfast show submitted parodied songs making fun of Heath's birth name. In a Twelve Questions interview with the ''New Zealand Herald'', Heath reveals his father Christopher Heath was in medicine, often referring to him as Doctor Heath during the Hauraki Breakfast radio show. Heath's mother taught languages at secondary level and he was the only boy in a family of 3 sisters. Heath has two children, Charlie and Barry Heath, with Lani Purkis. In 2018, Heath mentioned on his radio show that he was no longer together with Purkis. They previously lived in the suburb of Mount Eden in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

Television

Heath was a contestant in series 2 of '' Taskmaster NZ'', a show hosted by his radio colleague, Wells. In 2023, Heath appeared on '' Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee''. Heath also competed on the first series of ''The Traitors NZ'', where he was named as one of the starting Traitors. He was banished in the fourth episode.

References

External links

Vinewood Motion Graphics

The Alternative Commentary Collective
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Matt Heath
at NZ On Screen
Interview on Publicaddress.net
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand television personalities New Zealand radio presenters Radio Hauraki People from Dunedin {{NewZealand-actor-stub