Matt Dillon

Early life

Dillon was raised in a close-knit Irish Catholic family in Mamaroneck, New York by homemaker Mary Ellen and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for toy bear manufacturer Union Camp. Paul Dillon also was the long-time golf coach at Fordham University, having been enshrined in the school's Hall of Fame in 2019. Dillon is the second of six children with one sister and four brothers, one of whom is actor Kevin Dillon. His paternal grandmother was the sister of comic strip artist Alex Raymond, the creator of Flash Gordon.

Career

In 1978, Jane Bernstein and a friend were helping director Jonathan Kaplan cast the teen drama Over the Edge when they found Dillon cutting class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont. Dillon auditioned for a role and made his debut in the film. The film received a regional, limited theatrical release in May 1979, and grossed only slightly over $200,000. Dillon's performance was well-received, which led to his casting in two films released the following year: the teenage sex comedy Little Darlings, in which Kristy McNichol's character loses her virginity to a boy from the camp across the lake, played by Dillon, and the more serious teen dramedy My Bodyguard, where he played a high-school bully opposite Chris Makepeace. The films, released in March and July 1980, respectively, were box office successes and raised Dillon's profile among teen audiences.

Another of Dillon's early roles was in the Jean Shepherd PBS special The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters. The only available copies of this film are stored at UCLA, where a legal dispute makes it unavailable to the public. One of his next roles was in Liar's Moon, where he played Jack Duncan, a poor Texas boy madly in love with a rich banker's daughter.

He won the role of Dallas "Dally" Winston in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 cinematic adaptation of S. E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, and shared the screen with an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Leif Garrett, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, and Patrick Swayze.{{cite magazine |access-date=2025-06-28

Dillon continued to work in the early 1990s with roles in films like Singles (1992). He had a resurgence when he played Nicole Kidman's husband in To Die For (1995), as well as starring roles in Wild Things (1998) and There's Something About Mary (1998), for which he received an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

In 2002, he wrote and directed the film City of Ghosts, starring himself, James Caan and Gérard Depardieu. In 2005, he starred in Factotum, a film adaptation of an autobiographical work by Charles Bukowski. The same year he received critical praise and earned Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for his role in Crash, a film co-written and directed by Paul Haggis. In 2005, Dillon co-starred in Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded and on March 11, 2006, hosted Saturday Night Live, in which he impersonated Greg Anderson and Rod Serling in sketches.

Dillon starred in the comedy You, Me and Dupree, opposite Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson. The film opened on July 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006, Dillon was honored with the Premio Donostia prize in the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Dillon contributed his voice as the narrator, Sal Paradise, in an audiobook version of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. In 2006, he narrated Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.

Dillon appeared in several music videos during his career. He made a cameo appearance as a detective in Madonna's Bad Girl music video which also stars Christopher Walken. Dillon appeared in 1987 in the music video for "Fairytale of New York" by the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues, playing a cop who escorts lead singer Shane MacGowan into the "drunk tank". In 2007, the band Dinosaur Jr. hired Dillon to direct the video for their single "Been There All The Time" from the album Beyond. That year, he guest-starred on The Simpsons episode "Midnight Towboy". Early in 2015, he played the role of a Secret Service agent in the FOX 10-episode series Wayward Pines.

In 2018, Dillon played the lead role in the Lars von Trier thriller The House That Jack Built.

He portrayed Marlon Brando in the biopic about Maria Schneider Being Maria, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

Dillon was in a relationship with Cameron Diaz from 1995 to 1998. From 2014 to 2023 he was in a relationship with Italian actress, dancer and choreographer Roberta Mastromichele. From 2024 to the Current day he in a relationship with Arabella Simon Dillon is an aficionado and collector of Latin music, with a large collection of vinyl, including a notable library of Cuban 78s.

Filmography

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Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. (December 16, 2019). "Matt Dillon from 'Outsiders' - Meet His Brother Kevin Who Is Also an Actor". AmoMama Media Limited.
2. Ebert, Roger. (April 26, 1991). "Review: A Kiss Before Dying". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].
3. Dillon, Matt. (August 6, 2005). "Behind the mask". The Daily Telegraph.
4. Flynn, Paul. (August 11, 2005). "Matt's Crash landing". [[Evening Standard]].
5. Rader, Dotson. (July 23, 2006). ""You Don't Shut the Door on Hope"". [[Parade (magazine).
6. "Paul Dillon (2019) - Hall of Fame".
7. (December 11, 2019). "New Documentary Features Mamaroneck's Paul Dillon - theloop".
8. "Cigar Aficionado - People Profile - Matt Dillon".
9. "Matt Dillon Biography (1964-)".
10. (October 9, 2001). "Fordham golf coach has way with the brush". USA Today.
11. [https://archive.today/20130105041330/http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n9/htdocs/over-the-edge-134.php?page=3 Over the Edge: An Oral History of the Greatest Teen Rebellion Movie of All Time] September 2009, Vice Magazine. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
12. "50 Top-Grossing Films". (Week ending May 23, 1979). Variety, pp. 9.
13. "Matt Dillon box office tallies".
14. "Archived copy".
15. "NTW Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters, The".
16. [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4385 ''The Boys of Winter'' at IBDb]
17. Fleming, Mike Jr.. (November 2, 2016). "Lars Von Trier Sets Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz For 'The House That Jack Built'".
18. (January 15, 2024). "'Being Maria': Anamaria Vartolomei and Matt Dillon on 'Challenge' of Embodying Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando in Upcoming Biopic (EXCLUSIVE)".
19. (13 January 2007). "Matt Dillon's passion for Latin music".
20. Fleming, Mike Jr.. (March 22, 2021). "Dark Comedy 'American Dreamer' Adds Danny Glover, Matt Dillon, Danny Pudi, Michelle Mylett".
21. Ntim, Zac. (13 May 2024). "'Haunted Heart' Starring Matt Dillon Lands North American Distribution With VMI Releasing – Cannes Market".