Matthew Modine (born March 22, 1959 in Loma Linda, California) is an American actor. He got his first film role in John Sayles' film "Baby It's You". Director Robert Altman noticed him and gave his career a boost with the film "Streamers", for which Modine, along with other actors, was awarded a prize at the Venice Film Festival. In 1984 he appeared on screen with Mel Gibson, playing his brother in the film "The Escape Artist". Then he was seen with Nicolas Cage in "Birdy" on camera for director Alan Parker, who received an award at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Modine received from Stanley Kubrick the lead role of Private Joker in the film "Full Metal Jacket" and made a breakthrough in this war film. In Jonathan Demme's comedy "Married to the Mob" he played an FBI agent alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Alec Baldwin. For his role in ... and life goes on, Matthew Modine was nominated for an Emmy Award.

In 1995 he played a pickpocket in the film "The Pirate Bride" with Geena Davis in the lead role. In 1999 he played an actor in the comedy "Notting Hill" with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in the lead roles. That same year he played the doctor of the football team the Miami Sharks alongside Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx in "Any Given Sunday". After his lead roles, Modine appeared in several television films, and in 2003 he appeared as a guest in the series "The West Wing".

In the second part of the "Transporter" series, "Transporter - Mission", Modine played a politician whose son was kidnapped. Matthew Modine also appeared in Steven Spielberg's miniseries "Into the West". In six parts it tells the story of two families, white Americans and Lakota Indians, over several generations.