Matthew Modine
Acting • Born 1959-03-22
Biography
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He shared the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actor as part of the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's film Streamers (1983). He went on to play lead roles in several high-profile films throughout the 1980s, including Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), and Married to the Mob (1988). He gained further prominence for playing U.S. Marine James T. "Joker" Davis in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). Other notable films include Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), Cutthroat Island (1995), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Oppenheimer (2023). On television, he portrayed Dr. Don Francis in the HBO film And the Band Played On (1993), Sullivan Groff on Weeds (2007), Ivan Turing in Proof (2015), and Dr. Martin Brenner on Netflix's Stranger Things (2016–2022). Modine has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for his work in And the Band Played On and What the Deaf Man Heard and received a special Golden Globe for him and the rest of the ensemble in Short Cuts. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for And the Band Played On.
Filmography
137 credits
Full Metal Jacket
Movie • 1987
Pvt. Joker
Cutthroat Island
Movie • 1995
William Shaw
Short Cuts
Movie • 1993
Dr. Ralph Wyman
Married to the Mob
Movie • 1988
Mike Downey
Jacob
Movie • 1994
Jakob
And the Band Played On
Movie • 1993
Dr. Don Francis
Pacific Heights
Movie • 1990
Drake Goodman
Amy and the Angel
Movie • 1982
Randy
Fluke
Movie • 1995
Thomas P. Johnson / Voice of Fluke
Vision Quest
Movie • 1985
Louden Swain
Birdy
Movie • 1984
Birdy
Bye Bye Love
Movie • 1995
Dave Goldman
Sex and Lies in Sin City
Movie • 2009
Ted Binion
Garden of Eden
Movie • 2008
David's Father
Orphans
Movie • 1987
Treat
Mrs. Soffel
Movie • 1984
Jack Biddle
The Blackout
Movie • 1997
Matty
Any Given Sunday
Movie • 1999
Dr. Ollie Powers
Transporter 2
Movie • 2005
Jefferson Billings
Memphis Belle
Movie • 1990
Dennis Dearborn
In the Shadows
Movie • 2001
Eric
Flowers for Algernon
Movie • 2000
Charlie Gordon
Wind
Movie • 1992
Will Parker
The Real Blonde
Movie • 1998
Joe
Have Dreams, Will Travel
Movie • 2007
Ben's Father
Funky Monkey
Movie • 2004
Alec McCall
Kettle of Fish
Movie • 2006
Mel
Mary
Movie • 2005
Tony Childress / Jesus
Too Big to Fail
Movie • 2011
John Thain
The Neighbor
Movie • 2007
Jeff
Gross Anatomy
Movie • 1989
Joe Slovak
The Dark Knight Rises
Movie • 2012
Foley
Streamers
Movie • 1983
Billy
The Trial
Movie • 2010
Mac
Nobody's Baby
Movie • 2001
Sonny
Private School
Movie • 1983
Jim Green
The Browning Version
Movie • 1994
Frank Hunter
Little Fish, Strange Pond
Movie • 2009
Mr. Jack
Accidental Truth: UFO Revelations
Movie • 2023
Narrator (voice)
Go Go Tales
Movie • 2008
Johnie Ruby
Girl in Progress
Movie • 2012
Dr. Harford
Hollywood North
Movie • 2004
Bobby Myers
The Maker
Movie • 1997
Walter Schmeiss
What the Deaf Man Heard
Movie • 1997
Sammy Ayers
Opa!
Movie • 2005
Eric
The Winning Season
Movie • 2004
Honus Wagner
The Shipment
Movie • 2001
Mitch Garrett
Retribution
Movie • 2023
Anders Muller
Equinox
Movie • 1992
Henry Petosa / Freddy Ace
Jobs
Movie • 2013
John Sculley
Family Weekend
Movie • 2013
Duncan Dungy
Cowboy
Movie • 2008
Cowboy
Redeemer
Movie • 2002
Paul Freeman
If... Dog... Rabbit
Movie • 1999
Johnnie Cooper
The Martini Shot
Movie • 2023
Steve
Mulberry St.
Movie • 2010
Self
Baby It's You
Movie • 1983
Steve
Hard Miles
Movie • 2024
Greg Townsend
How Bizarre: The Story of an Otara Millionaire
Movie • 2014
Self
The Gamble
Movie • 1988
Francesco Sacredo
Against the Current
Movie • 2021
Narrator
Oppenheimer
Movie • 2023
Vannevar Bush
Adventures in Plymptoons!
Movie • 2011
Self
Altar
Movie • 2014
Alec
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman
Movie • 1998
Self
Odyssey in Rome
Movie • 2005
Unity
Movie • 2015
Narrator (voice)
The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards
Movie • 2015
Theodore Foster
Guests
Movie • 2014
Theodore Foster
The Confirmation
Movie • 2016
Kyle
47 Meters Down
Movie • 2017
Taylor
The Brainwashing of My Dad
Movie • 2015
Himself - Narrator
The Hippopotamus
Movie • 2017
Michael Logan
Jesus Was a Commie
Movie • 2011
Himself
How to Grow Up Despite Your Parents
Movie • 2016
Bob Riley
Bamboozled
Movie • 2000
Himself
I Think I Thought
Movie • 2008
Joe
Overnight
Movie • 2003
Self
Very Mean Men
Movie • 2000
Bartender
Santa: The Fascist Years
Movie • 2008
Narrator (voice)
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Movie • 2018
Secretary of Defense James Riley
The American
Movie • 1998
Christopher Newman
Backtrace
Movie • 2018
MacDonald
Speed Kills
Movie • 2018
George Bush
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Movie • 2001
Self
Filmworker
Movie • 2018
Self
My Love Affair with Marriage
Movie • 2023
Bo (voice)
Notting Hill
Movie • 1999
Actor (uncredited)
Miss Virginia
Movie • 2019
Congressman Cliff Williams
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
Movie • 1993
Self
Army of One
Movie • 2016
Dr. Ross
Wrong Turn
Movie • 2021
Scott Shaw
Kubrick Remembered
Movie • 2014
Self
Merry Xmas
Movie • 2015
Abe
Guardians of Life
Movie • 2020
Chance
Movie • 2020
Coach Mike
The Tree
Movie • 1993
Boy as Middle-Aged Man / Boy as Old Man
Le Divorce
Movie • 2003
Tellman
Foster Boy
Movie • 2019
Michael Trainer
Revengeance
Movie • 2016
Sid
Alan Pakula: Going for Truth
Movie • 2019
Self
Breaking News in Yuba County
Movie • 2021
Karl Buttons
Surviving the Dust Bowl
Movie • 1998
Lawrence Svobida (voice)
Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal
Movie • 2021
Rick Singer
The Hotel New Hampshire
Movie • 1984
Chip Dove / Ernst
The Lemon Sisters
Movie • 1990
Wild Bill Hamer
PoliWood
Movie • 2009
Self
Ecce Pirate
Movie • 1997
Narrator
Godzilla x Kong: Supernova
Movie • 2027
Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy's Life
Movie
Self
Protector
Movie • 2026
Colonel Joseph Lavelle
A Modern Art Masterpiece: The Untold Story of Full Metal Jacket
Movie
Self
World Birth Day
Movie • 2002
Self - Narrator(voice)
The Flying House
Movie • 2011
(voice)
The Tony Danza Show
TV • 2004
Self - Guest
The Bedford Diaries
TV • 2006
Jake Macklin
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Gordon Rickett
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Sammy Ayers
Into the West
TV • 2005
Samson Wheeler
So Graham Norton
TV • 1998
Self - Guest
Weeds
TV • 2005
Sullivan Groff
Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story
TV • 2001
Jack Robinson
The West Wing
TV • 1999
Marco Arlens
Proof
TV • 2015
Ivan Turing
CAT. 8
TV • 2013
Dr. Michael Ranger
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Host
100 Years of Warner Bros.
TV • 2023
Self
Stranger Things
TV • 2016
Dr. Martin Brenner
Hitler: The Rise of Evil
TV • 2003
Fritz Gerlich
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self
Zero Day
TV • 2025
Richard Dreyer
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
Self - Guest
The Better Sister
TV • 2025
Bill Braddock
Lo + plus
TV • 1995
Self - Guest
The Simpsons
TV • 1989
Dr. Stern (voice)
American Cinema
TV • 1994
Self
Stranger Things
TV • 2016
Dr. Martin Brenner (archive footage)