Matt Weinberg
- Actor
When a family friend suggested that then 8 year-old Matt Weinberg would
make a good child actor, his parents wanted no part of it and said no.
When the parents were still saying no five months later, the friend
decided to take matters into her own hands and sneaked a kids' agent
into a gym where Matt was taking boxing lessons to meet him behind his
parents' backs. The agent flipped for him and when asked, Matt said,
"I'll give it a try", his parents consented and just a few months
later, in late 1998, Matt was on a film set in Vancouver in his first
acting job: a lead role starring opposite Oscar winners Ben Kingsley and
Mercedes Ruehl in the independent feature Spooky House (2001) (coming to theaters in April
2002). Since then, Matt has been busy in both television and film. He
landed one of the most sought-after kids roles of the 1999 pilot season
when he was cast as Eli opposite Edward Asner in Imagine Television's
Eli's Theory (1999). Viewers of Urgences (1994) saw Matt as a guest lead in an episode that
aired in January 2002. In 2001 he was cast as James Bishop, the
ring-leading child in the family that has hired a witch-turned-nanny in
The (Mis)Adventures of Fiona Plum (2001), a comedy pilot for the WB Network. Matt has guest-starred as a
little boy who believes his mother will return from heaven on Les anges du bonheur (1994),
as a skateboarder whose shadow becomes inhabited by an evil, murderous
spirit on Freaky Links (2000), and as an adopted son who finds out just how much
his new older brother loves him on Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999). Matt starred as the son of
Christine Lahti and Tom Skerritt in Lifetime's MOW adaptation of Wendy Wasserstein's Cabale médiatique (2000),
and worked with legendary star Maureen O'Hara in the CBS MOW Une dernière danse (2000). His
co-star appearance on Friends (1994) cast him as a talented actor who shows-up
Joey Tribbiani when they audition together for a soup commercial; he
also is credited with a co-star appearance on Ellen (1994). Matt was twice
nominated for the prestigious Young Artist Award for his performances
in Friends (1994) and Cabale médiatique (2000). His performance in Une dernière danse (2000), earned him a CAMIE
Award (Character and Morality in Entertainment). Matt has appeared in
several feature films including the Fox blockbuster X-Men (2000) where he
was the jellyfish-obsessed Tommy, Bad Boy (2002), where he plays the 8
year-old version of star Denis Leary and the upcoming indie Viens voir papa! (2002). He is
the voice of Young Simba in the new Disney video, Le Roi lion 3 : Hakuna Matata (2004), and is one
of four leads in Joe Dante's 4D film for Lookout Entertainment, R.L. Stine's
Haunted Lighthouse (2003). He also has numerous commercials under his belt including
McDonalds, Digimon and Loanworks. Marnie Cooper is Matt Weinberg's acting
coach; Larry Moss has been his dialect coach. A student at a Los Angeles
public school, Matt is also the starting shortstop for his little
league team, the Giants. He lives in Los Angeles with his mom, Dana;
his dad, Larry, a public relations executive; his brother Mike, 9 (also
an actor) and their three dogs. And, his nay-saying parents are now his
biggest fans.
