Matt Dotson(I)

Growing up on a farm outside of the Portland area, Matt spent his early years acquiring an active love for the outdoors; snowboarding Mount Hood, wakeboarding the Columbia River, and riding dirt bikes in the country. At the age of 17 the opportunity to train in stunt work for film presented itself and he jumped at the challenge. Literally, from buildings, moving cars, down stairs, and through windows. It was through this training that Matt began to get plugged into the local commercial and film market. At 19 Matt landed his first large gig as a stunt player for an international Levi's commercial campaign (Tackle) where they decided to make him the lead actor as well. After touring Germany with the campaign he directly moved to Hollywood and began working primarily in the commercial arena landing numerous national commercials (Coca Cola, Nestea, Pizza Hut, etc). During this time Matt trained in the art of acting with Joe Palese (The Actor Space). It was through Joe's approach to acting, gleaned from the influences of Lee Strasberg, Milton Katselas, and Martin Landau, that Matt found his love for acting. He soon won the lead role of Lyle Huck in the comedic Disney Pilot Family Values along side Susan Ruttan and Jenna von Oÿ. Shortly thereafter Matt cut his dramatic teeth as the socially inept Otis in the indie feature Neon Signs. Since then Matt has continued to work in both film and television as an actor and stunt player. He has had the honor of working with a number of the greats such as: Robert De Niro, 'Cuba Gooding Jr', Mary Tyler Moore, Edward Asner, William Smith, Carol Lynley, Barbara McNair, and most recently Timothy Hutton on Leverage and Jaime Ray Newman on Grimm. Along the way Matt has taken up the opportunity to share his experience in the entertainment industry with others through teaching classes and workshops in the areas of acting, stunts, and speech. As of late, Matt has decided to put on the writing, directing and producing hats. His ultimate desire is to tell good stories with great actors. Stories that evoke emotion in the soul of the human condition. Stories that stir the heart. To this day Matt personally still enjoys doing his own stunts, and working on real, intense, gritty characters of substance that create a good challenge for him as an actor.