Matthew William Goode (born 3 April 1978) is an English actor. His notable films include Chasing Liberty (2004), Match Point (2005), Imagine Me and You (2005), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Watchmen (2009), A Single Man (2009), Leap Year (2010), and Stoker (2013). In 2014, he began starring in the CBS legal drama The Good Wife as Finn Polmar.
University of Birmingham, Exeter School, Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Birmingham, Exeter School
Nationality
British, Canadian
Spouse
Raeleigh Jane Van Bruegel, Jennifer Meischl, Apparitions, Strange Days, Load Me Up
Children
Matilda Eve Goode, Teddie Eleanor Rose Goode, Ralph Goode, Matilda Eve Goode, Thomas MacDonald Good
Parents
Jennifer Goode
Siblings
Sally Meen
Partner
Sophie Dymoke, Sophie Dymoke, Matthew Goode, Matthew Goode, Sophie Dymoke
Palm Springs International Film Festival Best Ensemble Cast award, Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year, Juno Award for Video of the Year, Apparitions, Strange Days, Load Me Up
Music Groups
Matthew Good Band, Matthew Good Band
Nominations
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor, Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Star - Male, Satellite Award for Best Actor – Mi...
Movies
Leap Year, Stoker, The Imitation Game, Watchmen, A Single Man, Chasing Liberty, Match Point, Self/less, Brideshead Revisited, Imagine Me & You, Belle, The Lookout, Cemetery Junction, Copying Beethoven, South from Granada, Birdsong, Burning Man, My Family and Other Animals, A Murder Is Announced, Mag...
TV Shows
Roots, The Good Wife, Downton Abbey, Dancing on the Edge, Bounty Hamster, Masterpiece
#
Quote
1
It's not easy when you've got kids. You have to make some pretty unselfish decisions. I've been lucky. I'm about to finish The Good Wife (2009) and Downton Abbey (2010) we'll see what happens.
2
When you see a finished film, it's very rare that it exceeds your expectations.
3
I wouldn't say I'm drawn to dark roles, and it's not like I pick and choose.
4
When you've got a new family, any kind of security you can have is great.
5
On Benedict Cumberbatch: I'm so proud of Ben. I've known him for such a long time and the last couple of years he's really come to the forefront. Which stops him from being on my sofa going, "God, my career's not going anywhere." And now it's impossible for him to walk down the streets.
6
I'll tell you what, it doesn't get more beautiful than the west of Ireland. Connemara and County Derry are quite stunning, really.
7
I'm very much a jobbing actor who's still trying to find a place to rent down the road.
8
My dream is to one day own a country house on the shore in England, have gotten married, wipe some debt off and get a few more good films.
9
My dad was a geologist and my mum was a nurse who directed amateur theatrics.
10
Making a film is very hard work, and you live or die by the sword just a little bit every time you do it, but I wouldn't chuck it in.
11
I like the fact that Hogan's shoes all have this sporty sole that is great even for an older man with a bad back like me.
12
Some actors go, 'Bing!' and suddenly they're being paid huge sums. Me, I seem to get screwed every time.
13
I've thought about writing, but it hasn't happened yet. It's like schoolwork - you start doing your revisions two nights before you're compelled to turn it in.
14
You spend some time raising a child in London, carrying it around on one side of your body - it puts your back out!
15
I'm always pretty tense about everything when it comes to work.
16
If I lived in L.A., I'd be schizophrenic after a week.
17
I'm not posh, not in the slightest. My parents spent some money on my education, but I wasn't born to the purple.
18
Golf courses are beautiful, it's good for the soul and it gets out the anger... well, if you don't care about the score then you won't have a heart attack.
19
I don't think I know enough about acting to direct. You need to be a slight megalomaniac, not where you want to take over the world, but where you want to make every single decision and the buck stops with you. It's an awful lot of stress.
20
[on playing Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited (2008)] It was hard without the voiceover, when you've got no words, it's difficult to be Mr Charm. I saw Charles Ryder as the loneliest person in the whole world. He had a loveless childhood growing up with no mother and a distant father - and who of us knows our father, anyway? Also, I'm no one, so just the fact that I was offered the part of Ryder is amazing.
21
When it comes to acting, it is very limiting to be English. It was 'Bring on the posh!' All the parts I was being offered involved my accent or someone with money and title.
#
Fact
1
Father of Ralph Goode - born August 2015.
2
Had to memorize and speak his lines for more than 58 scenes in Spanish when filming Al sur de Granada (2003).
3
Played a mouse in "Wind in The Willows" at the age of 6.
His favorite band is Coldplay. Chris Martin is one of his brother's old friends.
6
Father of daughter, Teddie Eleanor Rose Goode, with Sophie Dymoke, born in September 2013.
7
Went to Exeter School in Exeter, Devon.
8
Has a daughter Matilda Eve Goode (born on March 1, 2009).
9
Hailed by The Sunday Times Magazine as one of Britain's finest Rising Stars along with Romola Garai, Hugh Dancy, Eddie Redmayne, Gemma Arterton, Hayley Atwell, Andrea Riseborough, Richard Coyle, Tom Sturridge, Rachel Hurd Wood, Eliza Bennet Daniel Mays and Kaya Scodelario (2009).