Matthew Lauria (born August 16, 1982) is an American actor and musician. He made his television debut on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...

'' in 2007. He is best known for his roles as Luke Cafferty on the NBC/

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

drama '' Friday Night Lights'', Ryan York on the NBC family drama '' Parenthood'', and Ryan Wheeler on the

Audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

drama ''

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

''. In 2021, Lauria appeared as a series regular on the crime television series '' CSI: Vegas''.

Early life and education

Lauria was born in Virginia and moved to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

with his family when he was seven. His father was an animator and an artist. He has two sisters. He spent his formative years growing up in Dublin and moved back to the U.S. to attend high school. He received his formal acting training from the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

in their drama conservatory, where he earned a BFA in drama.

Career

Within a few weeks of moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Lauria successfully made his television debut as Winthrop on the NBC sitcom ''

''. Soon after, he landed a recurring role on the NBC romantic sitcom '' Lipstick Jungle'' as Roy Merritt, where he co-starred with Brooke Shields,

Andrew McCarthy Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as ''St. Elmo's Fire'', ''Pretty in Pink'', and '' Less ...

and

Robert Buckley Robert Earl Buckley (born May 2, 1981) is an American actor, known for his roles as Major Lillywhite on The CW's comedy-drama series ''iZombie'' from 2015 until 2019, Kirby Atwood on NBC's comedy-drama series '' Lipstick Jungle'' and Clay Evans o ...

. Lauria landed his first starring role as Luke Cafferty, #44 of the East Dillon Lions, in the Emmy award-winning NBC/

drama '' Friday Night Lights'', for which he moved to

Pflugerville, Texas Pflugerville ( ) is a city in Travis County, Texas, United States, with a small portion in Williamson County. The population was 65,191 at the 2020 census. Pflugerville is a suburb of Austin and part of the Austin–Round Rock–San Mar ...

in order to film. Lauria remained on the show until it ended in 2011. After finishing ''Friday Night Lights'', Lauria moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

after being cast as Caleb Evers in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

crime drama ''

The Chicago Code ''The Chicago Code'' is an American crime drama television series created by Shawn Ryan that aired on Fox in the United States. The series was filmed in Chicago, Illinois, originally airing from February 7 to May 23, 2011, with Fox announcing ...

''. The show was cancelled after one season. He co-starred as Charlie Carnegie on the ABC drama pilot ''Gilded Lilys'' created and produced by

Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama '' Grey's Anatomy'', ...

. From 2012 to 2015, Lauria had a recurring role as Ryan York, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, on the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons of the NBC family drama '' Parenthood'', reuniting with former ''Friday Night Lights'' showrunner

Jason Katims Jason Katims (born November 30, 1960) is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known as the creator of several television series, including '' Relativity'' (1996), '' Roswell'' (1999–2002), '' Friday Night Lights' ...

. He also starred as Ryan Wheeler on the

drama series ''

'' which premiered on the Audience Network in the fall of 2014. In 2019, he appeared in two action thrillers, opposite

Gina Rodriguez Gina Alexis Rodriguez-LoCicero (born July 30, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in The CW satirical romantic dramedy series ''Jane the Virgin'' (2014–2019), for which she received a Golden Glob ...

and

Ismael Cruz Córdova Ismael Enrique Cruz Córdova (born April 7, 1987) is a Puerto Rican actor who gained national attention playing Mando on ''Sesame Street''. Cruz also had a role in the Showtime original series ''Ray Donovan ''Ray Donovan'' is an American c ...

in '' Miss Bala'', directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and '' Shaft'', directed by

Tim Story Timothy Kevin Story (born March 13, 1970) is an African American film director. He is best known for '' Barbershop'' (2002), the '' Fantastic Four'' (2005) and the ''Ride Along'' franchise. He has been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for O ...

. In 2019 and 2020, he played the role of Jackson Pruitt on the TV series '' Tell Me A Story''. In 2020, he also played the role of Bill on the TV series '' Little Birds''. Starting in 2021, he played the role of Josh Folsom on the hit show '' CSI: Vegas''.

Personal life

Lauria is an avid

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

ist. On August 26, 2006, he married musician Michelle Armstrong.

Filmography

Film

Television

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauria, Matt Living people Male actors from New York City Male models from Virginia American male television actors Male actors from Alexandria, Virginia University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni 21st-century American male actors American male film actors Male actors from Dublin (city) 1982 births