Career
In 1994, Matt Ross made his first on-screen appearance in Hart Bochner’s directorial venture ‘PCU’. In the following year, he was cast alongside Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt in Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi mystery thriller film ‘12 Monkeys’. In writer-director John Walsh’s romantic comedy ‘Ed’s Next Move’, he starred as the titular character. This was his first performance in a leading role.
In 1997, he guest-starred in an episode of the Fox teen and family drama series ‘Party of Five’. Later that year, he played the killer in the television movie ‘A Deadly Vision’. Ross had a minor role in the 1997 sci-fi action film ‘Face/Off’. In the same year, he guest-starred as Officer Anthony Nowakowski in an episode of the HBO series ‘Oz’. In the late 1990s, he played various roles in projects like ‘You Were Here’, ‘Homegrown’, ‘Buffalo Soldiers’, ‘The Last Days of Disco’, and ‘Pushing Tin’.
Ross was cast as Luis Carruthers, a closeted gay man and Wall Street colleague of Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), in the 2000 neo-noir satirical psychological horror film ‘American Psycho’. In ‘Company Man’, Peter Askin and Douglas McGrath’s 2000 period comedy film, he played a character named Danny. In 2002, he appeared in the TV miniseries ‘Rose Red’. Ross made guest appearances in TV shows like ‘Touched by an Angel’ (2003), ‘Six Feet Under’ (2003), ‘Bones’ (2005), ‘Numb3rs’ (2006), ‘CSI: Miami’ (2006), and ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ (2010).
Ross was cast as aerospace engineer Glenn Odekirk in Martin Scorsese’s epic biographical film ‘The Aviator’ (2004). In 2007, he played Famke Janssen’s husband in the drama film ‘Turn the River’. Between 2006 and 2011, he portrayed Alby Grant in the HBO drama series ‘Big Love’. The son of Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton), Alby is a closeted gay man and the heir apparent “Prophet” of Juniper Creek. As the seasons unfold, he inherits the compound and eventually becomes a fugitive after being accused of murder, tax evasion, spousal abuse, and arranging unlawful unions between adult men and underage girls. The character was a largely fictionalised adaptation of the real-life polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
He starred as country legend Johnny Cash in the 2013 telefilm ‘Ring of Fire’. In the Starz period drama ‘Magic City’ (2012-13), he played the recurring character Jack Klein, who serves as the state attorney for Dade County. Ross played another recurring character, Titus Andover, the chief of a war clan, in the second season (2013) of Eric Kripke’s post-apocalyptic science fiction series ‘Revolution’.
From 2011 to 2015, Ross essayed the role of Dr. Charles Montgomery in the FX anthology series ‘American Horror Story’. Dr. Montgomery is the infamous "surgeon to the stars" who set up Murder House and was its first owner. Since 2014, Ross has been playing tech billionaire Gavin Belson in the HBO comedy-drama series ‘Silicon Valley’.
The 1997 short film ‘The Language of Love’ was Ross’ first project as a writer, producer, and director. In 2009, he made the short film ‘Human Resources’, on which he also served as the cinematographer and editor. His first feature film was the 2012 romance drama ‘28 Hotel Rooms’, which revolves around a relationship that develops between a writer and an accountant while they are travelling for work.
In 2016, he wrote and directed the comedy-drama ‘Captain Fantastic’. Set in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, it tells the story of a father (Viggo Mortensen) who raises his six children with strenuous physical and intellectual education. However, their lives undergo sudden changes after modern civilization inevitably invades into their secluded utopia.
In 2018, Ross directed an episode of ‘Silicon Valley’. He is slated to direct the upcoming sci-fi mystery film ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow’.
Family & Personal Life
Matt Ross was born on January 3, 1970, in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. His parents parted ways when he was a child. His mother subsequently began residing with a community of artists. He spent a significant part of his life in Ashland, Oregon. While he was growing up, he lived in England and Africa. Ross is a graduate from Juilliard. He also studied at New York University.
Ross is married to author Phyllis Grant. They have two children together, son Dashiell and daughter Isabel.
