Matt Lauria

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Matt Lauria
Lauria in October 2014
Born
Matthew Lauria

(1982-08-15) August 15, 1982 (age 41)[a]
Virginia, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
Years active2005–present
Spouse
Michelle Armstrong
​
(m. 2006)​

Matthew Lauria (born August 15, 1982[1][2][a]) is an American actor and musician. He made his television debut on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in 2007. He is best known for his roles as Luke Cafferty on the NBC/DirecTV drama Friday Night Lights, Ryan York on the NBC family drama Parenthood, and Ryan Wheeler on the Audience drama Kingdom.[3] In 2021, Lauria appeared as a series regular on the crime thriller television series CSI: Vegas.[4]

Early life and education[edit]

Lauria was born in Virginia and moved to Ireland with his family when he was seven. His father was an animator and an artist.[5] He has two sisters.[5] 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 in their drama conservatory, where he earned a BFA in drama.

Career[edit]

Within a few weeks of moving to New York City, Lauria successfully made his television debut as Winthrop on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. 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 and Robert Buckley.

Lauria landed his first starring role as Luke Cafferty, #44 of the East Dillon Lions, in the Emmy award-winning NBC/DirecTV drama Friday Night Lights,[6] for which he moved to Pflugerville, Texas in order to film. Lauria remained on the show until it ended in 2011. After finishing Friday Night Lights, Lauria moved to Chicago, Illinois after being cast as Caleb Evers in the Fox crime drama The Chicago Code. The show was cancelled after one season.[7]

He co-starred as Charlie Carnegie on the ABC drama pilot Gilded Lilys created and produced by Shonda Rhimes.[8] 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.[9] He also starred as Ryan Wheeler on the DirecTV drama series Kingdom which premiered on the Audience Network in the fall of 2014.[10] In 2019, he appeared in two action thrillers, opposite Gina Rodriguez and Ismael Cruz Córdova in Miss Bala, directed by Catherine Hardwicke,[11] and Shaft, directed by Tim Story.[12]

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[edit]

Lauria is an avid electric guitarist.[13] On August 26, 2006,[citation needed] he married musician Michelle Armstrong.[1]

Filmography[edit]

Nick Jonas, Joanna Going, Lauria, Frank Grillo and Jonathan Tucker at the premiere of Kingdom in October 2014

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Raccoon Sam Roxbury Short film
2009 8 Easy Steps VeggieLite Short film
2015 Ma Cowboy
2019 Miss Bala Brian Reich
Shaft Major Gary Cutworth
2022 To Leslie Handsome Outlaw
2023 80 for Brady James

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2007 30 Rock Winthrop Episode: "Jack Gets in the Game"
2008 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Jake Lally Episode: "Neighborhood Watch"
2008–2009 Lipstick Jungle Roy Merritt Recurring
2009 The Forgotten Eric / John Doe Episode: "Living Doe"
2009–2011 Friday Night Lights Luke Cafferty Main role (seasons 4–5); 26 episodes
2011 The Chicago Code Caleb Evers Main role
Burn Notice Ethan Episode: "Square One"
2011–2012 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation FBI agent Matthew Pratt 3 episodes
2012 Person of Interest Adam Saunders Episode: "Risk"
2012–2015 Parenthood Ryan York Recurring role (seasons 4–6); 25 episodes
2013 Gilded Lilys Charlie Carnegie Television film
2014 It Could Be Worse Nelson Episode: "Uncharted Territory"
2014–2017 Kingdom Ryan Wheeler Main role
2017 Dimension 404 Evan Episode: "Impulse"
2019 Traitors Peter McCormick Main role
Into the Dark Guy / John Deakins Episode: "Down"
Dickinson Ben Newton Recurring role
2019–2020 Tell Me A Story Jackson Pruitt Main role
2020 Little Birds Bill Main role
2021–present CSI: Vegas Josh Folsom Main role

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b TV Guide reports his birth year as 1984, but Lauria's own tweet from his verified account says he was born in 1982

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Matt Lauria". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 16 January 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  2. ^ Lauria, Matt [@mattlauria] (22 June 2015). "Matt Lauria Ⓥ on Twitter: "two other @Wikipedia errors worth noting: I'm NOT 5'7" - I'm a about 5'11". And I wasn't born in 1984. 1982, rather."" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2015 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "Instagram". Instagram.com/mattlauria/. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  4. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (19 May 2021). "CBS Fall 2021-22 Schedule: 'NCIS', 'Bull' & 'S.W.A.T.' On the Move, 'FBI' Tuesday, Reality Expansion". Deadline.
  5. ^ a b Blank, Matthew (29 January 2013). "PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: "Friday Night Lights" and Really Really Star Matt Lauria". Playbill. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  6. ^ Ausiello, Michael (17 August 2009). "Exclusive: 'Friday Night Lights' recruits 'Lipstick Jungle' hottie". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  7. ^ Ausiello, Michael (10 May 2011). "Fox Cancels Human Target, Lie To Me, Chicago Code, Two Others". TVLine. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  8. ^ Ben Lee (2 March 2012). "'Friday Night Lights' star Matt Lauria cast in ABC's 'Gilded Lilys'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  9. ^ Ausiello, Michael (31 July 2012). "Exclusive: Parenthood Recruits from Friday Night Lights Again, Casts Matt Lauria as [Spoiler]". TVLine. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  10. ^ Mitovich, Matt (7 October 2014). "Matt Lauria, Jonathan Tucker Preview DirecTV's MMA Drama Kingdom, Duke It Out Over Parenthood's Amber". TVLine. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (19 July 2017). "Matt Lauria and Cristina Rodlo Join Gina Rodriguez in 'Miss Bala' Remake (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  12. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (8 January 2018). "Matt Lauria Joins New Line's 'Shaft' Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  13. ^ "Friday Night Lights - Cast Bios: Matt Lauria". NBC. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matt Lauria.
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