Matt Dillon

Matt Dillon (also credited as Matthew Raymond Dillon) is an American screen actor and filmmaker born on February 18, 1964, in New Rochelle, New York. Emerging in the late 1970s, he quickly became one of the defining young faces of 1980s American cinema, moving from teen roles into a long-running career marked by range and reinvention.

Dillon’s early breakthrough came with his feature debut in Over the Edge, followed by high-profile turns in My Bodyguard and Little Darlings. He cemented his status with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders as the tough, charismatic Dallas Winston, and later appeared in Rumble Fish as Rusty James.

Refusing to be typecast, Dillon leaned into riskier, more complex material, earning acclaim in Drugstore Cowboy as Bob and showing sharp comedic timing in There’s Something About Mary as Pat Healy. He also delivered memorable performances in To Die For, Wild Things, and One Night at McCool’s.

In 2004, Dillon’s work in Crash as Officer John Ryan brought him an Academy Award nomination, underscoring his dramatic weight. He later expanded behind the camera with his directorial debut City of Ghosts and continued working across film and television, including Wayward Pines.