Matt Keeslar

At eighteen, 'Matt Keeslar' (qv) moved from Adrian, Michigan to New York City to attend the drama division of The Juilliard School. The Juilliard faculty had selected him to fill one of twenty spots in "Group 24", the twenty-forth class to participate in Juilliard's rigorous acting program. Along with the group projects Matt performed at Juilliard, he also played the title role in a touring production of Moliere's Don Juan, directed by Joseph Chaiken; produced and starred in a student production of "Waiting for Godot; and participated in several interdepartmental productions, including playing the title role in Igor Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale. Matt signed with ICM in his second year at Juilliard and immediately won roles in _Quiz Show (1994)_ (qv), directed by 'Robert Redford' (qv), and _Renaissance Man (1994)_ (qv), directed by 'Penny Marshall' (qv). In his third year, Matt won a lead role in the movie _Safe Passage (1994)_ (qv), in which he played the son of 'Susan Sarandon' (qv) and 'Sam Shepard' (qv). He finally dropped out of Juilliard after his third year to take accept the lead role in Peter Yates' Film _The Run of the Country (1995)_ (qv). Matt went on to star in professional plays in New York and regionally. He originated the roles of Boyd in Nicky Silver's Fit to be Tied, Nathan Hale in David Stanley Ford's The Interrogation of Nathan Hale, Bo in Laura Cahill's Mercy, and Ricky in Jack Heifner's Earth to Bucky. Despite his love of theatre, Matt worked in film and television most frequently. Some of the highlights from his film career include: _Waiting for Guffman (1996)_ (qv), _The Last Days of Disco (1998)_ (qv), _Scream 3 (2000)_ (qv), and _Art School Confidential (2006)_ (qv). He guest-starred in several television projects, and starred in _The Middleman (2008)_ (qv), a series for ABC Family in which he played the title role.::S. Hodge