Matt Dillon

American actor Matt Dillon (1964) has had a successful film career spanned over four decades. From his breakthrough performance in Francis Coppola's The Outsiders (1983) to his hilarious turn as an obsessed private investigator in There's Something About Mary (1998), he has proved himself to be one of the most diverse actors of his generation. Dillon showcased his wide range of dramatic and comedic talents with an arresting performance as a racist cop in the critically acclaimed Crash (2004). It earned him nominations for an Oscar and other awards.


British postcard by Santoro Graphics Ltd., London, no. C236.


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55736. Photo: Bruce Weber / Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland. Caption: Matt Dillon, New York City, 1982.


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55738. Photo: Bruce Weber. Poster design for Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland.


Vintage postcard by Canadian Postcard, no. A-76. Publicity still for Rumble Fish (Francis Coppola, 1983).

Dark, pretty-boy eyes and glacier-cut cheekbones

Matthew Raymond Dillon was born in 1964 in New Rochelle, New York. He was named after the protagonist in the TV series Gunsmoke. His parents are Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for Union Camp, a toy bear manufacturer. Matt is the second child of six and is the brother of actors Kevin Dillon and Paul Dillon. He is also a nephew of the late comic-strip artist Alex Raymond, creator of Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, and Rip Kirby.

Matt began acting in elementary school, and, at the age of 14, he was discovered by Warner Bros. talent scouts while cutting class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont. His film debut was in Over the Edge (Jonathan Kaplan, 1979), a gritty teen drama about a group of bored teenagers in a suburb, who rebel against authority after the death of one of their own. His performance was well-received, which led to his casting in two other films released the following year.

With his dark, pretty-boy eyes and glacier-cut cheekbones, Dillon became a teen idol when he played the love interest of Kristy McNichol in Little Darlings (Ron Maxwell, 1980). He then played troubled teens in three of author S.E. Hinton's books made into films consecutively: Tex (Tim Hunter, 1982), The Outsiders (Francis Coppola, 1983) and Rumble Fish (Francis Coppola, 1983).

By the mid-1980s, Dillon sought to move beyond the teen mould and began taking more adult roles. He made his Broadway debut with the play 'The Boys of Winter' in 1985, and co-narrated the TV documentary Dear America: Letters From Home (Bill Couturié, 1987), which won two Emmy awards. In 1990, he won an IFP Spirit Award for his sombre, unheroic portrayal of a drug addict in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy (1989).

From there he went on to star in such acclaimed films as Singles (Cameron Crowe, 1992) playing the egocentric slacker head of a terrifically bad grunge band; To Die For (Gus Van Sant, 1995) as the well-meaning but tragically dim husband of psychotic weather girl Nicole Kidman, and Beautiful Girls (Ted Demme, 1996), in which Dillon was perfectly cast as a small-town snow plougher unable to make good on the promise of his high-school glory days. A huge hit was the comedy There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998) with Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller. Dillon had a three-year relationship with Diaz. They broke up in 1998.


German collectors card by Bravo.


Australian postcard by TV Hits. Photo: N. Moran / Sygma / Austral International. Photo: Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise in The Outsiders (Francis Coppola, 1983).


American postcard by Zoetroope Images LTD., Boston, Mass, no. 398. Matt Dillon, Vincent Spano, and Mickey Rourke in Rumble Fish (Francis Coppola, 1983).


French postcard by Humour à la Carte, Paris, no. 3515. Photo: D.R. Publicity still for Rumble Fish (Francis Coppola, 1983).


British postcard by Classics Postcards London, no. 59. Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke in Rumble Fish (Francis Coppola, 1983).

Getting better with every film

Aside from being an accomplished actor, Matt Dillon wrote and made his feature film directorial debut with City of Ghosts (2002). In this thriller, he also starred as a con man on the run from law enforcement, opposite Gérard Depardieu, Stellan Skarsgård, and James Caan. Before City of Ghosts, Dillon made his television directorial debut with an episode of HBO's gritty prison drama Oz (1997).

One of his best roles was in the film Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004), in which the narrative shifts between several different groups of seemingly unconnected people in Los Angeles whose relationships with each other are only revealed in the end. It would earn Dillon his first Oscar nomination. Dillon starred in Factotum (Bent Hamer, 2005) for which he received glowing reviews for portraying Charles Bukowski's alter ego when the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He then appeared opposite Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson in the comedy, You, Me and Dupree (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, 2006).

During his long career, Dillon appeared in several music videos. He made a cameo appearance as a detective in Madonna's 'Bad Girl' music video which also stars Christopher Walken. Dillon appeared in 1987 in the music video for 'Fairytale of New York' by the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues playing a cop who escorts lead singer Shane MacGowan into the 'drunk tank'.

His next film credits included the comedy Girl Most Likely (Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, 2012) opposite Annette Bening and Kristen Wiig, the drama Sunlight, Jr. (Laurie Collyer, 2013) opposite Naomi Watts, and the heist comedy The Art Of The Steal (Jonathan Sobol, 2013) opposite Kurt Russell. Dillon also starred in M. Night Shyamalan's TV series Wayward Pines (2015).

Dillone surprised with his role as a serial killer in Lars von Trier's controversial film The House That Jack Built (2018), co-starring Bruno Ganz and Uma Thurman. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, marking von Trier's return to the festival after more than six years. In France, he appeared in the drama Proxima (Alice Winocour, 2019) with Eva Green. In 2023, he was among the ensemble cast of the comedy-drama Asteroid City (2023), written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson. As the New York Times' Film Critic A.O. Scott once wrote about Dillon, "He seems to be getting better with every film." Since 2014 Matt Dillon has been in a relationship with Italian actress, dancer and choreographer Roberta Mastromichele.


Italian postcard by Ediber-Angelus, Milano, no.4. Photo: Warner Bros. Matt Dillon in Singles (Cameron Crowe, 1992).


Vintage press photo. Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon in To Die For (Gus Van Sant, 1995).


Italian postcard by Promocard, no. K 1299. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Matt Dillon and Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998).


Italian postcard by Promocard, no. K 1302. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Cameron Diaz, Chris Elliott and Lee Evans in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55775. Photo: Bruce Weber. Poster design for Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland. Design: Werner Jeker.

Sources: Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie), Polaris (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 10 January 2024.

There’s Something About Mary (1998)

There's Something About Mary (1998) is raunchy classic that doesn't take itself too seriously. The Farrelly Brothers at their funniest set some new standards for modern comedy. It's full of completely inappropriate jokes that spare nobody: male or female, handicapped or able bodied, black or white, rich or poor, straight or gay, animal or vegetable. But in the core of the film is a real heart, something impossibly optimistic and reassuring to which almost everyone can identify with. And Cameron Diaz is wonderful and charming as Mary, the girl every guy is after.


Spanish postcard by Memory Card, no. 486. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998). Spanish lobby card for Algo pasa con Mary.


Belgian postcard by Boomerang.be. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998). Caption: We zijn nu nog leuker... (We are now even more fun...).

Everybody is fixated on Mary

Sad-eyed magazine writer Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller) was a geek in high school, who was going to go to the prom with one of the most popular girls in school, Mary Jensen (Cameron Diaz). The prom date never happened, because Ted had a very unusual accident with his zipper. He never got over the girl of his high school dreams, who vanished from his life after a single date in which getting horizontal meant being carted away in an ambulance.

Thirteen years later, 29-year-old Ted realises he is still in love with Mary. On the advice of his best friend Dom Woganowski (Chris Elliott), Ted hires a private detective, the sleazy Pat Healy (Matt Dillon), to track her down. Pat finds her in Miami, and she's grown up beautiful. Healy discovers that she is an orthopedic surgeon living in Miami. After observing her for a few days, Healy becomes fixated on her. Pat decides he wants to date her. He stalks her, finds out everything she wants in a man, and poses as just that.

Healy gives Ted some false information to keep him away from her. Healy reports back that she's a walrus in a wheelchair and has four kids by three different men. Ted thinks maybe he should check up on her anyway, to see if he can be helpful to her, but Healy explains she's now en route to Japan as a mail-order bride.

Healy and Mary spend several weeks dating before her architect friend Tucker (Lee Evans) exposes Healy as a fraud. Tucker tells her that Healy is a suspected serial murderer. An enraged Healy follows him and discovers Tucker actually is a pizza delivery boy named Norm Phipps who also is infatuated with Mary. Years earlier, Norm intentionally injured himself in order to get close to her, hoping she would take him on as a patient. He pretends to still be disabled in order to gain Mary's sympathy and uses his friendship with her to drive away other suitors.

Ted drives to Florida to see Mary. During the drive, he picks up a hitchhiker who leaves a dead body in Ted's car. Ted is mistakenly arrested for the murder and bailed out by Dom after the police catch the real killer. Ted finds Mary and they begin dating. Things go well until an anonymous letter reveals that Ted hired Healy to find her, causing Mary to get upset and dump Ted. Enraged, Ted then confronts Healy and Norm, who deny sending the letter. Things come to a head when Dom, who is Mary's ex-boyfriend "Woogie", shows up in her apartment and admits to writing the letter. Mary previously had a restraining order against Dom after he became obsessed with her, which started again when Ted found her...


Italian postcard by Promocard, no. K 1298. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998).


Italian postcard by Promocard, no. K 1299. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Matt Dillon and Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998).

An unalloyed exercise in bad taste

During the 1990s, the Farelly brothers made a series of gross out comedies including Dumb and Dumber (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1994), Kingpin (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1996), and Me, Myself, and Irene (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 2000). Their There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998) has aged relatively well after 25 years. The funny gags come in a constant wave, aren't forced or out of place and expertly walk the tightrope between politically incorrect and unkind. Each joke goes somewhere, is really big and has a punchline. It is now a classic 'modern' comedy and to us the Farrelly Brothers' best film.

The characters seem real enough to be in the crazy situations they bring themselves into. Ben Stiller is great in his own way, lovable and dull at the same time. He and Cameron Diaz blend very well together. Diaz is adorable, beautiful, and a marvel to look at. You understand what the title means without ever having it explained. Her cute, perky charm clicks with all the male characters but also with audiences.

Also terrific are the supporting players. Matt Dillon is outstanding in one of his best roles. Chris Elliott is excellent as well as are Lee Evans and Harland Williams as the six-minute abs guy. All of them have the perfect comedy timing to really make all of their characters blend together well. Jonathan Richman and his drummer are especially valuable in their cameo bits that bookend the various acts in the film, with songs that manage to be as funny and affecting as the show they are built around. And then there is of course, Puffy the drugged up dog.

There are several hilarious moments in this film: the hysterical prom sequence, the three dog sequences (Puffy in a sedative coma, Puffy on speed, Puffy in a body cast), the hitchhiker sequence and its follow-up interrogation at police headquarters, the infamous hair gel scene, and old flame Woogie's sexual assault on Mary's closet. The gross out nature of the film was original at the time and was ripped off in the next decade. After this film was successfully released, there was a wave of all sorts of "gross" comedies but the majority of them missed the boat because they didn't realise that this film has a very big heart at the core. The makers of the film, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, reveal in their DVD commentary that Ted's reaction to Healy's news of Mary's condition is the key to making the film work, and they are right.

20th Century Fox released There's Something About Mary theatrically on 15 July 1998 and the film became a major box office success, grossing over $369 million worldwide against its $23 million budget. Worldwide, it became the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year. It received generally positive reviews from critics who praised its humor and Diaz's performance. Roger Ebert, the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times: "What a blessed relief is laughter. It flies in the face of manners, values, political correctness and decorum. It exposes us for what we are, the only animal with a sense of humour. There's Something About Mary is an unalloyed exercise in bad taste, and contains five or six explosively funny sequences. OK, five explosive, one moderate. I love it when a movie takes control, sweeps away my doubts and objections, and compels me to laugh. I'm having a physical reaction, not an intellectual one. There's such freedom in laughing so loudly. I feel cleansed."


Italian postcard by Promocard, no. K 1301. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998).


Italian postcard by Promocard, no. K 1302. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Cameron Diaz, Chris Elliott and Lee Evans in There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998).

Sources: Roger Ebert (RogerEbert.com), Wikipedia and IMDb.