Matteo Martin Battaglia (born September 25, 1965 in Tallahassee, Florida) is an American actor and former American football player.
Battaglia, one of four siblings, is of half Italian and half German/Dutch heritage.
When Battaglia was three years old, his family moved north and Matt grew up in the towns of Tucker, Georgia and Lithonia, Georgia, two suburbs east of Atlanta. His family currently resides in Roswell, Georgia. As a high school athlete, Matt served as team captain for his school’s wrestling and football teams. In wrestling he placed second in the AAU's Southeastern States Championship, qualifying him to compete in the National AAU Tournament. But a football scholarship led him to the University of Louisville, where he became an All-American and All-South middle linebacker, leading the nation in tackles his senior year, and breaking former All-Pro Otis Wilson’s college tackling record. He was team captain his junior and senior year and was voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates and coaches. Matt went on to play in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles. Two years later, his career ended abruptly after a broken bone was discovered in his neck. He returned to school, graduating from the University of Louisville with a degree in business and an emphasis in finance. In September, 2006, he was named to the All-time University of Louisville team, with such football greats as Johnny Unitas, Mark Clayton, Tom Jackson, Deion Branch, Joe Jacoby, Dwayne Woodruff and Frank Minnifield.
Battaglia has had a successful career as an actor and producer in film and television, starring or appearing in over 70 motion pictures, network pilots and television shows.
Battaglia served as co-producer on the film "Brothers", starring Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is being directed by six-time Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan. Script was written by David Benioff. The film tells the story of a young man who comforts his older brother's wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan and is based on Susanne Bier's film, "Brothers".
Battaglia was also a co-executive producer of “Kill Theory”, directed by Chris Moore.
Battaglia formed Blink Entertainment as a production company to produce feature films. His first acquisition was in 2008 for the life rights to “The Marlboro Marine”.
As a feature film actor, Matt has acted in Sony Pictures action packed Half Past Dead with Steven Segal, Morris Chestnut and rap artist JaRule. He replaced Jean Claude Van Damme in the lead role of Luc Devereaux in the action movies Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business, “Kiss of a Stranger”, “Pendulum” and “Raven”.
On the television front, Battaglia is often remembered for his memorable role as the fireman Vince, a boyfriend of Lisa Kudrow’s character on NBC’s hit sitcom Friends. Other notable guest appearances include two episodes on 24, two episodes of HBO’s Big Love, Shark, CSI:New York, Queer as Folk, Bones and CSI: Miami just to name a few.
Matt currently serves on the board of advisors for the G.I. Film Festival, which honors the successes and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform through the medium of film.
As a television producer and philanthropist, Battaglia co-founded “The Mint Jubilee” (mintjubilee.org), an enormous charity event which in its first ten years raised over $4 million for cancer patients and has provided financial resources to scientists, cancer centers and hospitals committed to finding cures and controls for cancer. This non-profit organization was created by Battaglia in memory of his mother Nancy Van Cleve Battaglia, who died of cancer in 1993. The black tie gala takes place in Louisville, Kentucky the night before the Kentucky Derby. Though no longer involved with jointly running the organization, Battaglia was instrumental in creating, developing, growing and branding the organization into what it has become today. During the time in which he served as host and producer of the event, it became a world class event attracting high profile celebrities, entertainers and dignitaries from around the globe and was televised worldwide in over 130 countries and over 200 million homes.
