Matt Dillon was born to Roman Catholic parents (stockbroker and a homemaker) in the upscale New York suburb of New Rochelle, New York on February 18th, 1972. He was raised as the second oldest of five sons and one daughter. He is the nephew of comic-strip artist Alex Raymond, creator of Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim and Rib Kriby, and he was named for the protagonist of the TV western Gunsmoke.

He had his first taste of acting in grade four, when he played the role of Benjamin Franklin in a school play. When he was fourteen, Dillon found his career path in the hallways of Hommocks Junior High, where he caught the eye of talent scouts working for Hollywood agent Vic Ramos. Ramos was searching for "realistic types" with no previous acting experience, and Dillon fit the bill on pure attitude.

Through Ramos Dillon met Kaplan, who subsequently cast him in his first feature film. It was as a school bully in 1979's teen drama "Over the Edge." His performance opened the door for similar projects in teen oriented films such as "My Bodyguard" (1980), "Little Darlings" (1980), "Tex" (1982), "Rumble Fish" (1983), and "The Outsiders" (1983)

By the mid-1980's, Dillon sought roles that went beyond the teen mode. He began seeking more adult roles and hit it with the role of a junkie in Gus Van Sant's acclaimed "Drugstore Cowboy" in 1989. He proved his ability in an adult role with it and went on to star in films of varying quality. The most memorable of his adult roles have been in 1992's "Singles" as the egocentric slacker head of a terrifically bad grunge band; as a well-meaning but tragically lackluster husband of a psychotic weather girl, played by Nicole Kidman, in 1995's "To Die For" ; "Albino Alligator" in 1995, as a New Orleans crook; and in "Beautiful Girls" (1996) where Dillon was fittingly cast as a small-town snow plower unable to make good on the promise of his high school glory days.

1997 had Dillon starring in two mega-hits. One was "In & Out", where he played a peroxide movie star who unwittingly as well as wrongly outs his ex-high school teacher on national TV. The second was in the sleeper hit of the year "There's Something About Mary." The film allowed Dillon to showcase his capacity for comedy with his role as a sleazy private investigator.

Says Dillon of his personal life, " I grew up with the white picket fence. My dad went to work nine to five, and he had a station wagon. Sometimes I catch myself thinking, 'Oh, I'll be married with kids and I'll kiss my wife before I go to work.' But that's not the way it's gonna be for me. I have a very different life than my father had -maybe I'm gonna kiss my wife and the kids goodbye before I go on location."