Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He shared the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actor as part of the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's film Streamers (1983). He went on to play lead roles in several high-profile films throughout the 1980s, including Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), and Married to the Mob (1988). He gained further prominence for playing U.S. Marine James T. "Joker" Davis in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987).  Other notable films include Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), Cutthroat Island (1995), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Oppenheimer (2023). On television, he portrayed Dr. Don Francis in the HBO film And the Band Played On (1993), Sullivan Groff on Weeds (2007), Ivan Turing in Proof (2015), and Dr. Martin Brenner on Netflix's Stranger Things (2016–2022). Modine has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for his work in And the Band Played On and What the Deaf Man Heard and received a special Golden Globe for him and the rest of the ensemble in Short Cuts. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for And the Band Played On.

Filmography

• 2027Godzilla x Kong: Supernova
• 2026Protector — Colonel Joseph Lavelle, Producer
• The Better Sister — Bill Braddock
• Zero Day — Richard Dreyer
• 2024Hard Miles — Greg Townsend
• 2024I Hope This Helps! — Executive Producer
• 2023Accidental Truth: UFO Revelations — Narrator (voice)
• 2023Downwind — Producer
• 2023I Am What You Imagine — Director, Writer
• 2023My Love Affair with Marriage — Bo (voice), Executive Producer
• 2023Oppenheimer — Vannevar Bush
• 2023Retribution — Anders Muller
• 2023The Martini Shot — Steve
• 2022The Fuse — Executive Producer
• 2021Against the Current — Narrator, Writer
• 2021Breaking News in Yuba County — Karl Buttons
• 2021Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal — Rick Singer
• 2021Wrong Turn — Scott Shaw
• 2020Chance — Coach Mike
• 2020Guardians of Life
• 2019Foster Boy — Michael Trainer
• 2019Miss Virginia — Congressman Cliff Williams
• 2019Red Ink — Thanks
• 2018Backtrace — MacDonald
• 2018Sicario: Day of the Soldado — Secretary of Defense James Riley
• 2018Speed Kills — George Bush
• 2018The Green Fog
• 201747 Meters Down — Taylor
• 2017The Hippopotamus — Michael Logan
• 2016Army of One — Dr. Ross
• 2016How to Grow Up Despite Your Parents — Bob Riley
• 2016Revengeance — Sid, Executive Producer
• Stranger Things — Dr. Martin Brenner, Dr. Martin Brenner (archive footage)
• 2016Super Sex — Director, Producer, Writer
• 2016The Confirmation — Kyle
• 2015Last Days of Coney Island — Executive Producer
• 2015Merry Xmas — Abe, Writer
• Proof — Ivan Turing
• 2015The Brainwashing of My Dad — Himself - Narrator, Producer
• 2015The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards — Theodore Foster
• 2015Unity — Narrator (voice)
• 2014Altar — Alec
• 2014Guests — Theodore Foster
• 2013CAT. 8 — Dr. Michael Ranger
• CAT. 8 — Dr. Michael Ranger
• 2013Family Weekend — Duncan Dungy
• 2013Jobs — John Sculley
• 2012Girl in Progress — Dr. Harford
• 2012The Dark Knight Rises — Foley
• 2011Jesus Was a Commie — Himself, Executive Producer, Director, Writer
• 2011The Winsor McCay Resurrection Project — Writer, Director
• 2011Too Big to Fail — John Thain
• 2010The Trial — Mac, Producer
• 2009Little Fish, Strange Pond — Mr. Jack, Executive Producer
• 2009Sex and Lies in Sin City — Ted Binion
• 2008Cowboy — Cowboy, Writer, Director
• 2008Garden of Eden — David's Father
• 2008Go Go Tales — Johnie Ruby
• 2008I Think I Thought — Joe, Writer, Director, Producer
• 2008Santa: The Fascist Years — Narrator (voice)
• 2007Have Dreams, Will Travel — Ben's Father
• 2007The Neighbor — Jeff
• 2006Kettle of Fish — Mel, Executive Producer
• The Bedford Diaries — Jake Macklin
• Into the West — Samson Wheeler
• 2005Mary — Tony Childress / Jesus
• 2005Odyssey in Rome
• 2005Opa! — Eric
• 2005Transporter 2 — Jefferson Billings
• Weeds — Sullivan Groff
• 2004Funky Monkey — Alec McCall
• 2004Hollywood North — Bobby Myers
• 2004The Winning Season — Honus Wagner
• Hitler: The Rise of Evil — Fritz Gerlich
• 2003Le Divorce — Tellman
• 2002Redeemer — Paul Freeman
• 2001In the Shadows — Eric
• Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story — Jack Robinson
• 2001Nobody's Baby — Sonny
• 2001The Shipment — Mitch Garrett
• 2000Flowers for Algernon — Charlie Gordon
• 2000Very Mean Men — Bartender
• 1999Any Given Sunday — Dr. Ollie Powers
• 1999If... Dog... Rabbit — Johnnie Cooper, Director, Writer
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Gordon Rickett
• 1999Notting Hill — Actor (uncredited)
• The West Wing — Marco Arlens
• 1998Surviving the Dust Bowl — Lawrence Svobida (voice)
• 1998The American — Christopher Newman
• 1998The Real Blonde — Joe
• 1997Ecce Pirate — Narrator, Director, Set Decoration, Writer, Post Production Coordinator, Costume Supervisor, Producer, Casting, Camera Operator, Cinematography, Music Supervisor, Supervising Sound Editor
• 1997The Blackout — Matty
• 1997The Maker — Walter Schmeiss
• 1997What the Deaf Man Heard — Sammy Ayers
• 1995Bye Bye Love — Dave Goldman
• 1995Cutthroat Island — William Shaw
• 1995Fluke — Thomas P. Johnson / Voice of Fluke
• 1994Jacob — Jakob
• 1994The Browning Version — Frank Hunter
• 1993And the Band Played On — Dr. Don Francis
• 1993Short Cuts — Dr. Ralph Wyman
• 1993The Tree — Boy as Middle-Aged Man / Boy as Old Man
• 1993When I Was a Boy — Editor, Casting, Art Direction, Music Supervisor, Writer, Director, Producer
• 1992Equinox — Henry Petosa / Freddy Ace
• 1992Wind — Will Parker
• 1990Memphis Belle — Dennis Dearborn
• 1990Pacific Heights — Drake Goodman
• 1989Gross Anatomy — Joe Slovak
• 1989The Lemon Sisters — Wild Bill Hamer
• The Simpsons — Dr. Stern (voice)
• 1988Married to the Mob — Mike Downey
• 1988The Gamble — Francesco Sacredo
• 1987Full Metal Jacket — Pvt. Joker
• 1987Orphans — Treat
• 1985Vision Quest — Louden Swain
• 1984Birdy — Birdy
• 1984Mrs. Soffel — Jack Biddle
• 1984The Hotel New Hampshire — Chip Dove / Ernst
• 1983Baby It's You — Steve
• 1983Private School — Jim Green
• 1983Streamers — Billy
• American Playhouse — Eugene O'Neill
• 1982Amy and the Angel — Randy
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Sammy Ayers
• Keepers of the Wild — Executive Producer
• Kubrick's War: The Making of Full Metal Jacket — Self - Pvt. Joker, Full Metal Jacket, Producer
• The Splendid Thing — Declan King, Director, Screenplay

Appearances as themselves (24)

• 2026Accidental Truth: Next - Beyond UFO Disclosure — Self - Narrator
• 2025Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow — Self - 'Stranger Things' Dr Brenner
• 100 Years of Warner Bros. — Self
• 2019Alan Pakula: Going for Truth — Self
• 2018Filmworker — Self
• 2014How Bizarre: The Story of an Otara Millionaire — Self
• 2014Kubrick Remembered — Self
• Late Night with Seth Meyers — Self
• 2011Adventures in Plymptoons! — Self
• 2010Mulberry St. — Self
• 2009PoliWood — Self
• The Tony Danza Show — Self - Guest
• 2003Overnight — Self
• 2002World Birth Day — Self - Narrator(voice)
• 2001Stanley Kubrick - Ein Leben für den Film — Self
• 2000Bamboozled — Himself
• 1998Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman — Self
• So Graham Norton — Self - Guest
• Lo + plus — Self - Guest
• American Cinema — Self
• 1993Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country — Self
• LIVE with Kelly and Mark — Self - Guest
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Host
• Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy's Life — Self