Matthew Staton Bomer was born in
Webster Groves, Missouri, to Elizabeth Macy (née Staton) and John O'Neill Bomer IV.[2][3] His father, a
Dallas Cowboys draft pick, played for the team from 1972 to 1974.[4] Matt Bomer has a sister, Megan Bomer, and a brother, Neill Bomer, who is an
engineer.[3] Bomer credits his parents for being understanding when they sensed their young child was a little different from other kids. "I've always had an active imagination," says Bomer.[5] He is a distant cousin to American singer
Justin Timberlake.[3][6] Bomer's family is of
English,
Welsh,
Scottish,
Irish,
Swiss-German and
French descent.[3]
I started acting professionally when I was 17. I quit the team and did a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Alley Theatre in Houston. I used to drive down at the end of the school day, do the show, do my homework during intermission and drive an hour back to Spring to go to school the next day.[11]
Shortly after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, Bomer moved to
New York City. His television debut came in 2000 on the
ABC network, when he played Ian Kipling on the 1970s
drama soap opera All My Children.[15] Two years later he made a guest appearance in the
mysteryfantasy series Relic Hunter (2002).[16]
In 2001, he landed a contract role on the soap opera Guiding Light. He played Ben Reade, a character connected to several core families on the show.[17] When Bomer left the show in 2003, his exit was controversial; Ben was suddenly revealed to be a
male prostitute and
serial killer.[18] He received a Gold Derby Awards for Younger Actor – Daytime Drama for his performance in the series.[citation needed] Years later in 2015, Bomer talked about his participation in the series, saying: "I told them to just throw the kitchen sink at me, and they did."[18]
His next role was in the
supernatural drama series Tru Calling (2003–2004). Starring alongside
Eliza Dushku, Bomer starred as Luc Johnston, the love interest of the protagonist of the series played by Dushku, in the first season.[19][20] In 2003, Bomer returned to theatre to star in a
Powerhouse Theater production of
Paul Weitz's play Roulette in New York.[21] A year later, he appeared in the episode Bellport in the
primetime TV show of North Shore.
2005–2009: Transition to film and breakthrough with White Collar
He acted in his first television film Amy Coyne (2006); he plays the role of Case. The film tells the story of a young woman who inherits her father's sports agency.[26] His first
leading role was in the series Traveler (2007), along with
Logan Marshall-Green,
Aaron Stanford and
Viola Davis, a short-lived
midseason replacement television series which premiered on
ABC on May 30, 2007, the series tells the story of two graduate students, become suspected of terrorism after a skateboarding race inside a museum.[27] The series was canceled after eight episodes.[28][29][30]
2009 marked a significant turning point in Bomer's career as he starred as the
con artistNeal Caffrey in the
police proceduraldrama series White Collar.[34][35] He was part of an ensemble cast that included
Tim DeKay,
Willie Garson, and
Tiffani Thiessen. White Collar premiered on August 23, 2009, on
USA Network and was watched by more than 5.40 million people.[36] His performance as well as the rest of the cast were praised;[37]Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "terrific acting, crackling dialogue and geek-hip crime are not the only things that make this the most electric drama to premiere this fall."[38] She also liked the performance of the two leads together saying they "are so easy" and "perfect together".[38] He won a
People's Choice Award at the
2015 ceremony.[39] Additionally Bomer produced 19 episodes of White Collar along with DeKay.
In 2011, Bomer was cast as a 105-year-old man in
Andrew Niccol's science fiction thriller film In Time, starring alongside
Justin Timberlake.[45] On April 10, 2012, Bomer made a guest appearance in the
third season of the television series Glee, playing
Blaine's older brother, Cooper Anderson, a Hollywood commercials actor who comes to Lima for a visit, and while in town gives an acting masterclass to New Directions.[46] His performance on Glee received critical acclaim; critic Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club described his performance as "absolutely fantastic."[47] Crystal Bell of the Huffington Post called his appearance "perfectly cast" and Bomer as one of her favorite guest stars.[46] For this performance on Glee, he won a Gold Derby award in the category of Best Comedy Guest Actor.[48]
For his next film, Bomer starred opposite
Channing Tatum in
Steven Soderbergh's comedy drama Magic Mike (2012). He studied with a group called Hollywood Men in
Los Angeles to prepare for the role.[49] The film premiered as the closing film for the 2012
Los Angeles Film Festival on June 24, 2012. Magic Mike was a critical success and his performance was praised.[50] Sara Stewart of the Bomer and Tatum were nominated for the
MTV Movie & TV Awards at the
2013 ceremony in Best Musical Moment category.[51][52]
Bomer made two appearances in 2013, the first as a guest performer on the
NBC sitcom The New Normal, portraying the role Monty, ex-boyfriend of the protagonist of the series Bryan Collins played by
Andrew Rannells. The second was to voice
Superman in the direct to video Superman: Unbound, based on the 2008
comic book story "
Superman: Brainiac" by
Geoff Johns.[53][54] His voiceover assured him an invitation to the Behind the Voice Actors Awards in 2013.[55]
In 2014, Bomer appeared in five projects. His first two releases,
Winter's Tale, and Space Station 76, were commercially unsuccessful.
The first film, a romantic and supernatural fantasy drama film, was written and directed by
Akiva Goldsman, and based on
Mark Helprin's novel Winter's Tale.[56] Bomer plays the young father of
Colin Farrell's character.[57]Winter's Tale received negative reviews.[58] His second release of the year was in the black space fiction comedy Space Station 76 by
Jack Plotnick, alongside
Liv Tyler and
Patrick Wilson.[59] James Rocchi of The Wrap said; "all the performers are game" and the performance of Bomer; "as a melancholy engineer with a prosthetic hand that looks like a Nintendo Power Glove".[60]
Bomer's next project involved
Ryan Murphy casting him opposite
Mark Ruffalo,
Jim Parsons and
Julia Roberts in the drama romance film The Normal Heart (2014). Based on
Larry Kramer's
play of the same name, it featured Bomer as a closeted writer of The New York Times and love interest of Ruffalo's character.[61] The film shows the rise of the
HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks (Ruffalo), the founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group.[61] The production of The Normal Heart stopped for a few months while he was on a diet.[62] Bomer's performance was praised by a reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter, who considered his acting as the highlight of the production.[63] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe noticed that Bomer is: "quite simply, devastating in this movie, his beauty adding resonance because it begins to fade so suddenly, as his cheeks protrude and lesions gather." Gilbert also lauded the chemistry between Bomer and Ruffalo saying that: "is among the movie's strengths, too, as it provides the core of love and compassion amid all the acrimony."[64] Bomer received his first
Golden Globe Award in the
Best Supporting Actor category and his first
Primetime Emmy Awards nomination.[65][66]
In 2017, he starred in Alex & Andrew Smith's drama Walking Out, as an estranged father to a 14-year-old son (played by
Josh Wiggins). He said that he related to the character "in a really profound way."[5]Walking Out was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the
2017 Sundance Film Festival and was released on October 6, 2017.[82]Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times noted that he "steps confidently into the boots of a rugged, know-it-all mountain man whose idea of tough love can turn unexpectedly toward tenderness around a flickering campfire."[83] David Ehrlich of IndieWire stated that Bomer fortunately plays against his "pretty boy type so convincingly that you might forget where you've even seen him before",[84] concluding that Bomer "gives a commanding performance in a movie that fails to realize how evocative he is, the Smiths defaulting to flashbacks that show us less about cowboys and gender codes than we can glean from the wild look in its lead actor's face.[84]The Village Voice included his performance in the film in a list of the 17 Most Overlooked Performances of 2017.[85]
Timothy McNeil's drama Anything marked Bomer's final film release of 2017 and McNeil making his feature directorial debut.[86] Bomer was cast as Freda Von Rhenburg, a transgender sex worker who lives in Los Angeles and begins a relationship with her neighbor, Early Landry (played by
John Carroll Lynch).[86]Anything is based on McNeil's play of the same name.[86] He has received some criticism from the
transgender community for the casting of a
cisgender man, to play a
transgender woman.[87][88] Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter felt that Bomer: "gives a performance of real warmth and delicacy," saying that: "rather than play Freda as a force of nature or a collection of mannerisms—the typical default modes of actors playing trans women—Bomer renders her fully dimensional: an unpredictable tangle of impulses, by turns defensive and tender."[89]Anything had its release at the
Los Angeles Film Festival on June 17, 2017.[90] Also in 2017, Bomer was a guest narrator at
Disney's Candlelight Processional.[91]
In 2018, Bomer began working on his directorial debut on series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.[92] Written by
Tom Rob Smith and starring
Jon Jon Briones and
Darren Criss, in the roles of father and son, respectively,[92] the episode that Bomer directs is titled "Creator/Destroyer".[92] The episode was watched by more than 1 million people.[93] Bomer had other opportunities to direct before but always wanted to wait for the optimum chance to immerse himself in a project.[92] He read 3,000 pages of books on directing.[92] He found a part in a 2018 revival of the
Mart Crowley play The Boys in the Band, which was staged at
Booth Theatre and marked his
Broadway debut.[94] Directed by
Joe Mantello, it tells the story a group of gay men who gather for a birthday party in New York City.[95] Theater critic Michael Sommers noted that "Matt Bomer tends to fade in the glare of flashier personalities, but he lends the character a watchful quality as one of those deferential souls who is content to observe others."[95] The play won a
Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.[96] Bomer's first film in 2018 was Bill Oliver's science fiction film Jonathan.[97] His role was that of a detective who appears in only one scene of the film.[97]Jonathan had its world premiere at the
Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2018.[98]
Two of Bomer's films in 2018 premiered at the
43rd Toronto International Film Festival—the comedy drama Papi Chulo and the drama Viper Club. In the former, Bomer plays Sean, a local network television weather forecaster.[99] A reviewer for Screen Daily argued that Bomer is "terrific" and concluded that "while he may not yet have the name recognition to act as a key selling point for this film, it's the kind of performance which gets noticed".[99] In Viper Club, Bomer played Sam, a journalist who helps Helen (played by
Susan Sarandon), to save her son who was kidnapped by a group of terrorists.[100][101] He had a guest starring role on the
NBC series Will & Grace (2018–2019)[102] and he also appeared as
Negative Man in the
DC Universe superhero series, Doom Patrol (2019).[103]
Bomer has been noted for his looks, and is regarded as a
sex symbol.
BuddyTV ranked him first on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011" and third in 2012.[109][110] In June 2013, Bomer was ranked at no. 2 on Logo's Hot 100 list, which is based on the votes of readers of
AfterEllen.com and
theBacklot.com. Bomer was the list's highest ranked man and second only to
Jennifer Lawrence.[111][112]
Personal life
Bomer is an LGBT rights activist.[113] He publicly
came out as gay in 2012, when he thanked his partner and their children during an acceptance speech for his Steve Chase Humanitarian Award.[114][115] Also in 2012, Bomer was given an Inspiration Award for his work at the
GLSEN Awards.[116][117]
Bomer had married the
publicist Simon Halls in 2011; the marriage became public through the media only in 2014.[118][119] In an interview discussing his marriage, Bomer said that his marriage to Halls was a very small event in New York City: "It was very chill and very small–just our closest and dear ones. There is a security, a validity. It's just a feeling, I think–something about saying vows in front of the people around you who love and support you. I think it was good for our family."[120][121] The couple has three children conceived through
surrogacy: Kit Bomer Halls (b. 2005), and then twin brothers, Walker and Henry Bomer Halls (b. 2008).[122][114]
According to the review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes and box-office website
The Numbers, Bomer's most critically and commercially successful films include Flightplan (2005), In Time (2011), Magic Mike (2012), Superman: Unbound (2013), The Normal Heart (2014), Magic Mike XXL (2015), The Magnificent Seven (2016), The Nice Guys (2016) and Walking Out (2017).[126][127] Among his stage roles, he has appeared in a Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band (2018).[128]
^O'Malley, Sheila (February 14, 2014).
"'Winter's Tale' (2014) – Review". Chicago Sun-Times.
Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
^Goodman, Tim (May 21, 2015).
"'The Normal Heart': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
Archived from the original on February 13, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
^"Celebrity Meditators". TM UK Blog. Archived from
the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 16, 2015. I like to meditate, Transcendental Meditation usually. I took it up in my early 20s and I learned the benefits. I try to do it every day.