Matt Dillon
Born: 18 February 1964
Where: New Rochelle, New York, USA
The actor made his mark in "troubled young teen" roles before branching out to specialise in sleazy villains.
Career highlights have included Rumblefish, the black comedy To Die For with Nicole Kidman and the gross-out comedy There's Something About Mary.
Dillon was 'discovered' by casting director Vic Ramos at the age of 14 when he attended a casting call while playing truant from school.
Over The Edge - Dillon's 1979 feature debut - told the story of bored Colorada teenagers in trouble with the law.
His next role was as the teen bully who gets his comeuppance in 1980's My Bodyguard and he landed the romantic lead in Little Darlings.
The author SE Hinton provided the source material for Dillon's next three outings - the fatherless country boy in Tex, The Outsiders (with Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze) and Rumblefish.
In 1984, he attracted critical acclaim as the impressionable cabana boy in Garry Marshall lightweight comedy The Flamingo Kid.
He starred opposite Gene Hackman in the 1985 thriller Target before teaming up with director Gus Van Sant as the junkie robber in Drugstore Cowboy.
His next notable role was as a young schizophrenic in The Saint of Fort Washington and he enjoyed critical success as Nicole Kidman's naive husband in the Van Sant thriller To Die For in 1995.
Subsequent outings included the 1998 murder yarn Wild Things and as a sleazy private eye infatuated by Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary.
In 2001, he starred in the black comedy One Night At McCool's and made his directorial debut the following year with City of Ghosts.
Employee of the Month saw him cast alongside Steve Zahn playing a worker whose day goes from bad to worse.
In 2004, he played a racist cop in the ensemble drama Crash with Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser and Thandie Newton.
Offscreen, Dillon is fascinated by travel and numbers Cambodia and Cuba as among his favoured destinations.
In 2004, he impressed as a racist cop in the social drama Crash and went on to play the villainous Trip Murphy opposite Lindsay Lohan in Herbie: Fully Loaded.
Recent work includes his portrayal of drunken writer Henry Chinaski in the drama Factotum.
