Matt Battaglia
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| Matt Battaglia | |
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| Date of birth: | September 25, 1965 |
| Place of birth: | Tallahassee, FL |
| Career information | |
| Position(s): | Linebacker |
| College: | Louisville |
| Organizations | |
| As player: | |
| 1989 | Philadelphia Eagles |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
Matteo Martin Battaglia (born September 25, 1965 in Tallahassee, Florida) is an American actor and former American football player.
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[edit] Biography
Battaglia, one of 4 siblings, is of half Italian and half German/Dutch heritage.[1]
Born in Tallahassee, Florida, where he lived until he was three years old. At that time, Battaglia's 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.
[edit] Career
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 (“Spiderman”), Natalie Portman(“Star Wars II & III"“Cold Mountain”) and Jake Gyllenhaal (“Jarhead”),“Brokeback Mountain”). Film is being directed by six time Academy Award nominee -- Jim Sheridan("My Left Foot", "In The Name of the Father"). Script was written by David Benioff(“Troy”) & the upcoming “X-Men Origins – Wolverine”). Film is being produced by Relativity Media (“Charlie Wilson’s War”, “American Gangster”,“3:10 to Yuma”, The Kingdom”, “The Pursuit of Happiness”). Domestic distribution is being handled by MGM with foreign distribution being handled by Lionsgate. Tells the story of a young man who comforts his older brother's wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. Based on Susanne Bier's film, "Brothers".
Battaglia was also a Co-Executive Producer of “Kill Theory”, directed by Chris Moore (Producer on “Good Will Hunting”, “Best Laid Plans”, “Reindeer Games”, “American Pie 1" & "American Pie 2” and “Project Greenlight”). The film received distribution through Lionsgate.
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”. Twenty years after World War II, one of the photographs most remembered was the raising of the American Flags on Iwo Jima. It became the face of that war. Twenty years from now, the war in Iraq will have a different face, projected from a different photo. A photo which is now known as “The Marlboro Marine”. His expression caught the eye of Los Angeles Times writer Luis Sinco.. He raised his camera and snapped a few shots. With the click of a shutter, Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, a country boy from Kentucky, became an emblem and icon of the war in Iraq. The resulting image would change several lives forever. The photograph was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Both the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone magazine has featured is as high profiled stories in their publications. Academy Award winning writers are being considered to write the screenplay.
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. Other notable feature credits include Matt replacing Jean Claude Van Damme in the lead role of Luc Devereaux, in the action movies [[“Universal Soldier II & III”, “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 stars include two episodes on “24”, two episodes of HBO’s“Big Love”, “Shark”,“CSI-NY”, "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.
[edit] Philanthropy
As a television producer and philanthropist, Battaglia Co-founded “The Mint Jubilee” (mintjubilee.org), an enormous charity event which in it’s 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 whom he lost to 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 profiled celebrities, entertainers and dignitaries from around the globe and was televised worldwide in over 130 countries and over 200 million homes. As a producer, Battaglia was successful in having portions of The Mint Jubilee covered on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Entertainment Tonight, E! News Daily, E! Entertainment's “FYE” and “Wild On Dixie”, ESPN, NBC, ABC and FOX. It has in itself become part of the Kentucky Derby tradition.
