Bid to win a virtual meet and greet with Griffin Matthews!
Griffin Matthews is a writer, director, activist, and actor is thrilled to return as Shane Evans in Season 2 of HBO Max’s hit drama series, The Flight Attendant! He can also be seen in the upcoming women-led anthology series “Roar” opposite Issa Rae, which will be released on Apple TV+ on April 15th, as well as the upcoming Netflix Romcom Your Place or Mine, opposite Reese Witherspoon.
Griffin recently played D’Unte in season three of Netflix’s hit series Dear White People, Matthews performance earned him instant critical acclaim, with the A.V. Club noting, “Griffin Matthews rightfully stakes his claim on every scene he occupies.” Mashable called Matthews a “scene-stealer,” while Vulture stated he gave a “breakout performance.”
Matthews also appeared in season five of HBO’s hit sports dramedy Ballers, opposite Dwayne Johnson. Additional television credits include NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The CW’s The Carrie Diaries, HBO’s Doll & Em and ABC’s Cashmere Mafia.
As a classically trained thespian, Matthews co-wrote and starred in the Off-Broadway production of Invisible Thread (aka Witness Uganda), which details Matthews and his husband Matt Gould’s journey in founding their nonprofit organization, Uganda Project. The organization sponsors the education of orphans living in Uganda. The production, which ran at Second Stage Theatre, as well as the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, won the Richard Rodgers, Dean Kay, and Harold Adamson Awards. The studio cast recording of Witness Uganda was released to critical acclaim on Sony Records in March of 2022. In addition to his work on Witness Uganda, Matthews has been tapped to write a musical television series with Grammy nominee, Ester Dean.
As a director, Matthews directed the award-winning West Coast premiere of Witness Uganda at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles (while simultaneously filming Dear White People). He directed Tony Award winner Leslie Odom Jr’s concert residency at the McKittrick Hotel in New York City, and Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo’s holiday concert at the famed Apollo Theater. He is slated to direct his feature film debut, The Amish Project that details the events of October 2nd, 2006 when an armed gunman entered a one room Amish schoolhouse full of little girls. He also continues to serve as a creative director for L'Oreal and Ulta Beauty’s live events.
As an activist, in 2005, Matthews went to Uganda for the first time and subsequently started his nonprofit organization, Uganda Project and in 2008, wrote a benefit concert, "Witness Uganda” to raise money for their education, which eventually became the full musical it is today. He is also known for his viral video entitled Dear Amy Cooper: Broadway is Racist that garnered over a million views across all social media platforms and started the revolution to reform both the American Theatre and Hollywood in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Matthews was one of five freshmen men accepted into the prestigious musical theater program at Carnegie Mellon University. He honed his craft alongside classmates Leslie Odom Jr, Josh Groban, Katy Mixon, Josh Gad, and had Tony and Emmy award winner Billy Porter as a professor, which changed his entire college experience.
Matthews splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City with his husband and their two foster children.