Matthew Goode

Matthew William Goode is an English actor. He is known for his work across a wide variety of film and television productions, including roles in romantic comedies, historical dramas, superhero films, and popular television series.

Goode was born on 3 April 1978 in Exeter, Devon, and grew up in the village of Clyst St. Mary. His father, Anthony, worked as a geologist, and his mother, Jennifer, was a nurse and amateur theatre director. The youngest of five children, Goode has a brother, two half-brothers, and a half-sister, television presenter Sally Meen. He was educated at Exeter School, followed by the University of Birmingham and London's Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Goode made his screen debut in 2002 in the television film Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. He achieved a career breakthrough with his American film debut in the 2004 romantic comedy Chasing Liberty, opposite Mandy Moore, which earned him a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Breakout Movie Star – Male. Following this role, he appeared in several films, including Woody Allen's Match Point, the romantic comedy Imagine Me & You, the biographical drama Copying Beethoven, and the crime drama The Lookout.

In 2008, Goode starred as Charles Ryder in the film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. He subsequently portrayed Ozymandias in the superhero film Watchmen and co-starred in the drama film A Single Man in 2009. His later film credits include the romantic comedy Leap Year, the Australian drama Burning Man—for which he received Best Actor nominations from both the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards and the AACTA Awards—as well as Stoker, Belle, The Imitation Game, Self/less, Allied, and The King's Man.

On television, Goode portrayed Stanley Mitchell in the BBC drama Dancing on the Edge and joined CBS's The Good Wife as state prosecutor Finley "Finn" Polmar. He played Henry Talbot in the historical drama Downton Abbey and briefly reprised the role in its 2019 feature film. In 2017, Goode portrayed Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, in the second season of The Crown, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

From 2018 to 2022, Goode starred as Professor Matthew Clairmont in the fantasy romance series A Discovery of Witches. In 2022, he played studio executive Robert Evans in the miniseries The Offer. Outside of narrative acting, he co-presented The Wine Show in 2016. Goode is married to Sophie Dymoke, with whom he has three children: two daughters and a son. The family lives in Surrey.