Matthew Broderick - Career

Career

Broderick's first major acting role came in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day, playing opposite his father, who was a friend of Foote's. This was followed by a supporting role as Harvey Fierstein's adopted son in the Off-Broadway production of Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy; then, a good review by The New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow brought him to the attention of Broadway. Broderick commented on the effects of that review in a 2004 60 Minutes II interview:

Before I knew it, I was like this guy in a hot play. And suddenly, all these doors opened. And it’s only because Mel Gussow happened to come by right before it closed and happened to like it. It’s just amazing. All these things have to line up that are out of your control.

He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon Eugene Trilogy including the plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. His first film role was also written by Neil Simon. Broderick debuted in Max Dugan Returns (1983). His first big hit film was WarGames, a summer hit in 1983 he played the main role of David Lightman, a Seattle teen hacker. This was followed by the role of Philippe Gaston in Ladyhawke, in 1985.

Broderick then got the role as the charming, clever slacker in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At age 23, Broderick played a high-school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago. The film remains a 1980s comedy favorite today and is one of Broderick's best-known roles (particularly with teenage audiences). Also in 1987, he played an air force troop pilot Jimmy Garrett in Project X. In 1988 Broderick played Harvey Fierstein's gay lover, Alan, in the screen adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy. In the 1989 film Glory, he received good reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw.

In the 1990s, Broderick voiced the adult lion, Simba, in the successful animated film The Lion King, and also voiced Tack the Cobbler in Miramax's controversial version of The Thief and the Cobbler, which had originally been intended as a silent role. He won recognition for two dark-comedy roles. The first was that of a bachelor in The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey. The second was that of a high-school teacher in Alexander Payne's Election with Reese Witherspoon.

Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, most notably with his Tony Award–winning performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and his Tony Award–nominated performance in the Mel Brooks' stage version of The Producers in 2001. He continued to make feature films, including the 2005 adaptation of The Producers. Broderick played the role of Leopold “Leo” Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail, but which turns out to be successful.

Broderick reunited with his co-star from The Lion King and The Producers, Nathan Lane, in The Odd Couple, which opened on Broadway in October 2005. He appeared on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28, 2009.

In October 2010, Broderick was featured in the US version of the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are?.

He returned to the Broadway stage in Spring 2012 to star in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.