Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe Award-, and BAFTA Award-nominated American actor. He began acting in the late 1970s, gained fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s, and developed a successful career as a mature actor in the decades following, culminating in an Oscar nomination for his performance in the movie Crash.

Matthew Raymond Dillon was born in New Rochelle, New York, to second-generation Irish American Catholic parents Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for Union Camp, a packing material manufacturer. Through his father, Dillon is related to comic strip artist Alex Raymond. Dillon has one sister and four brothers, one of whom, Kevin Dillon, is also an actor, from the hit TV series Entourage. Dillon grew up in Mamaroneck, New York and before dropping out in junior year he attended Mamaroneck High School.

In 1979, casting director Vic Ramos went to Mamaroneck High School and spotted Dillon cutting class. He asked Dillon to audition for a role, and Dillon made his film debut in the violent teen drama Over the Edge. The film received a regional, limited theatrical release in May 1979, and grossed only slightly over $200,000. Dillon's performance was well-received, which led to his casting in two films released the following year; the teenage sex comedy, Little Darlings, in which Kristy McNichol's character loses her virginity to a boy from the camp across the lake, played by Dillon, and the more serious teen drama, My Bodyguard, where he played a high-school bully opposite Chris Makepeace. The films, released in March and July 1980, respectively, were box office successes and raised Dillon's profile among teenage audiences.