Matthew Chandler Fox (born July 14, 1966) is an American actor and former model. His first major role was playing an older brother and patriarch Charlie Salinger on Party of Five in the 1990s, co-starring with both Scott Wolf and Neve Campbell. More recently, he gained much greater fame for playing Jack Shephard on the hit ABC drama series Lost.

Fox was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. He was the middle of three brothers growing up on the family’s long-horn cattle ranch. When Fox was very young, his mother Lory, father Francis, and the three boys, Francis Jr,(b.1961) Matthew and young Bayard (b.1969), moved to Wyoming where they lived on and were caretakers of the remote "Bitterroot Ranch" outside Dubois for Bayard Fox and Louise "Wendy" Fox . The families helped establish the current Bitterroot Dude Ranch along with Bayard's and Wendy's children: Sara, Kate, Carrie and Bayard William Fox, and Randy, Geoff, Brad and Kristen Houser. After a few harsh winters Matthew's family purchased the ranch in Crowheart, WY. and he was raised there. His mother, Loretta B. (née Eagono), was a teacher, and his father, Francis G. Fox, raised longhorn cattle and horses and grew barley for Coors beer. Fox's mother was of part Italian descent, and his father is a descendant of Union General George Meade. Following his graduation from Wind River High School in nearby Pavillion, Wyoming, Fox undertook a prep year at prestigious Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, from which he gained admission to Columbia University. At Columbia, he played wide receiver, participating in the game that led to the end of Columbia's notorious 44-game losing streak. He was also a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He graduated with a degree in Economics in 1988. He entered the world of the television when his girlfriend's mother convinced him to do so.

Fox sought a career on Wall Street before turning to acting. Upon his graduation from Columbia, he applied for a job to sell stocks at Prudential-Bache. "I didn't have a suit, so I had to borrow one from a friend. He was 5-10, and I'm 6-2, so the thing didn't fit. And I borrowed his penny loafers," he said. He described the staff as "all these mid-20s, Type A, go-getting wannabe Gordon Gekkos. There was just so much testosterone flying around, in all the wrong directions ... I'll never forget the moment as long as I live: We're saying goodbye, and they were like, 'Well, y'know, you're gonna come here and kick ass, and it's all gonna be great!' and then one of 'em says, 'But he's gonna have to do something about those shoes!' They all had exactly the same pair of Oxford shoes on. In that moment, I , 'There's no way I can do this.'"