Matt Lauria

Matthew "Matt" Lauria (born August 16, 1982) is an American actor, and musician. He made his television debut on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in 2007. He is best known for his roles as Luke Cafferty on the NBC/DirecTV drama Friday Night Lights, Ryan York on the NBC family drama Parenthood, and currently stars as Ryan Wheeler on the Audience drama Kingdom.

Lauria was born in Virginia and moved to Ireland with his family when he was seven. His father was an animator and an artist. He has two sisters. He spent his formative years growing up in Dublin. Lauria moved back to the U.S. to attend high school. He received his formal acting training from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in their drama conservatory. He holds a BFA degree in drama. Lauria is also an avid electric guitarist.

On August 26, 2006, Lauria married musician Michelle Armstrong.

Within a few weeks of moving to New York City, Lauria successfully made his television debut as Winthrop on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. Soon after he finally landed a substantial recurring role on the NBC romantic sitcom Lipstick Jungle as Roy Merritt, where he co-starred with Brooke Shields, Andrew McCarthy and One Tree Hill's Robert Buckley.

Lauria landed his first starring role as Luke Cafferty, #44 of the East Dillon Lions, in the Emmy award-winning NBC/DirecTV drama Friday Night Lights, for which he moved to Pflugerville, Texas in order to film. Lauria remained on the show until it ended in 2011. After finishing Friday Night Lights, Lauria moved to Chicago, Illinois after being cast as Caleb Evers in the Fox crime drama The Chicago Code. The show was cancelled after one season.

He co-starred as Charlie Carnegie on the ABC drama pilot Gilded Lilys created and produced by Shonda Rhimes. From 2012 to 2015, Lauria had a recurring role as Ryan York, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, on the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons of the NBC family drama Parenthood, reuniting with former Friday Night Lights showrunner Jason Katims. He currently stars as Ryan Wheeler on the DirecTV drama series Kingdom which premiered on the Audience Network in the fall of 2014.