Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American film and stage actor who played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Nick Tatopoulos in Godzilla and David Lightman in WarGames. He voiced the characters of the adult Simba in The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He voiced Tack the Cobbler in The Thief and the Cobbler, Adam Flaymen in Bee Movie, alongside Jerry Seinfeld, and Despereaux in The Tale of Despereaux. He played Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers, and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in the Civil War drama Glory.

Early life

Broderick was born in New York City, the son of Patricia (née Biow), a playwright, actress, and painter; and James Wilke Broderick, an actor. Broderick's mother was Jewish, and his father a Catholic of Irish descent. Broderick attended grade school at the City & Country School (a progressive K–8 school in Manhattan) and attended high school at Walden School (a defunct private school in Manhattan with a strong drama program). After the death of his mother, her paintings were exhibited at the Tibor de Nagy gallery in New York.