Matt Czuchry - Magazine for the Arts

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Matt Czuchry
Where Are They Now?
Scene from The Good Wife.
May 2011
5
Once upon a time, Matt Czuchry (ZOOK-ree) dreamed of becoming a lawyer. In a quirky
twist of fate, he now plays one on television.
He is perhaps best known for having played Rory’s sexy, bad-boy college beau Logan Huntzberger on the CW series Gilmore Girls. He landed the role after auditioning for
several characters for four years. Matt, who turns 34 this month, currently portrays young,
ambitious, Harvard-educated lawyer Cary Agos on the critically acclaimed CBS television
series The Good Wife.
Actress Archie Panjabi, who portrays a ruthless investigator and Matt’s love interest on
The Good Wife, told Entertainment Weekly that “Matt has balanced deep vulnerability with
motivated vindictiveness. It results in a character you can’t help but love, root for, and fear.”
Matt said, “It’s very unexpected what [my character’s] motives are, whether they’re honest or
manipulative. Walking that line has been fun.”
He told TV Guide, “When you have a show that you finally get grounded in success, often times you could play it safe, but that’s not the case with this show, and that’s what I love about it.”
According to an article in CBS Watch! magazine (Feb. 2011), “To meet Matt in real life is
to understand how good he is at playing Cary Agos on The Good Wife. Because he’s so unlike
the suave, sexualized, self-important lawyer on the show that you can almost taste the power
of good performance. The actor in real life is sweet, shy and subdued.”
Matt told CBS Watch! he has “no burning need inside me to be famous. There is a
burning need to work with the best possible people and to do the best possible work. It’s all
hard. It’s hard to get an agent. It’s hard to get your first line on a show. It was hard for me to
get Gilmore Girls. Then it was hard to break away from Gilmore Girls. On every level there’s
another challenge....Being an actor, you get so close and so rejected all the time. It can be
heartbreaking. To this day, I still need a couple days to grieve over those losses, but I’ve
gotten better at understanding the business as a business. You can’t grieve too long or you
might miss the job that’s meant to be. On the same day that I found out I didn’t get a big job
I was hoping for, I got The Good Wife.”
Matt recalls, “I originally thought that law school was something I wanted to pursue
after graduating college. But I found that I was not truly passionate about it. Instead, I was
passionate about exploring what it meant to be an actor as a career path. So, encouraged by
my family, I set forth on that path instead. He notes, “It’s important to know that there is no one right path to follow your art as
a career. For me, I went to Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn. I graduated from
the College of Charleston (S.C.) with a double major in History and Political Science. After
graduation, I attained an agent by attending a convention and finding success and recognition
at that convention. I then created a detailed plan, with my family, to move to Los Angeles
and maximize my strengths. It’s important to know that a career in acting, or any art, is
a business. It means making money and sustaining yourself. You have to put together a
business plan AND work on your art as a craft.”
A former Tennessee State High School Tennis champion, Matt says, “The liberal arts
education I received in college, as well as playing tennis there (on scholarship), taught me
invaluable lessons that I apply to my career as an actor. Lessons such as perseverance,
discipline, establishing a hard work ethic, rebounding from loss, overcoming obstacles — are all life lessons that can be applied to any job. Especially one in the arts.”
He continues, “Both Gilmore Girls and The Good Wife are jobs that require an extreme
amount of hours, dedication, preparation, and sacrifice. I love my job and it is an expression
of the art that I love. At the same time, it’s extremely challenging.”
Matt adds, “Publicity is another piece of the job that takes a lot of preparation, hours,
and focus. Online interviews, in-person interviews, photo shoots, etc., are done on a constant
basis. There is a difference between what is asked of you from the project that you are
working on, and the additional publicity that you undertake to promote your career as an
individual. The choices that you make shape your brand and image, which, in turn, establish
the type of job opportunities presented to you. Publicity essentially equals awareness. If more
people are aware of your work, the more chance there is for future opportunities.”
His advice for aspiring actors: “Being an actor is an art and a job. Study with the best
teachers, enroll in the best classes, and dedicate yourself to learning and growing. To make
acting a career is a daunting, yet extremely rewarding undertaking; and at every level of
your career, there are new challenges. If you love it, follow your passion through a focused
and intelligent work ethic and plan. Through that you will develop the tools and confidence
necessary to thwart those that may doubt you. And, perhaps most importantly, acting in many
ways means embracing life through emotion and experiences. To be a full actor, one must live
a full life. So, enjoying life is fundamental.”
Other Notable Works: Prior to The Good Wife and Gilmore Girls, Matt had a recurring guest
role on the CBS drama Hack and starred in the pilot of UPN’s Jake 2.0. He also guested on
Freaks and Geeks, 7th Heaven, The Practice, Veronica Mars and Friday Night Lights. In 2010
he starred opposite Patricia Wettig as the excommunicated son of The 19th Wife, (Lifetime
Network), a murder mystery taking place in a polygamous marriage society. Other film work
has included the lead role in the adaptation of Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
(2009). In 2002 Matt played Scarlett Johansson’s hot-rodding boyfriend in the campy thriller
Eight Legged Freaks and appeared alongside Piper Perabo in the comedy Slap Her, She’s
French. From 2000-2002, he portrayed Sean McGrail in The WB’s Young Americans, opposite
Kate Bosworth.
Where Are They Now. . .Continued on page 6