Matthew Salinger is an American actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. He is the son of author J. D. Salinger

J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....

 and psychologist Claire Douglas.

Career

Salinger made his film debut in 1984's Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 comedy film satirizing social life on a college campus. The film stars Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi, Larry B. Scott, John Goodman, and Donald Gibb...

, and may be best known for his starring role in the 1990 film Captain America, based on the Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 character of the same name

Captain America

Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...

.

Salinger has since appeared in films including What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come (film)

What Dreams May Come is a 1998 American supernatural drama film, starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet's To be, or not to...

and episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

and 24

24 (TV series)

24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...

. He has produced several independent films, including Let the Devil Wear Black

Let the Devil Wear Black

Let the Devil Wear Black is a 1999 film directed by Stacy Title, co-written by Title and her husband, actor Jonathan Penner. The film is a modern retelling of the classic play Hamlet.-Background:...

and Mojave Moon

Mojave Moon

Mojave Moon is a 1996 American road movie. It stars Danny Aiello, Anne Archer, Michael Biehn, Angelina Jolie and Jack Noseworthy. The film was written by Leonard Glasser and directed by Kevin Dowling.-Plot:...

. Salinger now works mostly on stage, as both actor and director. In 2000, he produced the Drama Desk Award

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

-winning play The Syringa Tree

The Syringa Tree

The Syringa Tree is a deeply personal memory play of a childhood under apartheid. Written and often performed by Pamela Gien it has received excellent reviews in New York and across the USA as well as in London...

Off-Broadway.

Personal life

Salinger graduated from Phillips Andover Academy and attended Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 before graduating from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 with a degree in art history and drama.
He married jewelry designer Betsy Becker in 1985. They live in Fairfield County, Connecticut

Fairfield County, Connecticut

Fairfield County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The county population is 916,829 according to the 2010 Census. There are currently 1,465 people per square mile in the county. It is the most populous county in the State of Connecticut and contains...

 and have two sons, Gannon and Avery.

In contrast to his sister, Margaret, who wrote a 1999 memoir about her childhood titled Dream Catcher, Salinger was a devoted protector of his father's privacy. A few weeks after Margaret's book was published, Salinger wrote a letter to The New York Observer, disparaging his sister's "gothic tales of our supposed childhood."

External links