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Matt Ross (actor)

American actor

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ1190406
Source-derived summary

Matthew Brandon Ross (born January 3, 1970) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Alby Grant on the television series Big Love (2006–11) and Gavin Belson on Silicon Valley (2014–19), as well as his performances in the films The Last Days of Disco (1998), American Psycho (2000), and The Aviator (2004). He wrote and directed the 2016 comedy-drama film Captain Fantastic.

Early life and education

Ross was born on January 3, 1970 in Greenwich, Connecticut, and grew up in Eagle Point, Oregon. His parents divorced when he was young, and Ross was raised in what he described as "alternative living situations". These experiences partly inspired his 2016 film Captain Fantastic. His mother became interested in the Waldorf education philosophy and Ross spent time in England while his mother worked towards a teaching credential in Waldorf education.

Career

Ross garnered critical acclaim for his role as Alby Grant in the HBO series Big Love for five seasons. He also played Eddie Scott in the 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2011 and 2015, he played Charles Montgomery in the first and fifth seasons of FX's anthology series American Horror Story.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Matt Ross (actor)” as american actor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Matt, Ross and actor.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1970, 2006, 2014, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1970-01-03. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Matt, Ross and actor providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Matt Ross (actor)”, the useful work is to connect “american actor” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1190406. VIAF identifies the subject as 4582687. The Library of Congress control number is no2001067019. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1970, 2006, 2014 and 1998.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Matt Ross (actor)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Matt Ross (actor) primary sources, Matt Ross (actor) archive and Matt research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Matt Ross (actor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.