Matty Matheson's Complete Evolution: From Chef To Actor

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The world of celebrity chefs has grown and grown. With the likes of Food Network stars like Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri, who have become household names thanks to their cooking chops and plentiful time on the air. But beyond network television, there is a whole class of well-known chefs that have emerged through online-first publications and social media — and chef Matty Matheson owes a lot of his fame to this less-conventional path to stardom. 

Though he honed his cooking chops the old-fashioned way — working his way up through restaurant kitchens — he began his rise to prominence on Vice's video channels. His boisterous, larger-than-life personality was hard to ignore and, when paired with his creativity in the kitchen, created an unbeatable combination. But as Matheson's fame grew, new opportunities arose and he slowly began to evolve from just a chef to an entertainer. He added host, podcaster, and author to his resume before finally taking the leap and making his first repeat appearance on the silver screen.

Learn more about Matheson's journey and discover how he went from culinary school in Toronto to landing a recurring role on one of FX's most successful shows. 

Canadian chef Matty Matheson was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and grew up in Nova Scotia before moving to Fort Erie, Ontario, when he was 11. He spent much of his summer and winter vacations on Prince Edward Island, just north of Nova Scotia, where his grandfather lived and owned and operated the Blue Goose diner. "I think my love of restaurants maybe comes from the love of my grandfather," Matheson told CBC.

Throughout high school, Matheson was a self-proclaimed punk who prioritized partying and music over his schooling. At 19, he enrolled in Humber College's culinary arts program to embrace his passion for cooking he inherited from his grandfather. Humber's two-semester program gives students a thorough foundation in the culinary arts to help set them up for success in entry-level restaurant roles. Humber College also offers continuing education opportunities with its Culinary Management and Cook Apprenticeship programs. Matheson, however, dropped out shortly before graduating from the one-year program. Despite not finishing the program, his lack of a diploma didn't stop him from later landing jobs in some of Toronto's most well-respected restaurants.

After leaving Humber College's culinary arts program, Matheson landed his first restaurant job at Le Sélect Bistro in 2003. At this classic French restaurant in the heart of Toronto, he perfected Parisian recipes under the tutelage of Chef Master Rang. In addition to gaining experience in the kitchen, Matheson also formed a long-lasting friendship with Rang; they still make appearances on each other's social media pages and have partnered together on new food ventures, opening a bánh mì restaurant together in Toronto. 

After a few years working at Le Sélect Bistro, Matheson took a new role at La Palette in 2006. Located in Toronto's Kensington Market, this bistro afforded Matheson the opportunity to continue refining his skills in French cooking. It was also a place where Matheson's alcohol and drug use skyrocketed thanks to a kitchen that epitomized the infamous restaurant industry party scene.

In 2008, he took the role as head chef at Oddfellows — a restaurant concept from the creative partners of design label Castor. Here, the party atmosphere continued both in the kitchen for Matheson and for patrons, too. As Toronto Life explained, "Oddfellows was the sort of place where customers would come for dinner and stay until 3 a.m."

By 2010, Matty Matheson had made a name for himself in the culinary world — not only for his skills but also for his unorthodox approach and party-hard, wild-child lifestyle. Richard Lambert and Jesse Girard were the backers behind a new Toronto restaurant, Parts & Labour. They brought Matheson over from Oddfellows as their executive chef.

The trendy restaurant became known for its communal seating and hipster bartenders with plentiful tattoos. The seasonal, locally sourced menu was creative and innovative — they became known for their "fried pig's face," a deep fried headcheese dish. They also had classic alternatives — like the P&L Burger with bacon-onion jam and dill mayo — that were widely beloved. But besides the food itself, reviewers also noted the loud music and party vibe of the restaurant that had become Matheson's signature style. While appealing to some, it also left a bad taste in the mouth of many others that even the food couldn't offset.

Matheson left Parts & Labour in late 2017 to move on to other restaurants and culinary projects. Two years later, in 2019, the restaurant shut its doors. The reason, however, was unclear as the restaurant remained popular until it closed.

Eventually, Matty Matheson's continuous heavy partying caught up with him. He had spent years notoriously abusing alcohol and drugs. One night, in 2012, he went home from working at Parts & Labour on a Saturday night after a days-long bender. He woke up the next morning with chest pain and went to the hospital. He was told he had a heart attack; he was only 29 years old. 

This news, however, wasn't enough to get him to change his lifestyle. After taking it easy for a few months in light of his health scare, he began to ramp up his drug and alcohol use again — despite promising his then-girlfriend (and now wife) Trish Spencer that he would clean up his act. It wasn't until Matheson invited a drug dealer to Parts & Labour and did a drug exchange in full view of customers that his boss stepped in and staged an intervention. After his friends intervened, he committed to becoming sober and clean, and began attending support meetings in November 2013. He regularly posts on his social media pages celebrating his clean, healthy lifestyle and highlighting his dedication to sobriety. 

In 2014, Matty Matheson became a regular on Vice's Munchies when it launched. The popular food vertical featured website articles and TV-style programming on its video channel. The content covered a wide range of food topics, and the videos featured big-name celebrity chefs like Matheson alongside the likes of Action Bronson and Eddie Huang. Beyond reviews and recipes, the channel also focused on diving into restaurant culture and delivering diverse perspectives from home cooks and professional chefs alike. 

Matheson first began creating Vice content before getting sober; his first foray into their programming was a series where he would go out and get drunk with other chefs. The next morning, they would try to cook him a hangover-curing meal. Eventually (after getting sober), the content pivoted to Matheson's favorite recipes ranging from Old Bay potato chips to lemon meringue cheesecake pie. He went on to eventually host his own Viceland shows, becoming a mainstay in the Munchies vertical beyond his role as a contributor. Despite the channel's popularity and sky-high views, Vice eventually shuttered its entire food vertical in 2022.

After becoming a Munchies regular, Matty Matheson went on to host two Vice shows of his own: "Dead Set on Life" and "It's Suppertime!" "Dead Set on Life" was a travel-focused culinary show where Matheson traversed his home country of Canada to find the very best bites. The show debuted in 2016 and ran for three seasons, with some episodes amassing nearly 2 million views on YouTube. Season 3 ended in the summer of 2017, shortly before his second Vice show premiered later that year.

The second show, "It's Suppertime!" brought viewers into the kitchen with Matheson. In each episode, he cooked one of his favorite meals from scratch, offering how-tos alongside his boisterous personality. From hearty fare like meatloaf and schnitzel, to delicious meals like mussels or baba ganoush, he showed off his culinary chops and made food that looked mouthwatering. Unlike "Dead Set on Life," however, "It's Suppertime!" was short-lived; its one and only season started in 2017 and ended in 2018.

In late 2018, Matty Matheson released his first cookbook, "Matty Matheson: A Cookbook." The deeply personal book explores the dishes that define his youth and recreates some of the restaurant dishes that he became known for like the P&L Burger and pigtail tacos. It also features some of his childhood favorites like seafood chowder and rappie pie. Alongside the recipes are personal essays and stories that embody the chef's larger-than-life personality. The widely positively reviewed book went on to become a New York Times bestseller.

He went on to release his second cookbook, "Home Style Cookery," in 2020. This cookbook is designed to allow readers to "choose their own adventure," but gives them techniques and dishes that build upon one another. His third cookbook, released in 2024, focuses on soups, salads, and sandwiches. His innovative recipes bring bold flavors to these lunch classics to amp up flavor and help create the perfect mix-and-match meal. Like his two other cookbooks, this cookbook is loved by Matheson's fans for its simple and easy recipes that deliver on taste.

By 2018, Matty Matheson was no stranger to appearing in front of the camera. Though up until this point he had always appeared as himself — celebrity chef and culinary expert — he made the jump into acting that year when he appeared on "Workin' Moms." The comedy series follows four 30-something working mothers as they navigate their home and work lives. The show, which has been showered with accolades, featured Matheson as a minor character in a few episodes in Season 2. In 2018 on Facebook, he cited his time on working moms as "the scariest hardest thing" he's ever done in his career and commended the show's genius.

In 2021, Matheson again honed his acting chops when he appeared on the Cartoon Network show, "Craig of the Creek." The series follows the adventures of Craig and his sidekicks, Kelsey and JP, as they adventure in the wilderness of a nearby creek. Matheson contributed the voice of Keef in an episode in Season 3 of the animated series.

Along with fashion designer and director Alex/2tone, Matty Matheson created "Powerful Truth Angels," "the wildest, most unfiltered podcast in the history of mankind." The duo hosted the podcast together, with the first episode airing on March 19, 2020, and was released weekly on Thursdays. The podcast initially had no coherent focus or theme, with the first episode covering topics ranging from the shape of the Earth to prehistoric pets.

The chaotic, ever-changing nature of the show, however, is what seems to attract listeners the most. Reviewers on Apple Podcasts hail "the host, the content, and the laughs," and it has amassed a 4.7-star rating from nearly 500 reviewers.

Matheson was on and off the show over the years before fully stepping away from the podcast about three years ago. The show, which is exclusively now hosted by 2Tone in an interview-style format, is still released weekly and has racked up nearly 200 episodes.

Following the success of his online shows for Vice, Matheson has also created a successful YouTube channel of his own. With 1.55 million subscribers and nearly 600 videos, he's brought his signature style to a range of different video formats all focused on one thing: food. On the channel, he's created multiple mini series, from "Home Style Cookery" which walks viewers through recipes in his second cookbook to an instructional show called "Just A Dash."

Alongside his YouTube following, Matheson has also amassed 2 million followers on Instagram, over 700,000 on Facebook, and 1.1 million on TikTok. He uses his platforms to primarily reshare his YouTube content, but he also partners with brands to create sponsored content like many other popular influencers. In the past, he has worked with digital file-sharing platform WeTransfer, creating a downloadable digital cookbook targeted toward college students. He has also created sponsored content in partnership with McCain Foods Canada.

In partnership with chef Keenan McVey, Matty Matheson founded Blue Goose Farm in 2020. With their thoughtful approach to farming, McVey and Matheson's goal is to respect "the values of slow living," and they are "dedicated to growing the best produce possible with intention" (via Matty's World).

The small, regenerative farm is in Ridgeway, Ontario, not far from Matheson's childhood home of Fort Erie. The farm was named after Matheson's grandfather's restaurant on Prince Edward Island, paying homage to the place that first sparked his love of food.

At Blue Goose Farm, they prioritize a range of crops and heirloom produce varieties like caraflex cabbage, unagi cucumbers, and heirloom carrots (perfect for making bourbon-glazed carrots at home). Everything is grown the old-school way: by hand. In 2024, they also opened an on-site shop that sells their produce, flowers, and other small-batch pantry staples. In addition to supplying produce to their shop, the farm also provides its high-quality, organic produce to top Toronto restaurants, including Prime Seafood Palace, Dreyfus, and Bernhardt's.

In 2022, Matty Matheson signed on to work on a new show on FX, "The Bear." This fictional series follows a Chicago-based chef named Carmen Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) as he tries to save his family's Italian beef restaurant. It's bursting with realism, capturing the stress, anxiety, and complexity found not only in the kitchen but among the interpersonal relationships between all of the characters.

Matheson was first brought on as a culinary producer and consultant, playing an integral off-screen role in helping the actors look and act authentic in the kitchen. He partnered with Courtney Storer (chef, culinary consultant, and sister of the show's creator) to bring unmatched realism to the chaos of the kitchen scenes. The duo reviewed everything from the sets to the dialogue to the Chicago-inspired dishes, ensuring that everything was as real to the restaurant industry as possible.

When showrunner Christopher Storer approached Matheson to appear on-screen in the show, he agreed — but was insistent he didn't want to play a chef. Instead, Matheson adopted the role of happy-go-lucky handyman Neil Fak. Though Matheson hasn't been personally nominated for any awards, the drama series has been showered with praise, winning across categories at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and Emmys. In 2024, the series even won a record-setting 11 Emmys (from 23 nominations), making it the most-winning series in the comedy category in a single year.

Now that Matty Matheson has made a name for himself in Hollywood, he is set to star in two new upcoming productions. The first, "Born to Lose," follows a young biker as he struggles with his father's debts to a local gangster, and he works to rehabilitate an old motorcycle to offset what is owed. The all-star cast features Dylan Arnold (from Halloween) as the main character, Andy, alongside James Le Gros, Jed Duncan, and Ambyr Childers. Matheson plays the character Bucky in the film, as well as being an executive producer.

The second, "Doug Out," hasn't yet been widely publicized. The film was written and directed by Lije Sarki, who also produced the 2019 film The Peanut Butter Falcon starring Shia LeBeouf and Dakota Johnson. This new drama stars Chris Bauer (from The Wire) and stand-up comedian Beth Stelling alongside Matheson seemingly as the movie's main characters.