MATTHEW
DEL NEGRO
ABOUT
Matthew Del Negro grew up in Westchester County, New York and graduated from Boston College, where he played Division I Lacrosse. His acting career began in small theatre productions in New York while he was bartending, before landing a pivotal recurring role on Season 4 of HBO's groundbreaking series, The Sopranos opposite James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Using that momentum, Matt segued onto Aaron Sorkin's critically-acclaimed NBC series, The West Wing and Diablo Cody's series for Showtime, The United States of Tara. He returned to the boards for A.C.T.'s sold-out run of David Mamet's Speed the Plow, playing the role of Bobby Gould under the direction of Loretta Greco and eventually, his portrayal of gay male prostitute, Michael Ambruso, on ABC's smash hit, Scandal gained him wide recognition as an actor with range. He followed that with a turn in the critical and Box Office hit, Wind River, starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen before landing a coveted role on the 2nd Season of Amazon's Goliath. Following his darkly dramatic turn on Goliath with a layered, scene-stealing comedic portrayal of down-on-his-luck actor Jason Alan Ross on Netflix's Huge in France, Del Negro proved that he is capable of comedy as well as drama. He is now a series regular, alongside Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge, on Showtime’s critically-acclaimed Boston crime drama City on a Hill.
Having made his own short film, Christmas Break, in 2007, Matt stepped behind the camera again, as Creative Consultant, to help fellow actor Chris Messina with his directorial debut, Alex of Venice, starring Don Johnson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Derek Luke as well as helping friend Blake Robbins develop his festival hit indie film, the gritty Sublime and Beautiful.
He earned a producer credit for his developmental contributions to the indie film, Limerence, in which he also stars and has begun to develop projects, mostly based on true, inspiring stories of several of his former podcast guests.
In July of 2017, Matt launched his podcast, 10,000 NOs, where he sits down with top-shelf folks from all walks of life about the rejections they've had to endure and struggles they've had to overcome on their journey to where they are today. He has since become one of the faces of Perseverance, Resilience, and Grit as his podcast has ranked in the top 100 Apple Career Podcasts in the USA, Australia, and Canada. The podcast also led to a publishing deal with Wiley & Sons, who will publish his book, 10,000 NOs: How to Overcome Rejection on the Way to Your YES on October 27, 2020.
Matthew has been increasingly invited to speak about perseverance, resilience, and grit at corporate events and seminars, including Cathy Heller's, Don't Keep Your Day Job Podcast Retreat (2018), Jon Gordon’s Power of Positive Summit (2019, 2020), and Sharran Srivatsaa’s Brand Summit (2020). He has also been asked back to speak at his alma mater, Boston College after speaking there in 2019.
FILM & TV
"As an actor, even if you're considered a relative "success", you're really unemployed for so much of your career. In 2017, after one of my longest stints of working non-stop, my storyline on Scandal dried up with no warning. Suddenly I was unemployed again, in the midst of a pilot season where I felt like I couldn't get arrested, let alone book a show despite feeling great in the (audition) rooms. No one wanted me. It was just a procession of “No”s. And I've always had a pretty positive attitude but it was like the industry had begun to beat me down. I felt like a shell of myself, until finally I thought, 'F**k it. I’m done waiting for someone to hire me.' I figured I'd make my own little fiefdom. And even if it was tiny, I was going to be at the center of it. So no one could tell me I couldn't create. And that's how 10,000 NOs was born: the first episode I released was just me, a microphone, my laptop and 17 minutes of riffing straight from the heart.
I had no idea what I was doing and or exactly where I was going. That was kind of the point. I was just following my creative impulse and, what started as a side-hustle for me, to stretch and express myself, ended up turning into one of the greatest adventures of my career. I have had incredible opportunities to sit down with some really unique, impressive people from all walks of life. When I began, I had a premise: that the people you think "have it made" put their pants on one leg at a time, just like you and me. Turns out I was right. And then some. It's been a great education. It's for anyone that’s heard the word “No”. Basically, I just keep relearning the lesson my Dad always taught me… that failure is just opportunity in disguise."
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