Film & TV / Theatre & dance / Literature
Matt Letscher
born 1970 · actor, playwright, director
Grosse Pointe-born actor (The Mask of Zorro, The Flash's Reverse-Flash) and playwright, discovered at Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea.
- Born
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
age 56- Detroit years
- 1970–1990s
- Field
- Film & TV, Theatre & dance, Literature
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Matt Letscher was born in Grosse Pointe in 1970 and studied drama at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His first professional job came close to home, in The Tropic Pickle during the second season of the Purple Rose Theatre Company, the Chelsea playhouse founded by Michigan actor Jeff Daniels. Daniels was impressed enough to set up a meeting with director Ron Maxwell, which opened the way to film work: Letscher played Col. Adelbert Ames in Maxwell's Gods and Generals and the villainous Captain Harrison Love in The Mask of Zorro (1998). On television he became familiar as Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash, in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, and in many other series. He has kept his ties to the Purple Rose as a writer: the company staged the world premiere of his farce Sea of Fools, set in McCarthy-era Hollywood, in 2007.
Highlights
- Captain Harrison Love in The Mask of Zorro (1998)
- Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow
- First professional role at Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre
- His play Sea of Fools premiered at the Purple Rose in 2007
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · late 1980s–early 1990s
University of Michigan
Letscher was a drama major here.
Performed here · 1992, 2007
Purple Rose Theatre
Professional theater founded by Jeff Daniels in 1991; Letscher got his first paid role here and the company premiered his play Sea of Fools in 2007.