Matthew Dickens is a Writer, Producer and Director.
He began training at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in
Washington, D.C as a Theatre major but was always cast in musicals. He
took a handful of dance classes, studied a musical instrument and took
vocal music classes. His innate ability to multi-task with his talent
was apparent. After graduation he joined a theater company as a young
actor at Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio but his passion quickly drew
him to New York where he started auditioning for Broadway shows.
Learning fast how to hone his skills as a triple threat, he trained
heavily in New York with voice lessons, acting classes and several
dance classes daily. In a short amount of time he landed a guest dancer
spot on Fame with Debbie Allen filmed at MGM Studios in Culver City.
Spending time on this historical movie lot, he fell in love with dance,
movies and the camera. He spent time with Allen wearing many hats on
the Academy Awards, Disney's Polly, Quantum Leap and A Different World.
He continued auditioning in LA and landed a role in his first Broadway
show, the international tour of Dreamgirls which returned to New York
as the Broadway Revival company. Musicals kept him busy. He earned a
series of back to back bookings in Stephen King's Carrie, Miss Saigon,
Smokey Joe's Cafe and the original company Sunset Boulevard starring
Glenn Close. He was later cast in the Dutch version of Miss Saigon and
traveled to Amsterdam. While in Europe he was able to follow his
passion to direct creating original productions with the Dutch Air
Force Orchestra. His talent was quickly discovered in Holland and he
was hired to Direct and Choreograph the opening ceremony of Gay Games
Amsterdam, Euro 2000 and segments of The National Wedding Event of
Prince Willem & Maxima for national television.
Throughout these years, his passion for movies grew stronger and he
eventually moved back to Hollywood where he reunited with Debbie Allen
as Associate Director and Choreographer for productions of Sammy, the
Musical and A Very Mancini Christmas. He was cast as an Actor/Dancer in
Brad Martin's Sledge starring stunt and fight choreographer David
Leitch. This brought him back to the world of camera and dance. From
there he began to seek out his passion for movies again. Music
Supervisor Randall Poster brought him on board as choreographer on The
Aviator directed by Martin Scorcese. He worked as a principal dancer in
Their Eyes Were Watching God starring Halle Berry and was hired for
seven months as skeleton crew and principal dancer in Rent with
choreographer Keith Young and directed by Chris Columbus. The following
year he was cast as a principal in Dreamgirls directed by Bill Condon.
War Zone 3D is a passion project for Matthew that pulls on his vast
years of professional experience across the board in the entertainment
industry. The foundation of his career has fully prepared him for the
task of taking on his first feature as writer, producer and director.