Who is Matt Lattanzi and what happened to him?
Matthew Vincent Lattanzi was born in Portland, Oregon USA, on 1 February 1959 – his zodiac sign is Aquarius and he holds American nationality. He is a former actor and a dancer, but who is perhaps best known for being the first husband of Dame Olivia Newton-John, a famous British-Australian singer, actress and dancer.
Childhood and education
Matt was raised an only child in Portland by his father Charles Paul Lattanzi who was a maintenance foreman from Italy, and his mother Jeanette Slowikowski who was a housewife originally from Poland.
Matt became interested in acting while attending elementary school, as he and his friends enjoyed watching black & white movies together – he and his best friend practiced acting later at Benson Polytechnic High School, and often attended plays performed at a local theatre.
Posted by Matt Lattanzi Community on Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Matt was also physically active at Benson Polytechnic, as he played soccer and basketball with his friends. Upon matriculation in 1977, he decided not to enroll at college but to focus on a career as an actor and dancer.
Career as an actor
Matt made his debut film appearance in 1980, when he was cast to portray Young Danny McGuire (dancer) in the romantic fantasy musical “Xanadu”, which starred Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly and Michael Beck, and which is about an artist living in Los Angeles who meets the girl of his dreams – the movie won one award and was nominated for 10 others.
In 1981, he portrayed The Boy Jim in the drama movie “Rich and Famous”, while the following year saw him appear in the musical “Olivia Newton-John: Let’s Get Physical” written and directed by Brian Grant.
Matt’s breakthrough role came in 1982, when he was cast to play Brad in the musical comedy movie “Grease 2”, which starred Michelle Pfeiffer, Maxwell Caulfield and Lorna Luft, and is about a British student who has to prove his worth to a girl gang as its members can only go out with ‘greasers’.
The year 1983 saw him play Bobby Chrystal in the comedy “My Tutor”, then in 1984, Matt made his debut TV series appearance, portraying a dancer in the pilot episode of the drama “Rituals”. He made an uncredited appearance in the short musical “Olivia: Soul Kiss” in 1985, while the following year saw him appear as Larry Bartlet in the comedy movie “That’s Life” both written and directed by Blake Edward. Two of his following roles were in the critically acclaimed 1987 romantic comedy “Roxanne”, starring Steven Martin and Daryl Hannah, and the drama movie “Blueberry Hill” in 1988, which starred Carrie Snodgress and Margaret Avery.
Three of Matt’s final roles before retiring from acting were in the action comedy movie “Catch Me If You Can” in 1989, the comedy sports film “Diving In” in 1990, and the drama series “Paradise Beach” in 1993.
Love life and wife
Matt met Olivia Newton-John while they were shooting together for “Xanadu”, and they married in a private ceremony attended by their closest friends and family on 15 December 1984. On 17 January 1986, Olivia gave birth to their daughter Chloe Lattanzi, who has since become an actress, and is known for her roles in movies “The Wilde Girls”, “Dirty Step Upstage” and “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming”. Matt’s acting career was finished in 1993, and he became a construction worker, which eventually led to his and Olivia’s divorce in 1995.
In 1997 he started dating the actress Cindy Jessup, who is perhaps best known for her roles in films “Superheroine Double Feature” and “Tied Up All Night Again”; they dated for 10 years before splitting for unknown reasons.
Matt hasn’t talked about any women he might ha
ve been with since his split from Cindy, and as of September 2020 he is single, was once married, and has a daughter.
Hobbies and other interests
Matt has been a dancer since his teenage years, and can dance a variety of styles – although he worked as a dancer for over 20 years, he has always looked at it as a hobby.
He is keen on travelling, and has been all around the world for both work and pleasure – two of his favorite cities amongst those he has visited are London in England and Tokyo in Japan.
Matt is a philanthropist, who has donated money to several non-governmental organizations which have the goal of helping underprivileged children and war veterans.
He has his own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Matt Damon, Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, while some of his favorite movies are “Good Will Hunting”, “The Terminal” and the franchise “Harry Potter”.
Net worth today
Matt’s age is 61. He has medium long brown hair and brown eyes, his height is 5ft 11ins (1.8m) and he weighs around 160lbs (72kgs).
As of September 2020, his net worth has been estimated at over $400,000, while Olivia’s net worth is reputedly over $40 million.
Who is Olivia Newton-John?
Dame Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England on 26 September 1948 – her zodiac sign is Libra and she holds both British and Australian nationality. She has won four Grammy awards, and has had five songs which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Olivia was raised alongside her older brother Hugh who died in 2019, and her older sister Rona who died in 2013, by their Welsh father Brinley ‘Bryn’ Newton-John, who was an MI5 officer, and their mother Irene Helene who was a housewife. When Olivia was six years old, the family moved to Melbourne in Australia after her father was offered the position of Master of the University of Melbourne’s Ormond College.
Olivia attended Christ Church Grammar School and continued her education at the University High School, from which she matriculated in 1965.
She launched her career as a musician at the age of 14 when she founded her band Sol Four with three of her best friends – she went on to appear in the musical TV series “The Go!! Show” in which she met Pat Caroll, an Australian singer with whom she would later found a duet. She released her debut single in 1966 entitled “Till You Say You’ll Be Mine” and then began performing with Pat as the duo Pat and Olivia – the two toured around Europe together, but split in 1975 after Pat returned to Australia. In the late ‘80s, Olivia joined the band Tomorrow, but they failed to chart with any songs and so disbanded.
Olivia became famous in the UK after the release of her debut album “If Not for You” in 1971, while her second album “Olivia” followed in 1972 – her single “Let Me Be There” won her a Grammy Award for Best Country Female in 1973, and it was featured on her eponymous album. She represented he UK in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Long Live Love”, and was placed fourth. Olivia became famous worldwide after she starred as Sandy in the movie “Grease”, alongside the famous actor John Travolta.
She went on to release many albums and became even more popular, however, Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 1992 – she beat the cancer in less than a year, and then became an advocate for the research of breast cancer. Olivia has been making music to this day, and is still very popular.
Before her marriage with Matt, Olivia was engaged to British guitarist Bruce Welch, who tried to commit suicide after their split in 1972. She went on to date British businessman Lee Kramer, and after their split, Olivia met Matt – after their divorce, she started dating the cameraman Patrick McDermott in 1996, and they were together for the following nine years until 2005 when Patrick disappeared while fishing off the Californian coast – a private investigator later claimed that Patrick was alive and in Mexico, but no proof was provided to support his claim. On 21 June 2008, Olivia married the president of the Amazon Herb Company John Easterling, and they have been together to this day.
Olivia revealed in May 2017 that her breast cancer had returned, and that it had also surfaced back in 2013, but that she fought it without letting the media know about it. She revealed that her cancer has progressed to Stage IV, and how she uses cannabis oil to treat it – Olivia and Matt’s daughter Chloe is the owner of her own cannabis plantation in Oregon.
Matt was definitely NOT raised as an only child. He had eight brothers and sisters. I knew his mother, Jeannette and I know for sure she had nine children.