A pert blonde sitcom performer who struggled through a series of flops before finding a berth as Harry Anderson's wife on "Dave's World" (CBS, 1993-97), Matthews began her career with regional and touring productions of such shows as "Grease" and "I Oughta Be in Pictures" and Off-Broadway productions of "Pieces of Eight" and "City Boys". She also appeared on the soap operas "Guiding Light" (CBS) and "Ryan's Hope" (ABC). With The Acting Company, she appeared in "The Merry Wives of Windsor", "Pericles" and "The Cradle Will Rock" at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
The quality of her vehicles took a swift and precipitous dive when Matthews landed in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. She appeared in five short-lived, mostly panned sitcoms: as Peter Boyle's love interest in "Joe Bash" (ABC, 1986), the law comedy "Eisenhower & Lutz" (CBS, 1988), the radio comedy "FM" (NBC, 1989-1990), the delightful Julie Brown's less than delightful "The Julie Show" (NBC, 1991) and her own star vehicle, "Laurie Hill" (ABC, 1992), in which she was cast as a pediatrician. In the late 80s and early 90s, Matthews also guested on such series as "Dear John", "American Dreamer", "Murphy Brown" and on former "Eisenhower & Lutz" co-star Scott Bakula's popular "Quantum Leap".
Good luck finally came her way with the role of Beth Barry, a humor columnist's unflappable wife, on the hit sitcom "Dave's World". She also co-starred in a handful of TV-movies, beginning with the sports comedy "Dead Solid Perfect" (HBO, 1988) and including the sci-fi thriller "The Invaders" (Fox, 1995) and the drama "Every Woman's Dream" (CBS, 1996). More low-brow exposure came with one-time specials such as "Here Comes the Bride...There Goes the Groom" (1995, and its 1996 sequel) and co-star Harry Anderson's magic special "The Tricks of His Trade" (CBS, 1996).