Born on Long Island, New York and raised in Los Angeles, Matt Reeves started making movies at age eight and his work made its (cable access) TV debut when he was only 13. The station that aired the young filmmaker's shorts introduced him to fellow teen director Jeffrey 'J J' Abrams, who would remain his creative partner for years, even co-creating Reeves' highest profile work to date, the college-set drama "Felicity" (The WB, 1998-2002). A graduate of USC's film school, Reeves made the most of his time while attending, writing a script that would eventually hit the big screen as "Under Siege II: Dark Territory" (1995) as well as directing and producing "Mr. Petrified Forrest", an award-winning student film that saw release as part of the 1994 thriller "Future Shock".
In 1995, Reeves made his directorial debut with "The Pallbearer", a quirky but heartfelt comedy chronicling the ups and downs of Tom Thomerson (David Schwimmer), a 25-year-old unemployed man who still lives in the family home. Often described as a 1990s take on "The Graduate", the film lacked its predecessor's generation-defining significance, and filled that place with some surprisingly realistic emotion and cheeky comedy. The screenplay, co-written by Reeves and Jason Katims, was an often meandering one with unexpected pit stops, all of which were handled skillfully by Reeves who proved a more smooth than slick director.
TV next called the filmmaker, who directed episodes of Katims' series "Relativity" (ABC) and "Homicide: Life on the Street" (NBC) in 1997. The following year Reeves and Abrams were ready to start their own TV series, the much-hyped college drama "Felicity". As executive producer, co-creator and sometime director of "Felicity", Reeves had a hand in setting the tone of the series and its main character (Keri Russell), but both were often prone to uncomfortable drama. While the same embarrassingly realistic sense was handled well in "The Pallbearer", the freshman year of "Felicity" was frequently a victim of taking itself too seriously. In subsequent seasons the focus shifted more to the comedy of life's everyday inanities rather than the melodrama, and the show hit its stride, though buzz had already dwindled as did its audience. Reeves directed the premiere episode of the ABC drama "Gideon's Crossing" (ABC) and amended his multiyear development deal at Touchstone Television, signing with ABC to create for the network a 1970s-set hour-long drama series loosely based on his own coming-of-age experiences. Keeping ties with the film world, Reeves contributed to the script of James Gray's bleak New York City-set crime drama "The Yards" (1999).