Surprising past of The Bear star Matty Matheson revealed

FX’s The Bear has been a runaway hit since it debuted in 2022, with three seasons already aired and a fourth on the way in June 2025.

It follows Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), a decorated chef who returns to his family’s sandwich shop in Chicago following his brother’s death.

He sets about getting the ship in order with the help of, among others, Sydney (Ayo Edibiri), a talented young chef, cantanterous childhood friend Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and another childhood friend Neil Fak (Matty Matheson).

Matheson (fourth left) with his The Bear co-stars (Michael Buckner / Contributor/Getty Images)

The acclaimed show has supercharged the careers of many of its stars, with a huge spotlight paid to the tight writing, outstanding acting performances, and remarkable production values that have become The Bear’s signature qualities.

Matheson’s boisterous and charming Fak is a particular highlight in the well-appointed cast, and took a more central role in season 3 whilst starring alongside in-show brothers Ricky Staffieri and, for a brief cameo, John Cena.

The Canadian actor, 43, is a real-life chef, restaurateur, musician, and internet personality too, previously starring in Vice’s recurring show Munchies, and he’s got a hell of a story behind him that’s surely worthy of its own dramatised retelling.

Father-of-three Matheson grew up Mormon until his family moved from Nova Scotia to Ontario during his childhood, at which time his family left the church. He would often spend his summers helping out at his grandfather’s The Blue Goose restaurant in DeSable, sowing the seeds for a very busy restaurant career.

In 2000, he enrolled in a cooking course at Humber College in Toronto. He dropped out before graduating to join his friend as a roadie on their metal band’s tour, but re-entered the culinary world by applying to various restaurants and citing his skill in meat butchery.

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From there, he joined Le Sélect Bistro in Toronto in 2003, working under chef Rang Nguyen who instructed him in French cuisine and techniques.

He was later hired by La Palette in 2006 before going on to become executive chef at the Parts & Labour restaurant in 2010 where he stayed until its 2019 closure.

If you were wondering how The Bear manages to feel so authentic, it’s probably due in-part to Matheson’s extensive kitchen experience.

Exciting as Matheson’s career has been both in the kitchen and on-screen, he’s faced some major challenges in his personal life that threatened to derail it all.

Having first tried cocaine as a teenager, Matheson suffered substance problems in his young adulthood that culminated in a heart attack at 29 years old. By 2013 he had quit taking drugs and drinking alcohol, and it seems his career has thrived ever since.

Off-screen, he’s kept up with his restaurant-focused pursuits since his first TV appearance in 2011. Back in 2015 he opened a pizza restaurant, Maker Pizza, which has since opened multiple outlets near Toronto.

During the Covid pandemic, Matheson opened a pop-up restaurant called Matty Matheson’s Meat + Three which specialised in American barbecue classics. While that pop-up closed in 2022, he had opened another in 2020 called Matty’s Patty’s in Hawaii and, later, for a brief time in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Matheson at the premiere for The Bear (Emma McIntyre/GA / Contributor/Getty Images)

Several more restaurants have opened under Matheson since, including one in partnership with former mentor Rang Nguyen, with all of his eateries falling under his Our House Hospitality Company.

All of this may come as a surprise to those familiar with his The Bear character’s bumbling personality and regular dressing-downs from other members of the fictional restaurant’s team, but that just goes to show what a quietly capable actor the restaurateur really is.