He is mostly known for his roles as Warner Huntington III in Legally Blonde, Adam Hillman on the ABC comedy-drama What About Brian (2006–2007) and Alaric Saltzman on The CW fantasy drama The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017) as well as the spin-off series Legacies (2018–2022).

That same year he began starring in the ABC comedy drama television series What about Brian as Adam Hillman, a lawyer and the best friend of the titular character.

[10][11] In April 2012, Davis was cast as Jeff Sefton, a journalist blogger on the short-lived CW psychological thriller series Cult.

[16] He later returned to the hit The CW show The Vampire Diaries for its sixth season as Alaric Saltzman once again as a series regular.

[20] In April 2024, it was announced that Davis would star in the NBC drama pilot Grosse Pointe Garden Society.

[26] In April 2020, the headline #matthewdavisisoverparty trended on Twitter following a series of controversial posts by Davis that many fans had deemed racist and xenophobic.