Other notable films include Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), Cutthroat Island (1995), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Oppenheimer (2023).

On television, he portrayed Dr. Don Francis in the HBO film And the Band Played On (1993), Sullivan Groff on Weeds (2007), Ivan Turing in Proof (2015), and Dr. Martin Brenner on Netflix's Stranger Things (2016–2022).

The Modine family returned to Imperial Beach, California, where Matthew attended and graduated from Mar Vista High School in 1977.

His performances caught the eye of director Harold Becker, who cast him in Vision Quest (1985, filmed 1983), based on Terry Davis's novel.

The director Robert Altman propelled Modine to international stardom with his 1983 film adaptation of David Rabe's play Streamers.

Modine turned down the role of LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun (played by Tom Cruise), because he felt the film's pro-military stance went against his politics.

Subsequently, Modine played the dangerous young criminal Treat in Alan Pakula's 1987 film adaptation of Lyle Kessler's stageplay Orphans.

Modine played the goofy, earnest FBI agent Mike Downey in Jonathan Demme's screwball comedy Married to the Mob (1988) opposite Michelle Pfeiffer.

Cregg (Allison Janney) and who helped her deal with her father's steady mental decline due to Alzheimer's disease.

In 2004, Modine appeared in Funky Monkey as ex-football star turned spy Alec McCall, who teams up with super-chimp Clemens and his friend Michael Dean (Seth Adkins) to take down the villainous Flick (Taylor Negron).

The following year, he guest-starred in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Rage" as a serial killer of young girls.

In 2017, he and his Stranger Things castmates won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

[16] Modine was part of Speed Kills released in November 2018[17] as well as several upcoming films such as Foster Boy, Miss Virginia, and The Martini Shot.

He heads a pro-bike organization called "Bicycle for a Day" and was honored for his work on June 2, 2009, by the environmental arts and education center on the East River, Solar 1.

Modine's campaign manager and a number of other union members filed protests after the result, alleging election violations.