Biography
Matthew A. Cherry is an American film and television director, writer and producer, and a former American football player. Born in Chicago on 14 December 1981, he played college football at the University of Akron before brief NFL stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens. He retired from sport in 2007 and moved into entertainment, beginning as a production assistant and directing music videos.
Cherry wrote and directed the independent features The Last Fall (2012) and 9 Rides (2016). He is best known for the animated short Hair Love (2019), which he created via a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign and which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He has directed episodes of series including Abbott Elementary (2021), Young Sheldon, Ghosts, black-ish and Swagger.
