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SAG Best Ensemble Award Win for Master Class Lecturer and New York Film Academy Board Member Matthew Modine

January 30, 2017 With the 23rd Annual SAG Awards complete, the New York Film Academy would like to extend congratulations to NYFA Master Class Lecturer and Board Member Matthew Modine, who, together with his “Stranger Things” castmates, won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. It was a surprise victory for the cast of the Netflix original series in this coveted category, who took home the award over the ensembles of “The Crown,” “Downton Abbey,” "Game of Thrones," and “Westworld." David Harbour’s acceptance speech for the ensemble made headlines.

Matthew Modine, known as an actor’s actor, plays the role of Dr. Martin Brenner in the Netflix original series. Modine told Footwear News that he contributed a great deal to styling his character’s appearance on screen: “The way it was scripted, I was going to wear a beard, flannel shirt, jeans and boots — a lumberjack. I told them, ‘That’s not my guy. I’m going to be so clean-shaven the audience [is] going to smell my aftershave.’ I’m going to wear a suit like Cary Grant in ‘North by Northwest,’ white hair like Robert Shaw in [‘Battle of the Bulge’], and I wanted to wear cap-toe shoes like John Kennedy. I thought it would be much more compelling — he’s a doctor.”

Modine stars along with Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, and Millie Bobbie Brown in the sci-fi thriller set in the American midwest of 1983. “Stranger Things” season two is slated for release sometime in 2017.

Mr. Modine’s repertoire of award-winning work also includes Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” (Golden Globe®), “Streamers” (Golden Lion®, Best Actor), “And the Band Played On” (Emmy® and Golden Globe nominations, Best Actor) and “What the Deaf Man Heard” (Emmy, Best Actor). Audiences also know Modine as the title character in “Birdy,” as Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” and as Deputy Police Commissioner Foley in “Dark Knight Rises.” Keep your eyes peeled for more from Mr. Modine, whose upcoming projects include Sicario sequel “Soldado,” the thriller “47 Meters Down,” and the very British comedy of manners “The Hippopotamus.”

The New York Film Academy would like to offer congratulations to Mr. Modine and the entire cast of “Stranger Things.” We are proud to have Mr. Modine serve as a Master Class Lecturer and New York Film Academy Board Member.