Humphreys wanted to be an actor from childhood. In his adolescence, he considered other careers, including being a stockbroker and a United States Navy SEAL, but pursued acting and toured with a regional theatre company in the Midwestern United States and throughout New York. Humphreys returned to graduate school after his time with the theater company. He graduated with a MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama, after which he received more numerous and more recognizable acting roles both on stage and on the screen. After spending years doing regional theater and work in New York City, he moved to Venice, Los Angeles in Southern California to live with his wife. In Los Angeles, Matthew became affiliated with Young Storytellers, a non-profit that mentors 5th graders in at-risk elementary schools, overseeing them writing their own short screenplay. He also volunteer taught acting at a teen center for homeless youth in L.A. called 'Hollywood Arts'. In a 2011 interview in regards to acting, he has stated that he usually can get a "feel for" what the producers and directors want for a character when he goes in for an audition, but he was given very little information as to the personality of his character in Bar Karma, the first online community-developednetwork television series conceptualized by Will Wright. Humphreys has said that he had to improvise and be creative during the audition process. Other than his role in Bar Karma, his favorite job to date was portraying the vampire Dixon in the CW series Supernatural. He enjoyed the good company on the set and was especially thrilled to work with the director Kim Manners, whom he called "absolutely unbelievable". In 2013, Humphreys and Brian Hastert co founded the BFA in Acting for Film, Television, Voice Overs, and Commercials program at Pace University’s School of Performing Arts. It has been acclaimed as the first undergraduate university program in the United States focused entirely on training the actor for work in front of the camera and microphone. Since 2017, Humphreys has been the head of the BFA program after Brian Hastert stepped down to make room for other 'projects'.
