Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Matthew A. Brown immigrated to New York at 16. Brown began his career as an actor, studying at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, before being picked for the leads in the critically acclaimed American independent features God's Army (2000) and Brigham City (2001). In 2002, he wrote and directed his first short film, My Father's Garden, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2003. He attended the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam, where he graduated in 2006 with master degrees in Screenwriting and Directing. This was followed by three more short films: Tasha (2007), Victim (2010), and Crush (2011). Crush, which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival, was picked up for distribution by Shorts International and had a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles before being released on iTunes. Julia is Brown's feature film directorial debut. He is repped by Keith Redmon and Tariq Merhab at Anonymous Content.