Matthew Delamater’s main job is crunching numbers in the finance department for Maine-based Oxbow Brewing Co. His side job has had him serving dinner to Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and selling guns to Mel Gibson.
Delamater, 36, of Portland, never acted until he was 25 and got a part in a community theater production of “The Music Man” in Norway. Since then, he’s worked steadily in TV, commercials, films and theater. Last year, he appeared as a chef serving a gourmet dinner to Ortiz in a Comcast cable commercial, and starting Nov. 10, he’ll be seen trying to help prospective gun buyers Gibson, Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg and John Lithgow in the comedy “Daddy’s Home 2.”
Matthew Delamater of Portland plays a store clerk who has a run-in with Will Ferrell in “Daddy’s Home 2.”
Delamater filmed his part last spring at a store in Massachusetts. He plays a clerk who has to help the film’s stars as they try to buy a gun, against the wishes of some in the group. Ferrell plays the stepfather of Wahlberg’s kids, and he and Wahlberg compete with each other for the children’s attention. Gibson and Lithgow plays the fathers of Wahlberg and Ferrell, respectively.
“I basically got a front-row seat for a lesson in improv,” said Delamater. “Those guys have such presence. I was probably most excited to see Will Ferrell. You look Mel Gibson in the eye and you know why he’s a star. Mark Wahlberg could read the phone book and people would pay attention.”
Since taking up acting a decade ago, Delamater has been in a couple dozen plays and about a dozen TV shows, films and commercials. Delamater’s other film credits include “Tumbledown,” a 2015 romantic comedy set in Maine but filmed in Massachusetts that got national distribution in theaters. In 2015 he also had a small role in the NBC drama series “American Odyssey,” which lasted one season.
Delamater says he’s been able to land some of the roles because Portland is only two hours from Boston, where a lot of auditions are held for projects in New England. He even auditioned for the NBC show in Massachusetts because the pilot was shot there.
Delamater says he feels lucky to have his life and family here in Portland – he’s married to photographer Emily Delamater, and they have a 1-year-old daughter – and at the same time be able to travel to Boston to land fun roles in TV and film. He said being in “Daddy’s Home 2” was a great chance for him to see veteran movie stars working at their craft.
“They were on set working their tails off, studying lines,” said Delamater. “It was awesome to see actors on the end of the spectrum putting the work in and really caring.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
