Following recovery from a serious accident sustained while working on an oil rig, Matter chose to pursue a full-time acting career. He received his first significant break in 2007, with a main role in teen drama The Best Years. Later in the same year, he joined the cast of Eureka as bad-boy genius Zane Donovan. In 2009 he had a small supporting role in Zack Snyder's film Watchmen. He went on to star as Evan Cross in the short-lived 2012 series Primeval: New World. His career subsequently moved away from science fiction, seeing him star in several television movies, as well as joining Canadian series such as Remedy, Arctic Air and When Calls the Heart.
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, of Irish and Russian descent, Matter grew up on his parents' dairy farm. He is a third-generation oil rigger, having worked on the oil rigs in Northern Alberta for eight years. On the recommendation of a school teacher, he enrolled in drama classes at age thirteen, going on to win the Best Actor prize at a provincial drama championship in 1999. However, after getting himself in trouble at age 17, his parents sent him for a three-month stint on the oil rigs to work with his grandfather. He has acknowledged that it was this experience that helped him to focus on his studies and pass his high school exams. He continued to work on the oil rigs alongside his grandfather and brother Trevor until the age of 25, while simultaneously moving to Vancouver and attending Vancouver Film School in pursuit of his long-term goal of an acting career.
At the age of 25 Matter had a serious accident while working on the oil rigs, where he was nearly crushed inside the cab of a 17-ton drilling rig. His quad muscle had been detached from his femur, and he nearly lost his right leg. It took six months for him to be fully rehabilitated, having to go through extensive physiotherapy to fully regain his ability to walk. On returning to the oil rigs, he witnessed another accident in which a man lost both his legs. This convinced him that it was time to move on, so he quit, returning to Vancouver, where he lied his way into a bartending job before landing his first acting role.

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