MatPat

Internet career To fulfill his dream of becoming an actor, Patrick moved to New York after graduating and performing in theater productions to little success, spending two years unemployed. It discussed the idea of time portals and quantum mechanics in the 1995 video game Chrono Trigger. In 2012, he introduced two new segments hosted by fellow YouTubers Gaijin Goombah and Ronnie Edwards (the latter of these two would also become Game Theory's first editor), In 2015, he launched the spin-off channel Film Theory, which covers movies and television.

He occasionally uploaded videos commenting on the gaming market and gamers, as well as on other matters that he deemed noteworthy. Patrick started a Let's Play series called GTLive on August 26, 2015, where he posts gameplay and video reactions with his wife Stephanie. Starting on October 3, 2016, the Monday streams became part of YouTube Gaming Primetime, and were therefore scheduled for 3 pm to 5 pm PST. It also included a voting mechanism, which can be used by Patrick to conduct quick polls. As of March 2022, GTLive had 2.94 million subscribers and over 649 million views. As of 2022, the GTLive channel continues to upload mostly unedited, pre-recorded content.

On June 8, 2016, Patrick posted via his YouTube channel a new show, MatPat's Game Lab, on Google's paid subscription service, YouTube Premium. The show mainly focused on placing video game players in real-life scenarios mimicking scenarios that occur in video games, such as bomb defusing, parkour, survival and military training. Despite his interest in developing a second season, YouTube did not announce any further development into the project. He was also a part of the YouTube Premium series Scare PewDiePie (2016), created by PewDiePie, and the third season of Escape the Night (2018), created by Joey Graceffa, in addition to cameo appearances in Markiplier's YouTube Original films A Heist with Markiplier (2019) and In Space with Markiplier (2022). On May 29, 2016, MatPat and eleven other YouTubers met with Pope Francis for an hour. MatPat asked the Pope to encourage others to "fight for what's right" and gifted him a copy of Undertale (2015), saying that its recurrent theme of mercy fits the Pope's proclamation that 2016 would be the "year of mercy for the Catholic church".

Growth of Theory channels

In 2019, The Game Theorists held a 9-hour charity livestream that generated $1.3 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The stream included guests Markiplier, TheOdd1sOut, Rosanna Pansino, Scott Cawthon, and others.

The third Theory channel, and fourth overall, The Food Theorists, began releasing videos in July 2020. The Food Theorists, using the same style as its predecessors, blends food science with psychology, physiology, and conspiracy. The channel was being developed for two years before its launch. As of October 2022, The Food Theorists had 4 million subscribers and over 499 million views. It had reached 1 million subscribers exactly a week after launch and had then gained another million over the succeeding 4 months.

On December 20, 2022, a fourth Theory channel, and fifth overall, was announced on the Game Theorists channel, along with the purchase of their company Theorist Media by startup Lunar X. On February 18, 2023, The Style Theorists was launched. Like the other channels, it focuses on the science, math, history, psychology, and mystery of fashion. It reached a million subscribers three days later. On August 27, 2023, Patrick hosted the Streamy Awards, which scored 15 million views across digital platforms in its first 48 hours, beating the 2021 record of 9.7 million views as the most-watched show in its 13-year history.

On January 9, 2024, Patrick announced in a video titled "Goodbye Internet" that he would step down from hosting the channels on March 9, and would be replaced by a different member of the Theorist team for each channel, while still retaining a creative role and making occasional appearances on the channels, along with GTLive, until mid-2024. While he joked that his decision was inspired by Tom Scott, who had recently ended his decade-long run of posting weekly videos, he said that he and his wife had been working towards the change for years. They also chose a ten-week timeframe when announcing his retirement. He additionally revealed that following the departure, he would continue to pursue creative projects.

Other media and collaborations Patrick was involved in the web series Terrain of Magical Expertise. He gained the series more attention and exposure by uploading a remastered version of the first episode on the channel on October 1, 2013, and then providing a platform for the series. In 2016, he hosted the go90 reality series The Runner. In 2017, Patrick and his wife Stephanie participated in Nintendo's Pokkén Tournament DX Invitational, an event held during E3 2017. He was paired with Allister Singh, the only pro-Pokkén Tournament player in the event. His team eventually won the tournament. MatPat voiced Computron in the animated series Transformers: Titans Return (2017). In 2019, MatPat partnered with Nickelodeon to make the show Fact or Nicktion. MatPat is a co-producer of the Broadway play Grey House.

His videos about the video game series Five Nights at Freddy's have made him prominent within the series' fandom, which is known for its dedication to theorizing about the underlying narrative of the series. He made a cameo appearance in its 2023 film adaptation as a waiter. In 2024, he collaborated with the series for a Youtooz figure and pins. In total, he made 68 theory videos on the series. In May 2024, MatPat appeared on an episode of Wired's "Web's Most Searched Questions" series. In 2025, he was the executive producer of the musical's cast album, which was also co-produced by his wife Stephanie. Also in 2025, he served as the voice for Toy Bonnie in the Five Nights at Freddy's 2 film.

Creator Economy Caucus

MatPat (third from left in front line) with other content creators and Representatives Beth Van Duyne and Yvette Clarke at the Creator Economy Caucus launch in June 2025. On June 10, 2025, Patrick announced the creation of the Creator Economy Caucus in the United States House of Representatives, which he described as "a bipartisan group where creators can work alongside lawmakers to ensure legislation is timely and relevant for the Internet age." According to MatPat, his initiative was supported by around 10 representatives.

Personal life

Patrick met Stephanie , while studying at Duke University. The two became close after creating a Legend of Zelda parody called "The Epic of Stew". They married on May 19, 2012, and had a son in 2018. the family divides its time between living in California and North Carolina.

Awards and nominations

YouTube channels

Filmography

Ludography

Discography Singles As lead artist YearTitleNotes2016"Exotic Butters (Margarine Remix)" 2020"Who You Gonna Call?"

As featured artist Year TitleNotes 2014"Captain Planet Theme Song Cover" 2015"How to Beat a Monkey at Chess" 2016"Game of Thrones" 2017"A Series of Unfortunate Events Acapella" 2017"Bendy and the Ink Musical" 2018"Pokémon Masters Are Broke" 2021"Bendy and the Wolf" 2022"MUUUSIC MAN! (MatPat Remix)"Archival recording 2023"A Little Theorizing"Archival recording 2024"FNAF: Dark Remains" 2024"FREDDY" 2024"FNAF KIDS"

As executive producer