Matthew Beasant-McKeown

Matthew James David Beasant-McKeown was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on a Thursday at 1:40 in the afternoon on November 23, 1989 to Stephanie McKeown, a music educator in the school system and Paul Beasant, a financial advisor. "Jed" was Matthew's name for the first week of his life until his parents decided it was not going over well with friends and relatives. Thus, it was changed to Matthew the following week. Matthew's talents were realized in junior high when he was given a guitar for his Birthday and quickly learned Smoke on the Water, Crazy Train and Blink 182 hits. Matthew also was an auditioned member of the All-City Boy's Honour Choir through elementary school. This led him to become a bass in the auditioned chamber choir Soundtrax, through high school, and vocal soloist for the All-City Senior Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dave Staples. His vocal talents have led him to star as Sid Sorokin in The Pajama Game and Jean Valjean in Les Miserables at Halifax West High School. As well as singing, Matthew is an accomplished alto saxophone player, performing in his school's jazz and concert bands, as well as teaching younger students. In October 2005, Matthew founded the critically acclaimed band October Game. This is a six piece band soaked in the genre of Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Coldplay and Jack Johnson, a few of Matthew's influences. Matthew is the songwriter, lead singer and guitarist for this up-and-coming band. Stuck In Dreams, the band's first full-length CD is being released in September 2006 and will be available on CD Baby. Matthew got his big break in May 2006, when he got a phone call to audition for Roland in Poor Boy's Game. In September 2006, he will be starting his graduating year from Halifax West and will be pursuing a career acting in theatre and film.