Actor Matthew Modine will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming virtual event March 3-5, according to FamilySearch.

Matthew Avery Modine was born March 22, 1959, as the youngest of seven children in Loma Linda, California, the son of a bookkeeper and drive-in theater manager. His iconic roles as Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, oversexed Sullivan Groff on Weeds, and triumphant return of the mysterious and frightening Dr. Martin Brenner on the Netflix global phenomenon Stranger Things have cemented his legacy.

Modine was drawn to acting at a young age because his father managed a drive-in theater. He performed in several high school plays and later attended the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.

Modine has acted in more than 75 films and dozens of television shows since the early 1980s. He credits his wife of 40-plus years, Puerto Rican producer Caridad Rivera, for giving him the confidence he needed to become an actor. Modine is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award and has shared the screen with well-known actors such as Mel Gibson and Nicolas Cage. One of his most recent roles is Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

In his RootsTech remarks, Modine will tell about his life’s journey as a young boy in California and Utah, share his discovery of how New York City is actually more of a homeland than an adopted home, and discuss the connections he has made along the way, including a special connection with an uncle whose U.S. Air Force uniform Modine wore as a B-17 captain in the film, “Memphis Belle.”

“Can we create, as a human being, a little ripple of positivity and goodness that will impact other peoples’ (ripples)?” Modine said in a news release. “And my ripple will connect with another ripple and create a great wave of change. That’s how you connect to people … don’t think that you’re above anybody else.”

You can register now for RootsTech Connect 2022, which will be held on 3–5 March 2022, on RootsTech's website. RootsTech Connect is a free, virtual event that includes access to all speakers, classes, and additional resources. You can also check out videos from previous years' RootsTech Connect by going to their website.