Matt Lattanzi, the son of Jeanette (née Slowikowski) and Charles Paul Lattanzi, was born in Portland, Oregon. His father, a maintenance foreman of Italian descent, and his mother, of Polish ancestry, raised him in the same city. Lattanzi graduated from Benson Polytechnic High School in 1977, marking the beginning of his journey.
During the filming of Xanadu, Lattanzi met Olivia Newton-John, and the two would eventually get married in 1984. Their union resulted in the birth of their daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, on January 17, 1986. Lattanzi's acting career, however, began to slow down by the early 1990s. He took up a job as a construction worker for a home-building company in California.
In 1993, Lattanzi and Newton-John moved to their ranch in Australia, where Lattanzi auditioned for the new soap opera, Paradise Beach. He landed a six-month contract for the show. Unfortunately, Lattanzi's personal life was not as stable. He had an affair with another woman, which ultimately led to the separation from Newton-John in 1993. The couple would eventually divorce in 1995.
Lattanzi went on to marry Cindy Jessup, but their marriage was short-lived and ended in divorce in early 2007. In 2008, Lattanzi briefly appeared on the MTV reality series Rock the Cradle, supporting his daughter Chloe, who was a contestant on the show. That same year, Lattanzi, a life-long environmentalist, was reported to be living off the grid near Malibu, California.
