Matthew Nile Ashford was born on January 29th, 1960, in Davenport, Iowa. He comes from a rather large family being the sixth of eight children; David, Teresa, Jeffrey, Phil, Randy, Matthew, Susie and Sally. When Matthew was 13 years old the family moved to Fairfax, VA, where he became heavily involved in the high-school drama program. Upon graduation, he enrolled in the top-ranked North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC. During the summer months, Matt worked in Myrtle Beach as a street performer with a buddy from school. They called themselves the Ragamuffin Magic & Mime Company, rode unicycles, juggled, and even wore red rubber noses!