Matthew James Sheridan was born and raised in The Bronx, where he shot video sketches and wrote comedic shorts as a teenager. He studied film production at the City University of New York, Hunter College where he learned the craft of screenwriting from Hawaii Five-O writer and playwright, Jerome Coopersmith. While studying at CUNY Hunter College, Sheridan worked at the world famous Comic Strip on 81st Street in Manhattan and was encouraged by comedians Colin Quinn, Adam Sandler and, Last Comic Standing star, Jay London to write features.

Years later, Sheridan's first indie feature film (shot on a shoe-string budget), Wrestlemaniac, was critically acclaimed by Denis Hamil in the New York Daily News (and several other publications).