Dave Matthews: Movie Star

Patrick Obyedkov.

That's the name of the character Dave Matthews played in the 2007 episode of House M.D.

That's right! Dave can act.

In an episode entitled Half-Wit, Matthews played a piano playing savant who finds himself losing his ability to tickle the ivories. I don't want to ruin the episode, but House saves the day.

Throughout the episode, Matthews is seen playing the piano. There's even a scene where he plays the keyboards with the show's titular character, played by English actor Hugh Laurie. Although Matthews had a "piano double" for the complex pieces, he did most of the playing himself.

The episode wasn't the first time Matthews appeared in the highly acclaimed Fox drama. His song "Some Devil" was used in an episode during season one and producers would go on to use another of his tunes, "You Might Die Trying," in season five.

Acting is nothing new to the South African-born musician. Before his days of selling million of albums and thousands of Dave Matthews tickets, the singer-songwriter acted in several local theater productions in the Charlottesville, Virginia area.

In 2003, Matthews appeared in his first feature film, Where the Red Fern Grows. He played Will Coleman. The movie also starred Kris Kristofferson, Dabney Coleman, Ned Beatty, and Mac Davis.

Two years later, Matthews landed the role of Otis in Because of Winn-Dixie (2005). In an interview about his experiences making that movie, Matthews revealed that he played his own guitar and it received makeup.

He followed Winn-Dixie with his first appearance in an Adam Sandler film, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007). In the flick he played a homosexual salesman.

In 2008, Matthews starred in the dramatic Lake City (he was credited as "David Matthews"). The movie also starred Sissy Spacek and Jason Davis.

That same year, Matthews appeared in his second Sadler picture, You Don't Mess With Zohan. This time he played a redneck.

Matthews appeared in three movies that were released in 2011: The Other Side, In the Woods, and Just Go With It. The last film is yet another Adam Sandler vehicle.

In addition to his film roles, Matthews is also an official member of Saturday Night Live's "Five-Timers Club." He's been on the 90-minute sketch comedy show four times as a musical guest and once as an actor. He appeared in a sketch as Ozzy Osbourne. In the same scene, actor Bill Hader impersonated Matthews.

Certainly Matthews' first love is music, and obviously his first priority is the Dave Mathews Band, but he does like to show up in the movies every once in awhile and he's always reading scripts. So in the future, fans should expect to see Matthews on the stage as well as on the silver screen.