Matt Willis

HIDDEN ERROR: Usage of "married to" is not recognizedHIDDEN ERROR: Usage of "children" is not recognized

Mathew James "Matt" Willis (born 8 May 1983), also previously known as Mattie Jay, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, television presenter and actor, best known as a founding member of pop rock band Busted from 2001 until their split in 2005. After the split, Willis released his debut solo album Don't Let It Go to Waste on 20 November 2006, which included three top 20 singles.

In December 2006, Willis won the sixth series of the ITV reality series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and later went on to co-present the ITV2 spin-off show with his wife Emma in 2007 and 2008. In 2014, Willis played the role of Garth Stubbs in the revived ITV sitcom Birds of a Feather and Luke Riley in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.

Early life

Willis was born in Tooting in London on 8 May 1983. He has an older brother, Darren, but their parents split up when he was only 3 years old. His mother later remarried and had his half-sister, Amanda, who is an ambassador for a charity called Whizz-Kidz. Willis has had three different last names legally while growing up. Even though his original last name was Willis, after his father, this was changed to Woods after his parents split and later changed to Sargent after his mother married her current husband. Willis has made it clear that he was a "problem" child, regularly sneaking out of the house by shimmying down drain pipes. He also as a child suffered from tunnel vision, asthma and hyperactivity problems. Willis attended Woking High School after being asked to leave his previous secondary school, before leaving to attend the independent fee-paying Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, London, where he met his now close friends Lee Ryan, Tom Fletcher, Billie Piper, Jodi Albert, and Amy Winehouse, who had openly said that she fancied Willis at school.