Matsuda is the son of Yusaku Matsuda (Tanteoi Monogatari), an actor who died at a young age, and Miyuki Matsuda (
Audition). He followed in his parents' footsteps by becoming an actor himself.
Matsuda lost his father when he was six. When he was fifteen, he was approached by Nagisa Oshima to act in a controversial samurai movie titled
‘Gohatto’. At first, he turned down the role when he learned it was a gay samurai. He later changed his mind, and trained in kendo for two months in preparation.
After his success in
‘Gohatto’, Matsuda switched gears to play a student in
‘Blue Spring’. He has starred in many movies since, working with famous directors like
Takashi Miike in
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, and
Shinya Tsukamoto in
Akumu Tantei (Nightmare Detective). He has also acted alongside several J-pop stars, including Mika Nakashima and Yuna Ito (NANA) and hitomi (
Nightmare Detective).
Matsuda's younger brother, Shota Matsuda, is also an actor.