Matthew Finlan didn’t get here with straight A’s or science fair trophies. He got here by being a natural on stage—and knowing it early. “I didn’t excel at many other things,” he says with a laugh. “Math, geography, biology—God bless my science teachers, they tried.” But performing? That stuck. After stepping into the spotlight in a grade three church basement play, he realized: this wasn’t just fun. This could be a life.

“I joke and say that I’m just doomed,” he says. “It’s the only thing I planned for. And I don’t know if that was smart or risky.” Call it fate, call it blind ambition—or, as Finlan puts it, “a lot of delusion”—but it’s working.

Photography Credit: Kyle Kirkwood

With his scene-stealing role in Hell of a Summer, Finlan has built a career on finding truth in the absurd. Playing Ezra, a character who veers into comedic chaos, pushed him into new creative territory. But the challenge wasn’t just the performance—it was making the film’s creators laugh at their own jokes. “That was the pressure,” he says. “Can I make them laugh at their own script?”

For Finlan, comedy doesn’t come from the setup—it comes from sincerity. “If you go in asking for the laugh, you’re not necessarily going to get it,” he explains. “But if you go in playing the truth of the moment… that’s inherently funny.”

That same belief in emotional honesty drives his approach to queer storytelling. “Honestly, I’ve been really fortunate in my career to play a lot of queer roles,” he says. But for Finlan, representation means more than ticking boxes—it means creating characters with depth, humor, and humanity. “It’s an affirmation that embracing your most authentic self is not going to deter you in this career,” he says. “It will actually excel you and get you to where you’ve always meant to be.”

That instinct for authenticity also sparked one of his wildest creative ventures: Ghosting, a ghost-hunting comedy series he co-created and stars in. There was no pitch deck. No development deal. Just two guys, an airport layover, and a wild idea.

“We got laid over at the San Francisco airport,” he says. “And Luke pulled out a budget spreadsheet, and we started drafting this show.” Just hours earlier, they’d been exploring Alcatraz, laughing at how out of place they felt. “We just couldn’t stop laughing at the buffoonery that we were in, and how we would not belong in a place like Alcatraz at all.” From that absurdity came inspiration: what if two guys with zero qualifications tried to hunt ghosts?

Photography Credit: Kyle Kirkwood

Season one of Ghosting leaned into the chaos. Shot on a shoestring budget and powered by caffeine and creativity, it landed somewhere between mockumentary and horror parody—offbeat, low-fi, and proudly Canadian. “I remember having to call my mom the night before we started, almost in tears, just circling the block, being like, I think I’m about to make a horrible decision,” Finlan says. He wasn’t just performing—he was producing, writing, building something from scratch. “You see it from the beginning all the way to the end,” he says. “And I think there’s a lot.”

A lot of stress, yes. But also a lot of laughs. A lot of learning. And, surprisingly, a growing fanbase. What started as a one-off sketch idea somehow grew legs—thanks to its weird charm, dry humor, and off-the-cuff chemistry between its leads.

Still, success didn’t erase the self-doubt. “There were definitely moments where I thought, ‘Who let me do this?’” Matthew says. “That imposter syndrome creeps in hard when you’re not just acting—you’re running the thing.” But with every scene, every shoot day, that doubt gave way to confidence.

Season two brought more structure, bigger ambitions, and higher expectations. Locations got creepier, the writing got sharper, and the comedic stakes got higher. “We’re still idiots in haunted places,” Matthew jokes, “but now we know what we’re doing—sort of.” He’s learned how to wear multiple hats on set, how to collaborate under pressure, and how to keep the show’s spirit intact without repeating himself.

More importantly, Ghosting gave Finlan something rare: total creative freedom. While his film and TV roles often demand emotional range and precision, Ghosting is a chaotic playground. “It’s a totally different side of me,” he says. “And I love that.”

The show might be about ghost hunts, but behind it is a very real creative spirit: take risks, follow the spark, and build something from the ground up. “Honestly, I take almost anything that comes my way,” Finlan says. “Not because I’m desperate, but because I just love it.”

That love—and a little bit of delusion—is what keeps him going. Whether he’s chasing ghosts or chasing the next great role, Matthew Finlan is all in.