Matthew attended Exeter School while he lived in Clyst St. Mary with his parents. Then he moved to Edgbaston, Birmingham to study at the University of Birmingham. Being a student, he was interested in film industry and he also attended Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

His debut was in 2002 in the TV movie Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister where he portrayed Caspar. Next year he joined BBC TV series about an inspector of Scotland Yard Thomas Lynley. Matthew played there a brother of inspector - Peter Lynley. In 2004 he played his breakthrough role in a romantic comedy Chasing Liberty. In the film he played the main character Ben Calder. The film was not successful in a box office, but brought to Matthew Goode two nominations on Teen Choice Awards (for a Choice Breakout Movie Star – Male and Choice Movie Liar).

The period from 2004 to 2012 was not very impressive for Matthew. He had many roles in different movies and TV shows, but most of them were episodic and minor roles: Match Point (2005), My Family and Other Animals (2005), Imagine Me & You (2006), Copying Beethoven (2006), Brideshead Revisited (2008), A Single Man (2009).

From 2012 he came into the prominence after several leading roles in TV series Birdsong (2012), The Poison Tree (2012), Dancing on the Edge (2013), and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013). For the role of Stanley Mitchell in Dancing on the Edge, Matthew was nominated on Satellite Awards for Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television. He also played the lead role in a drama Burning Man. The plot described a young guy named Tom who worked as a chef in a Bondi restaurant and refused to obey to his boss. For this role Matthew Goode was nominated on Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Actor - Leading Role and on Australian Film Institute for Best Lead Actor.

In 2014 Matthew played in a very successful drama The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch. Matthew’s character was British cryptanalyst Hugh Alexander. This film was just a fantastic in box office. With a budget 14 million dollars, they gathered almost 230 million dollars box office.

Matthew is a married person, his wife and a life partner is Sophie Dymoke. They married in 2007, however, Goode in one interview confessed that they have dated for a long time before they got married. He and his wife have three children: Matilda Eve, Teddie Goode and Ralph Goode. They adore their children and they can afford to have some more, since they have a lot of money. The approximate net worth of Matthew Goode is three million dollars.