Matty Heimgartner

Sober queer neurodivergent multi-hyphenate artist Matty Heimgartner (they/them) was born in 1991 and raised in the culturally vibrant San Jose, California, as the fourth eldest child of a six-child blended family. Matty grew up in a Christian church until they were outed by the youth leader’s daughter at fourteen years old and unwelcomed by the new pastor. By then, Matty developed their own understanding of, and relationship with, God via their mothers’ blessing. Even as a child, Matty saw issue with praising a hateful and discriminatory God.

Matty developed an obsession with pop stars like the Spice Girls and Britney Spears at a young age and began studying Hollywood culture at every possible chance. Matty spent their childhood dreaming of becoming a pop star and writing about their own fictional celebrities. They also wrote and recorded music whenever possible. At first they made cassette tapes with their oldest brother, Dylan, and then later made an EP with their youngest sister, Amanda. Amanda and Matty, known together as AM, had a small release party for their EP, Back for More.

Immediately following high school, Matty enrolled in music classes at a local community college. Shaken by performance anxiety, Matty dropped all music classes but soon returned to college by way of the theater program as an attempt to conquer stage fright. Matty landed small roles in Tenneessee Williams’ play “Night of the Iguana,” and Guiseppe Verdi’s opera “Il Trovatore.” Addiction and a lack of self-esteem steered Matty off the stage again and they shifted their attention to writing.

Throughout their early twenties, as they studied to become an English teacher, Matty had several short stories published in literary journals. In 2016, Matty earned their first art gallery showing with a collaborative piece by local artist Andre Hart and that experience led to a complete shift of creative energy from writing to painting. The next few years were dedicated to developing their voice as a painter while Matty quietly struggled with alcohol dependency and drug addiction.

In 2019, Matty moved into their grandmother’s home and became her caregiver. This is when Matty found sobriety. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Matty returned to graduate school for Creative Writing and become the Design Director for the award-winning Reed Magazine. Several of Matty’s personal essays were published internationally over the next few years.

While Matty publicly advanced their career as a painter and a writer, they continued to dream about making music. During one of many hospital stays with their elderly grandmother, Matty asked their grandma if there was anything she left unfinished. Matty’s grandma answered and then asked them the same question. In that conversation, Matty found the courage and inspiration to make music instead of waiting around for a more knowledgable collaborator.

At thirty-two years old, Matty released their first single, “I Can’t Believe I’m Leaving You.” Over the next ten months, Matty obsessively taught themselves how to use GarageBand and made an entire album simply titled, Matty.

The album came just a few months after the release of Matty’s debut book, Self-portraits: A Collection of Memoir Essays.

In sobriety, Matty has continued to nurture all of their creative outlets. They earned their film acting debut in Loïc Pichot’s award-winning short film, “Distressed,” and produced original music for Pichot’s web-series, The Delusional Boys.

In 2025, Matty’s grandma passed away. Following her death, Matty made the move from San Jose, California, to Portland, Oregon, where they live happily with their three cats.

For More Matty, follow them on YouTube & Substack
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