Matthew Bennett grew up in Toronto but left his home town at the age of 20 and relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, to pursue his dream of acting. He studied at a theater school for two years, and shortly after that began to get television roles. His first appearance was a recurring role in two episodes of the crime drama "Street Justice," which starred Carl Weathers as a soldier who becomes a police detective. Following that initial success, he landed roles on programs like "The Commish," which starred Michael Chiklis as a police commissioner; the paranormal mystery program "The X-Files"; and the critically-acclaimed "Da Vinci's Inquest," which was based on a real-life coroner in Vancouver. In 2000, he was cast in his best known role, as Detective Len Harper in the Canadian drama "Cold Squad," which focused on officers in the Vancouver police department attempting to solve dormant murder cases. From 2000 to 2005, he appeared in 41 episodes of the program. Another high-profile role came in 2004 when he appeared as the organic robot "Cylon" Aaron Doral in the cult hit sci-fi drama "Battlestar Galactica," a spinoff of the late '70s program of the same name. He played that role sporadically until the program's end in 2009.