DeGeneres remembered her longtime colleague in a Monday video. Award records and documented projects trace his work behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
Matt Wright, a television producer who worked on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, has died at 52. Ellen DeGeneres paid tribute to her former colleague in a video shared Monday, November 2. TheWrap reported that Wright died Friday, October 30, in Los Angeles.
Illustrative file photo: The Warner Bros. Studios water tower in Burbank, California, photographed in 2020; not a photograph of Matt Wright. Photo: Chris Yarzab (cropped). Source photograph · CC BY 2.0.
His cause of death was not immediately disclosed. A public family announcement also confirmed the loss. The information made public does not support a more specific explanation of how he died.
Ellen remembers a colleague and a collaborator
In her Instagram video tribute, DeGeneres remembered Wright’s humor, kindness and work. According to TheWrap’s account, she said the two had been planning a new project together.
The tribute also included a montage of moments from the show, including the recurring “Strong Opinions With Matt” segments. Those appearances help explain why viewers may remember Wright as more than a name passing through the end credits.
The combination of recollections and familiar clips connects two sides of his career: the colleague working closely with a production team and the performer audiences sometimes saw on screen. The new-project detail adds particular poignancy without requiring speculation about what that project would have become.
His years on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
TheWrap dates Wright’s work on the programme to 2006–2022. Official award records provide a more detailed view of his professional credits within that period.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ 2021 Daytime Emmy nomination document lists Matthew Wright as a co-executive producer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. An earlier 2013 winners report includes Matt Wright among the show’s senior producers.
The different credits describe particular points in his career. They do not mean he held the same executive title throughout the show’s run. Together, they document years of participation in the large team behind a daily entertainment programme.
The work that brought him on camera
One specific example survives in Cornerstone Brick Designs’ account of an Ellen promotion for the first season of LEGO Masters USA. Wright appeared to be attempting a LEGO self-portrait; the designer documents the commissioned finished model and work-in-progress versions used for the comedy segment.
An archived September 13, 2018 episode listing also records a Minnesota State Fair appearance with Kalen Allen. These projects show how a producer could contribute to the machinery of the programme while also becoming part of its entertainment.
The public record preserves both those appearances and the production credits behind them. DeGeneres’s tribute brings that body of work back into view while remembering the person with whom she made it.
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