Matt Lattanzi was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Jeanette (née Slowikowski) and Charles Paul Lattanzi His father is a maintenance foreman of Italian descent, while his mother is of Polish ancestry. He was raised in Portland as well, graduating from Benson Polytechnic High School in 1977.

While filming Xanadu, he met Olivia Newton-John, whom he married in 1984. The couple have one daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, born on January 17, 1986. By 1992, Lattanzi's acting career was largely over, and he took a job as a construction worker for a home-building company in California.