Matsumoto entered Johnny's Entertainment in 1996, at the age of thirteen. Although the proper procedure is for the applicant to go through a round of auditions before being admitted into the talent agency, Matsumoto bypassed it by receiving a direct phonecall from Johnny Kitagawa, telling him to report for work.

In September 1999, on board a cruise ship off the shores of Honolulu, Hawaii, he debuted at 16 years old as the youngest member of ARASHI. ARASHI, the slightly hip-hop-influenced group of Johnny's Entertainment, was instantly popular with the fans. However, it was not till 2002 that Matsumoto truly made his mark in the acting industry by portraying Sawada Shin in the manga-turned-dorama Gokusen, a role which won him the Best Supporting Actor at the 44th Television Drama Academy Awards.

In 2003, Matsumoto took on the role of Momo/Goda Takeshi in the drama Kimi wa Petto, portraying a homeless young man taken in by a successful journalist as her pet. A year later, in 2004, he wrote a song called 'La Familia' in honour of ARASHI's fifth anniversary, and performed it at the Iza Now! concert.

2005 saw Matsumoto taking on his most conspicuous and challenging role to date: Domyouji Tsukasa, the leader of F4, in the Japanese live action of the highly popular manga/anime Hana Yori Dango, which aired it's first season from 2005-10-21 to 2005-12-16. Hana Yori Dango was the highest rated drama of the winter of 2005, and a second season is currently in production

A lot of publicity was generated when he made an appearance at the 47th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan in June 2006. Dressed in a grey suit, he was frequently referred to as 'Prince Charming' in the Taiwanese media reports. 200 fans were at the airport to receive him and he recited a few Mandarin phrases while presenting the Best Director award with Rainie Yang.

Aside from acting and singing, Matsumoto has taken on hosting duties by co-hosting Utawara HotHit10 with Aya Matsuura and Wada Akiko. The most well-known moments in that program were Matsumoto's arguments with Akanishi Jin of KAT-TUN.

As of June 2006, he became part of an unofficial group within Johnny's Entertainment called 'No Border', which includes members like Yamashita Tomohisa of NewS, and Takizawa Hideaki of Tackey & Tsubasa. The purpose of 'No Border' is for its members to interact freely and bypass the sempai-kouhai relationships formed by JE. At the moment, he is aged 23.

Trivia:

• Matsumoto is myopic. Although he wears contact lenses for his work, he is frequently seen with spectacles.
• He was the first Japanese male celebrity to make it onto the cover of the Japanese May 2006 issue of Marie Claire magazine.
• He used to have buckteeth when he was younger.
• Although the members of ARASHI enjoy more or less equal popularity, a large portion of the fans were attracted to ARASHI by watching Matsumoto's doramas; a common syndrome that has been nicknamed the 'Jun-bait' by fans.

*credits to Wikipedia.com*