Grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Matchett knew nothing about hockey when she landed the role of Colleen Blessed on "Power Play" (1998) at the age of twenty-eight, and relied on her husband, director T.W. Peacocke to teach her the ropes.

She is a graduate of the National Theatre School, she also studied Chekov at the Moscow Theatre School as an exchange student and attended Red Deer College where she got her start in summer stock.