Boy Meets World's Rider Strong admitted he was initially against Matthew Lawrence joining the hit show. Rider, 46, played heartthrob Shawn Hunter for all of the sitcom's seven seasons from 1993 to 2000. Matthew, also 46, joined the cast in season 5, by which time he'd already made a name for himself in Hollywood. Matthew's brother, Joey Lawrence, appeared on Blossom, while the pair teamed up with fellow sibling Andrew Lawrence for the sitcom Brotherly Love in the mid-1990s.