BENSONHURST — Ignacyo Matynia, an actor on screens large and small, changed his first name — not an unusual thing for performers — but his motive for doing so was different than most.

Matynia, 29, explained the switch on Jan. 21, the morning after NBC aired his first guest performance on Law & Order, Special Victims Unit.

This audience, however, was his eighth-grade religion teacher — and longtime friend — Father Ronald D’Antonio, parochial vicar for St. Athanasius Parish.

Over coffee and bagels in the church rectory, Matynia updated Father D’Antonio about his decade-long acting career — from his lead role in the St. Athanasius production of “Casey at the Bat,” to his portrayal of mixed martial arts trainer Ricky Nowak on the Jan. 20 episode of SVU, “Tommy Baker’s Hardest Fight.”

The name change, however, had nothing to do with acting. He said that as a Polish-born immigrant, he became self-conscious when classmates teased him about his given name. Ignacy, he explained, came from the Latin word “Ignis,” or “fire.” But when he entered Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge, he added an “o” to make it Ignacyo.

“Everything changed,” he said. “Nobody made fun of me anymore. Everybody was like, ‘Wow, you’ve got such a cool name.’ So Ignacyo was a name that I chose for myself.”

Born in Busko Zdroj, Poland, Matynia is the only child of Zebe and Doris Matynia. The family came to the U.S. when he was 7, and lived in Florida and Tennessee before settling in Bensonhurst.

Matynia was in the sixth grade when he was assigned the lead role in a play his teacher, Lori Young, wrote based on Ernest Thayer’s famed poem, “Casey at the Bat.”

His mother helped him make his baseball uniform costume from an old shirt. When he put it on, he says, he felt a transformation into another person — a character — that he never forgot.

After high school, Matynia enrolled at the State University of New York, Albany, to study pre-med. After hearing him make a class presentation, someone suggested he try acting. However, the university’s theater program was full, so he dropped out of school and found an acting coach.

Eventually, he got acting jobs at small theaters and in video production projects. Then came TV work, and small roles led to bigger ones. His breakout starring role was in the Lifetime feature “My Nightmare Landlord” in 2020.

In 2021 he had the lead role in “Break Every Chain,” an award-winning faith-based feature film, co-starring veteran actor Dean Cain. It’s the true story of a police officer who struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

He currently stars in the NTD original show “A Good Cop.” His performances have also appeared on several networks and streaming services including Netflix, HBO, ABC, Lifetime, Starz, Amazon Prime Video, and the Hallmark Channel.

Father D’Antonio said St. Athanasius Academy has produced many excellent graduates, and Matynia is among them.

“I’m very, very proud of everything that he’s done,” Father D’Antonio said. “I had him as a student. I taught him to pre- pare him for Confirmation. And, unlike other boys and girls, young people, young adults who go in and out of your lives, he comes back.

“I’ve seen his enthusiasm for what he does, his professionalism, his beliefs, and what he does to communicate his ideas,” the priest added. “That is something that’s really refreshing. And, I see him progressing even more, especially after what I saw last night (on SVU).”

Matynia said his Catholic faith, and the lessons he learned at St. Athanasius, have helped him hone his acting skills.

“There are definitely a multitude of things that I got from going to Catholic school and being around Christians constantly,” he said. “My Catholicism has definitely given me a stronger sense of empathy.

“I was raised around people who put forgiveness on a pedestal, who put turning the other cheek on a pedestal, and who work at being humble and meek,” he added. “That’s kind of the foundation for who a good person should be.”