Background

Ethnicity: Matt Damon's father was of English and Scottish descent, and his mother is of Finnish and Swedish ancestry.

Matt Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. He is the son of Kent Damon, a stockbroker, realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a college professor. She specialized in childhood education and was a children’s psychologist. He has an elder brother, Kyle Damon, a sculptor and artist. When Matt was 2 years old, his parents filed for divorce and from that moment Matt with his brother lived with their mother. But the boys always stayed in touch with their father.

Education

Matt Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. There, he was a disciplined student and began acting in school productions. Damon grew up near future actor, Ben Affleck. He is Damon's tenth cousin as well. The two worked together in the high school productions. Damon went on to attend Harvard University from 1988 to 1992. He studied English but dropped out in 1992 to pursue his acting career in Los Angeles.

Career

Matt Damon's first acting activity, in the age of 18, was a one-line dialogue in "Mystic Pizza" (1988). He also made some other small roles in "School Ties" (1992), and "Geronimo: An American Legend" (1993). Very unfortunate of him, he had mistakenly expected "Geronimo: An American Legend" to become a very big success. He auditioned for a (small) role in "Cutthroat Island" (1996), but got nothing. And then Matt Damon appeared as a drug-addicted soldier in "Courage Under Fire" directed by Edward Zwick in the year 1996.

After that, Matt Damon's career started with the success of the drama film "Good Will Hunting" directed by Gus Van Sant. The story was about a genius and young mathematician. It would be, figuratively, very amazing to know that the screenplay was written with Matt and Ben Affleck's own hands. They made the script walk around Hollywood for a very long time and brought several changes to the script. And then the script got converted to "Good Will Hunting" in the year 1997. The film grossed over $225 million at the worldwide box office. This amazing and inspirational drama film was nominated for nine Academy Awards. Through this film, they both got the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Ben Affleck became the youngest winner of the award. He won the award at the age of 25. At that time, Matt was 26.

He was also recognized by the "Los Angeles Times" as "a talented young actor on the brink of stardom" when he was the lead in the drama "The Rainmaker" (1997). Director Steven Spielberg, after seeing him on the set of "Good Will Hunting", cast him in the titular character in the World War II film "Saving Private Ryan" (1998).

He starred in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" in the year 1999. He also appeared as a star in the successful crime drama "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) and its two sequels. Matt Damon's most amazing and recognized work, due to which he got his fame, is his outstanding role, as a CIA assassin suffering from extreme memory loss (amnesia), in "The Bourne Trilogy". The Bourne Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Ludlum which have been converted to a series of three films starring Matt Damon. All the three Bourne films are action/thriller spy films based on the character "Jason Bourne". Tony Gilroy co-wrote each film and directed the fourth film of "The Bourne" film series.

The first part of The Bourne film series is The Bourne Identity. The second of the series is The Bourne Supremacy. The third is The Bourne Ultimatum. Doug Liman directed The Bourne Identity. Paul Greengrass directed the next two Bourne films. Tony Gilroy was the man who co-wrote each film and directed the fourth and latest The Bourne Legacy in the year 2012. The series has since turned into a franchise, with Jeremy Renner starring in several films with the same premise. Matt Damon's leading characters in All the Pretty Horses and The Legend of Bagger Vance, were, however, critically and commercially very unsuccessful. All the Pretty Horses is an American romance film directed by Billy Bob Thornton in the year 2000. The entire film is based on the novel of the same title by its author Cormac McCarthy. Matt Damon starred in this film as John Grady Cole, alongside Penelope Cruz (Alejandra) and Henry Thomas (Lacey Rawlins). This was Damon's second film with Thomas, after appearing together in Saving Private Ryan (1998). The Legend of Bagger Vance is also an American film directed by Robert Redford in the same year. The leading characters were Will Smith (Bagger Vance), Matt Damon (Rannulph Junuh) and Charlize Theron (Adele Invergordon). However, Damon's film failures were not that constant. The Departed was the film that was the crucial evidence that Damon was still in the door. It was an American crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese in 2006. It was a huge success. In its opening weekend, it grossed twenty-six million eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars.

He then appeared in a 2009 American biographical comedy film The Informant directed by Steven Soderbergh. Matt Damon starred this movie, alongside Scott Bakula, Melanie Lynskey, and Joel McHale. Damon also gave his voice to the English version of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, a Japanese animated film, released in August 2009 in the United States. He then appeared in a biographical sports drama film Invictus (2009) that was directed by Clint Eastwood. The movie starred Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Matt Damon as South Africa National rugby union team captain, Francois Pienaar and Julian Lewis Jones as Etienne Feyder. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were nominated in Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. The film was loved by critics and audiences alike Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass was another of Damon's films that turned in to a commercial and critical failure for Damon. But we can say that Damon was a chunk of coal that did well under that kind of pressure. To date, Damon's films have made a total of one billion nine hundred and forty million dollars.

Matt Damon also narrated a 2010 documentary film Inside Job (2010) directed by Charles H. Ferguson. The film discusses the reasons behind the 2008 financial crisis in the United States form the implosion of the housing market. Damon then appeared in Hereafter with Cecile de France. It is an American supernatural drama fantasy film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood in 2010. Shortly after, Matt appeared in Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit, previously filmed in 1969. The original film is considered to be an American classic, and the remake did not disappoint fans, receiving several Academy Award nominations.

His 2011 projects included starring in The Adjustment Bureau, an American romantic action thriller film, Contagion, a medical thriller disaster film and We Bought a Zoo, a comedy-drama/family film. He also voiced a role in Happy Feet Two that year. In 2012, he appeared in Promised Land directed by Gus Van Sant. It's an American drama film that was written and produced by Damon. He was also slated to direct the film, but eventually decided that he wanted to focus on his performance. Damon then earned raves for his turn as Liberace's boyfriend Scott Thorson in the critically acclaimed HBO movie Behind the Candelabra (2013), starring Michael Douglas. Damon earned both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the part, with Douglas winning both awards in the lead actor category.

Returning to science fiction, Damon starred in Elysium with Jodie Foster and The Zero Theorem, both in 2013. He went on to appear in the war drama The Monuments Men (2014) with George Clooney. That fall, Damon once again teamed up with longtime friend Affleck. The pair's production company, Pearl Street Films, agreed to develop a new series, Incorporated, for the Syfy cable network. And in autumn 2015, Damon was part of the returning production team involved in the HBO filmmaking documentary series Project Greenlight.

Damon also had a major hit with the fall release of The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott and co-starring Jessica Chastain and Chiwetel Ejiofor, among others. Based on the 2011 Andy Weir novel, the movie depicts the travails of an astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars while chronicling efforts on Earth to facilitate his rescue. Receiving an avalanche of positive reviews, The Martian earned almost $600 million worldwide, with both film and lead actor receiving Golden Globes in early 2016, and Damon also earning an Oscar nomination.

Later that year, after headlining the fifth installment of Bourne, Damon starred in the action blockbuster The Great Wall and was involved in another Oscar favorite, serving as a producer for Manchester by the Sea. In 2017, Damon starred in the ambitious sci-fi feature Downsizing and the twisted comedy Suburbicon. Both were commercial disappointments, though he hit the mark with surprise cameo in Thor: Ragnarok. In 2018 he has appeared in films Unsane and Deadpool 2.

Achievements

• 

  Matt Damon is a renowned actor of the American film industry who rose to success slowly and cemented his position in the international cinematic scenario. He received many awards for his performance in the industry: a total of 27 awards and 93 nominations.
  
  In 1998 Damon was chosen as one of "the 50 Most beautiful people in the world" by People magazine. In 2007 he was named Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine. Damon is recognized as one of the world’s highest-paid actors in 2017 by Forbes Magazine.
  
  The $110 million "Bourne Ultimatum" (2007) had the largest August opening weekend in movie history, doing an estimated $70.2 million of business in the United States and Canada and holding that record until the release of 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy. On July 26, 2007 Matt received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  
  In 2006 Damon co-founded H20 Africa, now known as Water.org. In 2011 Matt Damon was named the Greenest Celebrity by TheDailyGreen.com and received a Heart of Green award for his philanthropic contribution.
  
  Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are also famous as founders of Pearl Street Films to produce stories in film and television. It is based at Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
  
  In 2013, Damon appeared in a 20-second ad for Nespresso, directed by Grant Heslov. The deal earned him $3 million. That’s $150,000 per second.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Good Will Hunting: A Screenplay

    (As director Gus Van Sant observes in the introduction to ...)

    1998

• movie

  • Margaret

    (A 17-year-old New York City high school student feels cer...)

    2011
  • The Monuments Men

    (In the midst of WWII a small group of art experts are com...)

    2014
  • Chasing Amy

    (Cult comic-book artist Holden (Ben Affleck) falls in love...)

    1997
  • Eurotrip

    (Europe will never be the same again after Scotty Thomas a...)

    2004
  • Green Zone

    (Matt Damon and the director of The Bourne Ultimatum re-te...)

    2010
  • The Man Who Saved The World

    (The Man Who Saved the World tells the gripping true story...)

    2014
  • The Informant!

    (A top-ranking executive at an agri-industry giant suddenl...)

    2009
  • School Ties

    (After receiving a scholarship to an exclusive prep school...)

    1992
  • Invictus

    (The inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Fr...)

    2009
  • Elysium

    (In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very w...)

    2013
  • Thor: Ragnarok

    (In Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok, Thor must race against...)

    2017
  • The Adjustment Bureau

    (An action thriller about a man (Matt Damon) who decides t...)

    2011
  • We Bought A Zoo

    (Following the death of his wife, a Boston newspaper colum...)

    2011
  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

    (The comic "Bluntman and Chronic" is based on real-life st...)

    2001
  • The Departed

    (Martin Scorsese's crime drama "The Departed" is set in So...)

    2006
  • The Zero Theorem

    (A hugely talented but socially isolated computer operator...)

    2013
  • Hereafter

    (The lives of a retired psychic, a French tsunami survivor...)

    2010
  • Courage Under Fire

    (While his own record is under investigation, a Persian Gu...)

    1996
  • All The Pretty Horses

    (Two Texas cowboys head to Mexico in search of work, but s...)

    2000
  • Behind the Candelabra

    (Michael Douglas and Matt Damon star in this HBO Films pro...)

    2013
  • Jason Bourne

    (Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass return for the ne...)

    2016
  • Unsane

    (A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental inst...)

    2018
  • Ocean's Twelve

    (Terry Benedict locates all eleven members of Danny Ocean'...)

    2004
  • The Brothers Grimm

    (Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con-artists who encount...)

    2005
  • The Talented Mr. Ripley

    (In late 1950's New York, Tom Ripley, a young underachieve...)

    1999
  • Downsizing

    (When scientists find a way to shrink humans to five inche...)

    2017
  • The Martian

    (An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assu...)

    2015
  • The Bourne Identity

    (Pulled from the sea with two bullets in his back, Jason B...)

    2002
  • The Third Wheel

    (After more than a year fantasizing about asking out his c...)

    2002
  • Contagion

    ("Contagion" follows the rapid progress of a lethal airbor...)

    2011
  • The Great Wall

    (Starring Matt Damon, The Great Wall tells the story of an...)

    2016
  • Promised Land

    (Matt Damon, John Krasinski and Frances McDormand star in ...)

    2012
  • Ocean's Thirteen

    (Danny Ocean rounds up the boys for a third heist, after c...)

    2007
  • Stolen Summer

    (In mid-1970s Chicago, an Irish Catholic boy sets out to c...)

    2002
  • Feast

    (One evening at a rural bar, a motley bunch of patrons str...)

    2005
  • The Bourne Ultimatum

    (Matt Damon returns as highly trained assassin Jason Bourn...)

    2007
  • The Bourne Supremacy

    (When Jason Bourne is framed for a CIA operation gone awry...)

    2004
  • Syriana

    (United States energy giant Connex Oil is losing control o...)

    2005
  • Glory Daze

    (With college graduation pending, the old gang tries to av...)

    1995
  • Gerry

    (A friendship between two young men is tested when they go...)

    2002
  • True Grit

    (Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chan...)

    2010
  • Good Will Hunting

    (Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematic...)

    1997
  • The Majestic

    (A young Hollywood screenwriter loses his job and sets off...)

    2001
  • Titan A.E.

    (A young human named Cale holds the key to defeating the D...)

    2000
  • Good Old Boys

    (An aging cowboy must choose between his desire to remain ...)

    1995
  • Suburbicon

    (Suburbicon is the perfect place to raise a family, and in...)

    2017
  • The Battle of Shaker Heights

    (2 high school guys, reenacting historic battles, use the ...)

    2003
  • Stuck On You

    (Conjoined twins from Martha's Vineyard move to Los Angele...)

    2003
  • Mystic Pizza

    (The coming-of-age of three best friends who work at a piz...)

    1988
  • Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

    (This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the reno...)

    2004
  • Manchester By The Sea

    (Academy Award Winner for Best Actor (Casey Affleck) and B...)

    2016
  • Interstellar

    (A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in...)

    2014
  • The Good Shepherd

    (Edward Wilson (Damon) believes in America, and will sacri...)

    2006
  • Speakeasy

    (This is a film about two men who become unlikely friends ...)

    2002
  • Happy Feet Two

    (Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny...)

    2011
  • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

    (Join Spirit, a wild young mustang, on an action-packed qu...)

    2002
  • Geronimo: An American Legend

    (Gripping epic of the Apache warrior who sacrificed everyt...)

    1993
  • The Good Mother

    (A divorcée, single parent falls in love with an Irish scu...)

    1988
  • Finding Forrester

    (A young writing prodigy finds a mentor in a reclusive aut...)

    2000
  • The Rainmaker

    (An underdog lawyer takes on a fraudulent insurance company.)

    1997
  • Deadpool 2

    (Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool)...)

    2018
  • Saving Private Ryan

    (This film is based on a World War II drama. United States...)

    1998
  • The Legend Of Bagger Vance

    (A disillusioned war veteran, Capt. Rannulph Junah (Matt D...)

    2000
  • Youth Without Youth

    (A love story wrapped in a mystery. Set in Europe before W...)

    2007
  • Ocean's Eleven

    (Danny Ocean likes his chances. All he asks is that his ha...)

    2001

• TV series

  • Watch Will & Grace - Season 4

    (Dashing gay lawyer Will (Eric McCormack) and quirky, stra...)

    2002
  • Project Greenlight - Season 2

    (In Season 2, directing winners Kyle Rankin and Efram Pote...)

    2003
  • Project Greenlight - Season 1

    (In Season 1, director Pete Jones navigates the tricky wat...)

    2001
  • Project Greenlight - Season 4

    (Season 4 takes a revealing, uncensored look at the challe...)

    2015
  • Watch Journey to Planet Earth: State of the Ocean's Animals

    (A hard look at why nearly half the world's marine animals...)

    2007
  • Journey to Planet Earth: On the Brink 2003
  • Journey to Planet Earth: Hot Zones 2003
  • Journey to Planet Earth: Seas of Grass 2003
  • Journey to Planet Earth: Future Conditional 2005
  • Journey to Planet Earth: The State of the Planet 2005
  • Journey to Planet Earth: State of the Planet's Wildlife 2006

• TV show

  • Saturday Night Live - Season 28

    (A comedy staple for over forty years, the groundbreaking ...)

    2002
  • Saturday Night Live - Season 44

    (America's premier sketch-comedy show returns for its 44th...)

    2018
  • The Bernie Mac Show - Season 2

    (Matt Damon participated in episode "Keep It on the Short ...)

    2002

Religion

Matt Damon has successfully avoided talking about his religious views, but his comments about America's religious right point to likely agnosticism, or even atheism.

Politics

Matt Damon is a big supporter of the Democratic Party. He has been an outspoken supporter of Hillary Clinton and Senator Elizabeth Warren. He's so passionate about public policy that he even went public when he was unhappy with some of then-President Barack Obama's decisions regarding drone strikes and the National Security Agency.

When Damon told about which Democrats, he would to see in White House: "I love Joe Biden and especially now, particularly with our institutions under such attack" and "In California, we have Kamala Harris, who I think is absolutely brilliant and I would love to someday see her be the president of the United States and if that happened in 2020 - I’d be very happy with that too."

On being asked what Damon thought of President Trump, he stuck by comments he made at Davos in 2017, when he said that it’s important to give each president a chance, and root for the success of the country. "What I said then and what I still feel is that I root very strongly for the president of our country. We need him to do well – that’s good for everybody, and obviously, I didn’t vote for him, that’s not a secret". Damon went onto jokingly add that the current presidency was "halfway through — we could be almost all the way through."

Views

Inspired during international travel with his family throughout Mexico and Guatemala as a youth, Matt Damon has long been devoted to environmental and social issues. Learning about the immense challenges of accessing safe water and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Matt was inspired to create the H20 Africa Foundation. In 2009, he teamed up with Gary White to merge their organizations and launch Water.org. He is also one of the founders of Not On Our Watch, along with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub. Damon has backed many protests against the wars in Darfur. He has worked tirelessly to find a resolution to the crisis. Along with Clooney, they have raised more than £4.5 million for Darfur.

Quotations: "It's just better to be yourself than to try to be some version of what you think the other person wants."

"All you have in the end is to look back and like the choices you've made."

"I can't think of any more important value to instill in our children than the desire to help others. I feel strongly about setting an example for them. Real problems can be solved by the next generation if we instill in them the right values."

"It's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody."

Membership

Matt Damon is an active member of ONEXONE that supports and improves the lives of struggling children in Canada, United States and around the world.

Personality

Matt Damon loves spending quality time with his family, playing music, acting and engaging in politics. His own favorite movie is "Good Will Hunting". He also loves to eat pizza and watch sports, baseball being one of his favorites. Damon's favorite book is "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn.

Physical Characteristics: Matt Damon is 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) and 86 kg (190 lb). He has blue eyes and brown hair. The film "Courage under fire" made him lose 40 pounds (18 kg), for only two days of filming, in just 100 days dramatically. He took medication for one and a half year afterwards. This effort showed the film industry that how committed he was to his work.

Quotes from others about the person

• "No actor has made a career of exerting determination to the extent that Matt Damon has. In the 'Bourne' movies, he burned himself down to a central nervous system - his focus fried away unnecessary calories." - Elvis Mitchell.

Interests

• playing music, watching baseball, poker

• Politicians

  Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris

• Writers

  Howard Zinn

• Sport & Clubs

  Boston Red Sox

• Music & Bands

  U2

Connections

Matt Damon met Luciana Barroso at a party in Miami, where she served as a bartender and Matt was one of the guests. They started talking and Matt felt that he had met a soulmate. He knew that Luciana was divorced and has a daughter Alexia Barroso, but Matt felt, he was ready to become a husband and a father. On December 9, 2005 he married Luciana Bozán Barroso. They have three children together: Isabella Damon, Gia Zavala Damon and Stella Zavala Damon.

Father:

Kent Telfer Damon

Mother:

Nancy Carlsson-Paige

Spouse:

Luciana Bozán Barroso

Brother:

Kyle Damon

stepdaughter:

Alexia Barroso

Daughter:

Isabella Damon

Daughter:

Gia Zavala Damon

Daughter:

Stella Zavala Damon

Friend:

Ben Affleck

Friend:

Brad Pitt

Friend:

George Clooney

Friend:

Jennifer Garner

Friend:

Joaquin Phoenix

Friend:

Wyclef Jean

References

• Matt Damon: a Biography Looks at the life and career of the popular actor, describing his childhood in Massachusetts, friendship with actor and co-writer Ben Affleck, love life, work on "Good Will Hunting," and plans for the future.
  1998
• Matt & Ben It's the story Hollywood has glamorized, publicized, and bombarded us with — how it all began for the two young men, now famous for the tabloid coverage of ther on-again-off-again romances, their big budget smashes and flops, and their "Project Greenlight."
  2004
• Matt Damon: From Harvard to Good Will Hunting and Beyond This Book With more than 20 years of experience under his belt, Matt Damon is one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood today. If you want to know how he got where he is right now, this is the right book for you. What’s Inside Acting was what Matt Damon really wanted since he was young and did everything to chase that dream.
  2012
• The Talented Matt Damon: From Good Will Hunting to Jason Bourne The Talented Matt Damon is the first full-length (at over 75,000 words) and fully up-to-date biography of superstar Matt Damon.
  2016