Matt Damon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Matt Damon
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Damon in 2024
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Matthew Paige Damon
October 8, 1970 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard University (dropped out) |
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| Years active | 1987–present |
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Works
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Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
Luciana Bozán Barroso
(m. 2005) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Full list |
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Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He is known for starring in many popular movies. In 2007, Forbes magazine said he was one of the most successful actors. By 2010, he was among the highest-earning actors ever.
Matt Damon has won many awards, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. He has also been nominated for three British Academy Film Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.
He started acting in the film Mystic Pizza (1988). He became very famous in 1997 when he and his friend Ben Affleck wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting. This movie won them an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay.
Matt Damon became a leading actor in many big movies. He played Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). He was also Jason Bourne in the exciting Bourne movie series (2002–2007; 2016). He played Linus Caldwell in the Ocean's trilogy (2001–2007).
In 2015, he starred as an astronaut stuck on Mars in The Martian. For this role, he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award. He has also appeared in other well-known films like Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Departed (2006), True Grit (2010), Contagion (2011), Ford v Ferrari (2019), and Oppenheimer (2023). Oppenheimer is his highest-earning movie to date.
On television, Matt Damon played Scott Thorson in the HBO movie Behind the Candelabra (2013). He was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for this role. He also produced the reality TV series Project Greenlight (2001–2015) and the film Manchester by the Sea (2016). He has done voice acting for animated movies and documentaries. He also started two production companies with Ben Affleck: Artists Equity and Pearl Street Films. Matt Damon is also involved in charity work with groups like the One Campaign and Water.org.
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Early Life and Education
Matthew Paige Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 8, 1970. He is the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor. His parents divorced when he was two years old. He and his brother, Kyle, who is a sculptor, moved back to Cambridge with their mother. They lived in a shared house.
Matt Damon went to Cambridge Alternative School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He was a good student. He acted in many high school plays. He said his drama teacher, Gerry Speca, was very important to his acting career.
He went to Harvard University in 1988 but left before finishing his degree. He left to take a main role in the movie Geronimo: An American Legend. While at Harvard, he wrote an essay for an English class. This essay later became the idea for the movie Good Will Hunting, which won him an Academy Award. In 2013, Harvard University gave him the Harvard Arts Medal.
Matt Damon's Acting Journey
Starting Out: 1988–1999
Matt Damon started at Harvard University in 1988. He acted in student plays there. His first movie role was at age 18 in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza. He had only one line in the film. While still a student, he had small roles in movies like Rising Son and School Ties.
In 1992, he left Harvard to act in Geronimo: An American Legend. He hoped this movie would be a big hit. In 1996, he played a soldier in Courage Under Fire. For this role, he lost a lot of weight. Critics noticed his performance, with The Washington Post calling it "impressive."
In the early 1990s, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote Good Will Hunting (1997). It was about a young math genius. They worked on the script together in Affleck's apartment. The movie was set in their hometown of Cambridge and used their own experiences. They sold the script to Miramax.
The film was highly praised. Critics found it witty and deep. Damon's performance was called "charismatic." The movie received nine Academy Awards nominations. Damon and Affleck won the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. They each earned $600,000, and the movie made over $225 million worldwide.
After Good Will Hunting, Damon said his life changed completely. He went from being unknown to being recognized everywhere. Before this big hit, he also starred in The Rainmaker (1997). The Los Angeles Times called him "a talented young actor on the brink of stardom."
In 1998, director Steven Spielberg cast him in the short but important role in the World War II film Saving Private Ryan. He also starred with Edward Norton in the poker movie Rounders (1998). In this film, he plays a character who used to gamble and must return to high-stakes poker to help a friend.
Damon then played Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). He lost weight for this role. The movie was based on a 1955 novel and also starred Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cate Blanchett. Critics praised the film. Variety magazine said Damon "outstandingly conveys his character's slide from innocent enthusiasm into cold calculation."
In Dogma (1999), he played a character who discusses pop culture with Affleck's character. The film received good reviews.
Becoming a Global Star: 2000–2008
In 2000, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and other producers started a company called LivePlanet. They created the documentary series Project Greenlight. This show helped new filmmakers get their first movies made.
Some of Damon's early romantic dramas, like All the Pretty Horses (2000) and The Legend of Bagger Vance, were not very successful.
During this time, Damon joined two very successful movie series: the Ocean's Trilogy (2001–2007) and Bourne (2002–2016). He played the thief Linus Caldwell in the first Ocean's movie, Ocean's Eleven (2001). This movie made $450 million.
In 2002, Damon wrote and starred in Gerry, a drama about two friends lost in a desert. Later that year, he played Jason Bourne, an assassin who has lost his memory, in The Bourne Identity. Damon did many of his own stunts for this film. He trained for three months in stunt work, weapons, and fighting. The movie was a big success. Critics praised Damon's focused and sincere performance. Entertainment Weekly called him one of "the decade's best mixer of brawn and brains."
Damon voiced the character Spirit in the animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). He also played a conjoined twin in Stuck on You (2003). In 2004, he starred in the sequels The Bourne Supremacy and Ocean's Twelve. Both movies earned over $280 million. For The Bourne Supremacy, Damon won an Empire Award for Best Actor.
In 2005, he played an energy analyst in the thriller Syriana with George Clooney. This film focused on oil politics. In 2006, Damon starred with Robert De Niro in The Good Shepherd as a CIA agent. He also played an undercover person working for the police in Martin Scorsese's The Departed. This movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
By August 2007, Forbes magazine said Damon was one of the most profitable actors. His movies Ocean's Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum both made over $300 million in 2007. Damon also had small roles in Youth Without Youth (2007) and Che (2008). He turned down a role in James Cameron's Avatar because of his Bourne contract. Avatar became one of the highest-grossing films ever.
Continued Success: 2009–2019
In 2009, Matt Damon appeared as himself in the TV show Entourage. He also starred in the comedy The Informant! (2009), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. Also in 2009, Damon played Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South Africa rugby team, in the film Invictus. This movie was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. Damon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role. He also lent his voice to the animated film Ponyo.
In March 2010, Damon and Ben Affleck started another production company called Pearl Street Films. That year, Damon worked again with director Paul Greengrass on the action thriller Green Zone. He also appeared as a guest star in an episode of the children's TV show Arthur. Damon also had a recurring role in season 5 of 30 Rock as Liz Lemon's boyfriend.
His 2010 movies included Clint Eastwood's Hereafter and the Coen brothers' remake of the Western True Grit. He also narrated Inside Job, a documentary about the 2008 financial crisis. By 2010, he was ranked among the highest-earning actors.
In 2011, he starred in The Adjustment Bureau, Contagion, and We Bought a Zoo. He also voiced a character named Bill in the animated film Happy Feet Two. In 2012, Damon became the voice for TD Ameritrade advertisements. He donated all the money he earned from these ads to charity.
In April 2012, Damon filmed Promised Land, which he co-wrote with John Krasinski. His next film with director Steven Soderbergh was Behind the Candelabra (2013). In this drama, Damon played Scott Thorson, the partner of pianist Liberace (played by Michael Douglas).
Damon starred in the science fiction film Elysium (2013). He also appeared in The Zero Theorem (2013). That same year, Damon was in an advertisement for Nespresso. In 2014, he starred in George Clooney's The Monuments Men. He also played a small role as scientist Dr. Mann in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
In 2015, Damon played the main character, astronaut Mark Watney, in Ridley Scott's The Martian. This role earned him a Golden Globe Award and his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2016, Damon returned to his role as Jason Bourne in the movie Jason Bourne.
In 2017, Damon starred in The Great Wall. Later that year, he starred in two comedies: George Clooney's Suburbicon and Alexander Payne's Downsizing. In 2018, he played jurist Brett Kavanaugh on the TV show Saturday Night Live. In 2019, Damon played Carroll Shelby in the drama Ford v Ferrari.
Recent Work: 2021–Present
As of 2021, the movies Matt Damon has appeared in have earned over $3.88 billion in North America. In 2021, Damon starred in the crime drama Stillwater. He played an unemployed oil rig worker who tries to prove his daughter's innocence. Critics praised Damon's performance.
That same year, he starred in and co-wrote the historical drama The Last Duel with Ben Affleck. The film is set in medieval France and tells the true story of a knight, Jean de Carrouges, played by Damon. The movie received positive reviews.
In 2023, Damon starred as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro in Air. This movie was co-starred and directed by Affleck. It was the first film from Affleck and Damon's new production company, Artists Equity. Damon received praise for his role and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He also worked again with Christopher Nolan in the biographical film Oppenheimer. He played Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project. This film was a big success.
In 2024, Damon starred in and produced The Instigators with Casey Affleck.
Helping Others
Matt Damon is one of the founders of Not On Our Watch Project. This group works to stop and prevent terrible events around the world, like in Darfur. Damon also supports the One Campaign, which fights AIDS and poverty in developing countries. He is an ambassador for ONEXONE, a group that helps children in Canada, the United States, and worldwide.
Damon is a spokesperson for Feeding America, an organization that helps people who are hungry. He is also on the board of Tonic Mailstopper, a company that tries to stop junk mail.
Damon started the H2O Africa Foundation. This group later joined with WaterPartners to create Water.org in July 2009. Water.org works to bring safe, clean, and affordable drinking water and sanitation to developing countries. Damon has been the face of advertising campaigns to promote Water.org.
In October 2011, Water.org received a large grant from the PepsiCo Foundation. This money helped them expand their WaterCredit program, which gives small loans to families in India for water solutions. Damon has helped promote these efforts. Since 2015, Damon has also promoted Anheuser-Busch InBev's Stella Artois beer brand as a partner for Water.org.
In October 2021, he announced a new partnership with the cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com. Crypto.com donated $1 million to Water.org. Damon said that he gives 100% of the money he makes from the Crypto.com commercials to Water.org.
Personal Life
Matt Damon met his wife, Luciana Bozán, in Miami in April 2003 while filming Stuck on You. They got engaged in September 2005 and married on December 9, 2005. They have three daughters together, born in June 2006, August 2008, and October 2010. He also has a stepdaughter, Alexia Barroso (born 1998), from Luciana's previous marriage, and he considers her his own daughter.
The family has lived in Miami and New York City. Since 2012, they have lived in the Pacific Palisades area in Los Angeles. In 2018, Damon bought a luxury apartment in New York City's Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.
He is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. After they won the 2007 World Series, he narrated the DVD about the event. He has also played in several World Series of Poker (WSOP) events.
Views on Society
Matt Damon supports the Democratic Party. He has spoken about his concerns regarding fairness in society.
In March 2018, Damon and Ben Affleck announced that their company, Pearl Street Films, would use an "inclusion rider" for all future projects. This means they will try to have more diverse people working on their films.
Awards and Recognition
Matt Damon has received many awards for his acting and producing. On July 25, 2007, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the 2,343rd person to get this honor. He said it was an amazing experience that was "too big to process."
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Matt Damon's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
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Handprints and footprints of Damon in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre
See also
In Spanish: Matt Damon para niños
