Ben Affleck (born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt; August 15, 1972) is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997). Affleck won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997), which he co-wrote with Matt Damon, and has appeared in lead roles in Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Daredevil (2003).
Affleck is a critically acclaimed filmmaker. He directed Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010), playing the lead in the latter. He has worked with his younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, on several projects, including Good Will Hunting and Gone Baby Gone.
Affleck has been married to Jennifer Garner since June 2005. They have two daughters, Violet Anne, born December 2005, and Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, born January 2009, and are currently expecting their third child. He dated the actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998. His relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez attracted worldwide media attention, in which Affleck and Lopez were dubbed "Bennifer". The two broke up in 2004.
Affleck has been actively involved in politics and charitable causes. He and Matt Damon also founded the production company LivePlanet.
Affleck was born in Berkeley, California to Jewish parents. His mother, Christine Anne "Chris" (née Boldt), is a school district employee and teacher, and his father, Timothy Byers Affleck, has been, at various times, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, writer, director, and was a former actor with the Theater Company of Boston. Affleck's mother graduated from Harvard University and was a freedom rider in the 1960s; she teaches in Cambridge Public Schools. His younger brother is actor Casey Affleck. Affleck has Irish, Scottish, English, and German ancestry (the surname "Affleck" is Scottish). He was raised in a mostly Episcopal family. His family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was very young and his parents divorced in 1984. At age eight, Affleck met 10-year-old Matt Damon, who lived two blocks away (Damon is Affleck's tenth cousin, once removed, through a common New England ancestor). The two would later attend Cambridge Rindge and Latin School together, although they were in different grades. Affleck attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, as well as the University of Vermont, and majored in Middle Eastern affairs.
Affleck worked as a child actor, appearing on the PBS kids' series The Voyage of the Mimi, as well as in several movies made for television. Throughout the 1990s, he had roles in Lifestories: Families in Crisis, as a steroid-abusing athlete, as well as in several films, including 1992's School Ties (with Damon), the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie (uncredited), 1993's Dazed and Confused, 1995's Mallrats, and 1997's Chasing Amy. Mallrats and Amy marked the beginning of his collaboration with writer/director Kevin Smith. He had the starring role in Smith's Jersey Girl and has appeared in every View Askewniverse-Jersey film Smith has made to date, with the exception of Clerks.
Affleck came to national attention working with Damon in Good Will Hunting in 1997, for which they shared writing credit and received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. They also both starred in the film. Along with Damon and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, Affleck founded the production company LivePlanet, through which the four created the documentary series Project Greenlight, as well as the failed mystery-hybrid series Push, Nevada, among other projects. Project Greenlight was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Following Good Will Hunting, Affleck starred in Armageddon (1998) as A. J. Frost, opposite Bruce Willis. The film generated mixed to negative critical reviews, but was a box office success, earning $553 million worldwide. In 1999, he co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy Forces of Nature. In 2001, Affleck collaborated with Armageddon director Michael Bay in the war film Pearl Harbor. The film opened to a mixed to negative reception, but was a box office success, earning $449 million worldwide.
In 2002, he was cast as Jack Ryan in the action film The Sum of All Fears. The movie also starred Morgan Freeman. The Sum of All Fears is based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote, Affleck and Freeman "create a believable chemistry". In the same year, Affleck starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the thriller Changing Lanes.
The following year he starred as the lead character Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Mark Steven Johnson's film Daredevil (2003). Affleck said Daredevil was his favorite comic book as a kid, and explained why he took the role by saying "Everybody has that one thing from childhood that they remember and that sticks with them. This story was that for me." He also said "I didn't want someone else to do it, because I was afraid that they would go out and do it different from the comic and screw it up." Roger Ebert, in review of Daredevil, wrote that both Affleck and co-star Jennifer Garner, were suitable for their roles. Daredevil grossed over $179 million worldwide.
Affleck is a critically acclaimed filmmaker. He directed Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010), playing the lead in the latter. He has worked with his younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, on several projects, including Good Will Hunting and Gone Baby Gone.
Affleck has been married to Jennifer Garner since June 2005. They have two daughters, Violet Anne, born December 2005, and Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, born January 2009, and are currently expecting their third child. He dated the actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998. His relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez attracted worldwide media attention, in which Affleck and Lopez were dubbed "Bennifer". The two broke up in 2004.
Affleck has been actively involved in politics and charitable causes. He and Matt Damon also founded the production company LivePlanet.
Affleck was born in Berkeley, California to Jewish parents. His mother, Christine Anne "Chris" (née Boldt), is a school district employee and teacher, and his father, Timothy Byers Affleck, has been, at various times, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, writer, director, and was a former actor with the Theater Company of Boston. Affleck's mother graduated from Harvard University and was a freedom rider in the 1960s; she teaches in Cambridge Public Schools. His younger brother is actor Casey Affleck. Affleck has Irish, Scottish, English, and German ancestry (the surname "Affleck" is Scottish). He was raised in a mostly Episcopal family. His family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was very young and his parents divorced in 1984. At age eight, Affleck met 10-year-old Matt Damon, who lived two blocks away (Damon is Affleck's tenth cousin, once removed, through a common New England ancestor). The two would later attend Cambridge Rindge and Latin School together, although they were in different grades. Affleck attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, as well as the University of Vermont, and majored in Middle Eastern affairs.
Affleck worked as a child actor, appearing on the PBS kids' series The Voyage of the Mimi, as well as in several movies made for television. Throughout the 1990s, he had roles in Lifestories: Families in Crisis, as a steroid-abusing athlete, as well as in several films, including 1992's School Ties (with Damon), the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie (uncredited), 1993's Dazed and Confused, 1995's Mallrats, and 1997's Chasing Amy. Mallrats and Amy marked the beginning of his collaboration with writer/director Kevin Smith. He had the starring role in Smith's Jersey Girl and has appeared in every View Askewniverse-Jersey film Smith has made to date, with the exception of Clerks.
Affleck came to national attention working with Damon in Good Will Hunting in 1997, for which they shared writing credit and received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. They also both starred in the film. Along with Damon and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, Affleck founded the production company LivePlanet, through which the four created the documentary series Project Greenlight, as well as the failed mystery-hybrid series Push, Nevada, among other projects. Project Greenlight was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Following Good Will Hunting, Affleck starred in Armageddon (1998) as A. J. Frost, opposite Bruce Willis. The film generated mixed to negative critical reviews, but was a box office success, earning $553 million worldwide. In 1999, he co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy Forces of Nature. In 2001, Affleck collaborated with Armageddon director Michael Bay in the war film Pearl Harbor. The film opened to a mixed to negative reception, but was a box office success, earning $449 million worldwide.
In 2002, he was cast as Jack Ryan in the action film The Sum of All Fears. The movie also starred Morgan Freeman. The Sum of All Fears is based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote, Affleck and Freeman "create a believable chemistry". In the same year, Affleck starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the thriller Changing Lanes.
The following year he starred as the lead character Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Mark Steven Johnson's film Daredevil (2003). Affleck said Daredevil was his favorite comic book as a kid, and explained why he took the role by saying "Everybody has that one thing from childhood that they remember and that sticks with them. This story was that for me." He also said "I didn't want someone else to do it, because I was afraid that they would go out and do it different from the comic and screw it up." Roger Ebert, in review of Daredevil, wrote that both Affleck and co-star Jennifer Garner, were suitable for their roles. Daredevil grossed over $179 million worldwide.
