Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck was born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began acting professionally as a child, appearing in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi and its sequel, The Second Voyage of the Mimi. During his teenage years, he also appeared in television films and advertisements.

Affleck attended the University of Vermont and Occidental College but left before graduating to pursue acting. His early film roles included School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy. His friendship with Matt Damon, whom he had known since childhood, became central to his early career and led to their collaboration on Good Will Hunting.

Affleck and Matt Damon developed the screenplay for Good Will Hunting while living together in Los Angeles. The film, directed by Gus Van Sant, starred Damon as a mathematical prodigy and Affleck as his working-class childhood friend. It also featured Casey Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Robin Williams.

Released in 1997, Good Will Hunting became a critical and commercial success and received nine Academy Award nominations. Affleck and Damon won the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Screenplay. Affleck was 25 when he won the Oscar, making him the youngest recipient of the award for screenwriting at that time.

The success of Good Will Hunting led to leading roles in large-scale studio films. Affleck starred opposite Bruce Willis in Armageddon (1998), appeared in Shakespeare in Love (1998), and reunited with Damon in Kevin Smith's Dogma (1999). He later played an American pilot in Pearl Harbor (2001) and CIA analyst Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears (2002).

Affleck also expanded into production during this period. He and Damon developed Project Greenlight, a television series that gave first-time filmmakers the opportunity to direct feature films. Affleck was also involved with the production companies Pearl Street Films and LivePlanet, the latter of which created the television series Push, Nevada.

After a period marked by poorly received films and intense tabloid attention, Affleck returned to critical prominence with his performance as actor George Reeves in Hollywoodland (2006). He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination for the role.

The performance preceded a broader shift toward filmmaking. In 2007, Affleck made his feature directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone, a Boston crime drama based on a novel by Dennis Lehane. The film starred his brother Casey Affleck and was praised for its sensitivity and direction.

Affleck directed, co-wrote, and starred in The Town (2010), a crime drama about Boston bank robbers. The film was both a commercial success and a critical turning point, bringing recognition to Affleck's work with actors, pacing, and action sequences.

His next film, Argo (2012), dramatized a CIA operation during the Iran hostage crisis. Affleck directed and starred in the film, which won the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Picture. Affleck won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America awards for Best Director. He later directed Live by Night (2016) and Air (2023), the latter starring Matt Damon and Viola Davis. Air was the first film released by Artists Equity, the production company Affleck formed with Damon.

Affleck received strong reviews for his performance in David Fincher's Gone Girl (2014), playing a man implicated in his wife's disappearance. He subsequently portrayed Bruce Wayne and Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), and Justice League (2017). He reprised the role in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and The Flash (2023).

Other notable roles include the title character in The Accountant (2016), a recovering alcoholic in The Way Back (2020), and supporting parts in The Last Duel (2021) and The Tender Bar (2021). Affleck co-wrote The Last Duel with Damon and Nicole Holofcener. He returned as Christian Wolff in The Accountant 2 (2025) and appeared in the crime thriller The Rip (2026).

Affleck has been active in Democratic politics and has appeared at rallies and events supporting candidates including Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden. He has also advocated for reproductive rights, workers' rights, affordable health care, and civil liberties. Although he expressed interest in public office earlier in his career, he later rejected speculation that he intended to run for office.

In 2010, Affleck and Whitney Williams co-founded the Eastern Congo Initiative, a nonprofit organization supporting Congolese-led community groups and agricultural cooperatives. He has written about eastern Congo and testified before congressional committees on issues affecting the region. He has also supported organizations including the A-T Children's Project, Feeding America, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Operation Gratitude, and homelessness charities.

Affleck was married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018, and they have three children. He married Jennifer Lopez in 2022 after rekindling their relationship, and their divorce was finalized in 2025. Affleck has spoken publicly about anxiety, depression, and alcoholism, and has received treatment for alcohol addiction.