| Matt Damon  AKA Matthew Paige Damon
Born: 8-Oct-1970
Birthplace: Cambridge, MA
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor
Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Good Will Hunting At about age ten Matt Damon became inseparable from another kid who lived two blocks away -- Ben Affleck. Damon & Affleck played baseball together, attended discount double features, and went to the same school. Both boys were interested in acting, and both worked as extras when Field of Dreams filmed a few scenes at Fenway Park. Damon also appeared in several plays at the American Repertory Theatre and other Boston-based theatre venues. Pursuing thespian dreams, Damon & Affleck slipped away to New York when Damon was 16. Success eluded them, and Damon returned home and went to Harvard, where he studied drama and took small roles in more movies filmed locally.
When Damon landed a large role in Geronimo: An American Legend, a big budget film by Walter Hill, he moved to Los Angeles, and Affleck tagged along. But the movie flopped, and Affleck ended up sleeping on Damon's couch for years. Damon first garnered some critical acclaim as a troubled Gulf War veteran in Courage Under Fire, but for the most part both actors were getting only small or silly roles. Damon, frustrated, re-read a script he had written for a college class, about a genius janitor sweeping the halls at MIT. They tinkered with the screenplay, and after having William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride) polish the dialogue, they sold it to Miramax, and Good Will Hunting was a hit. Damon and Affleck co-starred, and won the Oscar for Best Screenplay.
After Good Will Hunting, Damon and Affleck appeared in several films together, did joint interviews, interviewed each other, and seemed as tight at 30 as they had been at 10, leading to rumors that they were a couple. They apparently made a conscious decision to stop appearing in films together, which further hurt Affleck's career. Damon, meanwhile, has made several successful films, including Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Stuck on You, The Departed, The Bourne Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum, and Oceans Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen.
Damon and Affleck were executive producers of Project Greenlight, an HBO series spotlighting their "Project Greenlight" contest, wherein one lucky screenwriter each season saw his or her script filmed as a low-budget movie. The three winning films were Stolen Summer with Kevin Pollak, The Battle of Shaker Heights with Shia LaBeouf, and Feast with Balthazar Getty. Father: Kent Damon (tax preparer, real estate agent)
Mother: Nancy Carlsson-Paige (college professor)
Brother: Kyle Damon (sculptor, b. 1967)
Girlfriend: Skylar Statenstein (doctor, later married to Lars Ulrich)
Girlfriend: Minnie Driver (actress, together 1995-97)
Girlfriend: Claire Danes (actress, together 1997)
Girlfriend: Winona Ryder (actress, together 1997-2001, briefly engaged)
Girlfriend: Penelope Cruz (actress, together 1999)
Girlfriend: Kara Sands (model, ex)
Girlfriend: Odessa Whitmire (Ben Affleck's personal assistant)
Wife: Luciana Barroso (bartender, b. circa 1971, m. 9-Dec-2005, two daughters)
Daughter: Alexia (stepdaughter born to Barroso)
Daughter: Isabella (b. 11-Jun-2006)
Daughter: Gia Zavala Damon (b. 20-Aug-2008)
High School: Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Cambridge, MA
University: Harvard University (majored in English, dropped out)
Oscar for Best Screenplay 1998 for Good Will Hunting (shared)
Hollywood Walk of Fame 26-Jul-2007 at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Kucinich for President
MoveOn.org
Obama for America
Risk Factors: Former Smoker, Yoga
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Bourne Ultimatum (25-Jul-2007)
Ocean's Thirteen (24-May-2007)
The Good Shepherd (11-Dec-2006)
The Departed (4-Oct-2006)
Syriana (23-Nov-2005)
The Brothers Grimm (29-Jul-2005)
Ocean's Twelve (8-Dec-2004)
The Bourne Supremacy (15-Jul-2004)
Jersey Girl (26-Mar-2004)
Eurotrip (20-Feb-2004)
Stuck On You (10-Dec-2003)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (31-Dec-2002)
The Bourne Identity (6-Jun-2002)
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (24-Jan-2002) [VOICE]
Gerry (12-Jan-2002)
The Majestic (11-Dec-2001) [VOICE]
Ocean's Eleven (5-Dec-2001)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (24-Aug-2001) Himself
Finding Forrester (19-Dec-2000)
All the Pretty Horses (11-Dec-2000)
The Legend of Bagger Vance (29-Oct-2000)
Titan A.E. (13-Jun-2000) [VOICE]
The Talented Mr. Ripley (12-Dec-1999)
Dogma (12-Nov-1999)
Rounders (11-Sep-1998)
Saving Private Ryan (24-Jul-1998)
Good Will Hunting (5-Dec-1997)
The Rainmaker (21-Nov-1997)
Chasing Amy (4-Apr-1997)
Glory Daze (27-Sep-1996)
Courage Under Fire (12-Jul-1996)
The Good Old Boys (5-Mar-1995)
Geronimo: An American Legend (10-Dec-1993)
School Ties (18-Sep-1992)
Mystic Pizza (21-Oct-1988)
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