Matt Damon Biography

Matt Damon, actor

Birthdate: October 8, 1970

Birthplace: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matt Damon found himself living the Hollywood Dream when he became an overnight sensation for co-writing and co-starring in the movie "Good Will Hunting" with his friend Ben Affleck. The movie, which was written as one of Damon's college English papers, went on receive nine Academy Award nominations.

Damon and Affleck won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay for the movie, that also earned co-star Robin Williams an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The movie, which was released in 1997, grossed over $100 million at the box office.

Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the son of Kent Damon and Nancy Carlsson-Paige. His dad was a stockbroker and tax preparer and his mom a university professor and the couple divorced when Damon was young. He and his brother, Kyle, moved to Cambridge with his mother.

Damon grew up on the same street as Ben Affleck and the two not only wrote "Good Will Hunting" together but have remained friends. Damon went to a public high school and began attending Harvard University in 1988. He was only twelve credits away from graduating when he left Harvard to head to Hollywood and pursue a career in acting.

Affleck joined him and the two were cast as extras in the movie "Field of Dreams." Damon also had one line of dialogue in the romantic comedy "Mystic Pizza" with Julia Roberts.

Not able to find the success he desired, Damon thought about leaving Hollywood. Before he did, he contacted Affleck and the two re-wrote Damon's Harvard English paper and started pitching the idea around Hollywood. The script eventually became "Good Will Hunting" and changed the path of Damon, and Affleck's, acting careers.

Damon earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Hunting, a part for which he was paid $500,000.

While on the set of "Good Will Hunting," Damon met director Steven Spielberg who then cast Damon in the movie "Saving Private Ryan."

Damon has chosen to star in a wide variety of movies throughout his career such as "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Dogma," "All The Pretty Horses" and "The Legend of Bagger Vance."

Damon joined friends George Clooney and Julia Roberts to star in "Ocean's Eleven" which also spawned the sequels "Ocean's Twelve" and "Ocean's Thirteen."

Damon proved he can also carry a movie alone when he starred as the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in the action movies "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum."

In August 2007, Forbes Magazine created a list of actors who generated the best box office performances related to their salaries and the list put Damon as the most bankable of stars.

In his personal life, Damon has been romantically linked to several actresses. He had a two year relationship with Winona Ryder and also dated "Good Will Hunting" co-star Minnie Driver.

Damon met Luciana Barroso, who was born in Argentina, in Miami when she was working as a bartender. The two were married in Dec. 2005 in a civil ceremony in New York City Hall. Damon became the stepfather to Barroso's daughter Alexia, and the couple had their first child together, daughter Isabella, born June 11, 2006.