Benjamin Géza Affleck Biography

Benjamin Géza Affleck

Born (Date): August 15, 1972

Born (Location): Berkeley, California, U.S.

Occupation: Actor | Film director | Film producer | Screenwriter

Years Active: From 1981

Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup, the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival.

Affleck is the co-founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, a grantmaking and advocacy-based nonprofit organization. He is also a stalwart supporter of the Democratic Party. Affleck and Damon are co-owners of the production company Pearl Street Films.

Click here to read the flipbook.

Honor & Award

Affleck has appeared in more than 50 films, and won many accolades throughout his career as an actor, writer, and director.

He first gained recognition as a writer when he won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997), which he co-wrote with Matt Damon; Affleck remains the youngest person ever to win a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, at 25 years old. As an actor, he received Golden Globe nominations for his performances in Hollywoodland (2006) and The Tender Bar (2021). The film Argo (2012), which he directed, co-produced, and starred in, won him the Golden Globe Award, BAFTA, and Directors Guild Award for Best Director, as well as the Golden Globe Award, BAFTA, the Producers Guild Award, and the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Career

He began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi (1984, 1988).

He later appeared in the independent coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993) and various Kevin Smith films, including Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999).

Affleck gained wider recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damon won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing Good Will Hunting (1997), which they also starred in.

He then established himself as a leading man in studio films, including the disaster film Armageddon (1998), the war drama Pearl Harbor (2001), and the thrillers The Sum of All Fears and Changing Lanes (both 2002).

After a career downturn, during which he appeared in the critically derided Daredevil (2003) and Gigli (2003), Affleck won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and received a Golden Globe nomination for portraying George Reeves in the noir biopic Hollywoodland (2006).

His directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone (2007), which he also co-wrote, was well received. He then directed, co-wrote and starred in the crime drama The Town (2010) and directed and starred in the political thriller Argo (2012); both were critical and commercial successes.

For the latter, Affleck won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Director, and the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Academy Award for Best Picture. He then starred in the psychological thriller Gone Girl (2014) and played the superhero Batman in the DC Extended Universe, appearing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).

After starring roles in the thriller The Accountant (2016), the action-adventure Triple Frontier (2019) and the sports drama The Way Back (2020), Affleck shifted into supporting roles in the family drama The Tender Bar and the historical drama The Last Duel (both 2021).