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Matt Damon
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Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor and philanthropist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his screenwriting in Good Will Hunting, and was nominated for his lead performance in the same film. Since the 1997 film, he has matched up with A-list actors in mainstream films.
Damon has starred in films such as Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley, the Ocean's series, the Bourne series, Syriana, The Good Shepherd and The Departed. He has won multiple awards for his film performances and has received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor and philanthropist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his screenwriting in Good Will Hunting, and was nominated for his lead performance in the same film. Since the 1997 film, he has matched up with A-list actors in mainstream films.
Damon has starred in films such as Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley, the Ocean's series, the Bourne series, Syriana, The Good Shepherd and The Departed. He has won multiple awards for his film performances and has received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Damon is one of the top twenty-five highest grossing actors of all time. In 2007, he was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.
Damon has been actively involved in charitable work, including the ONE Campaign and H2O Africa Foundation. With his wife, Luciana Bozán Barroso, Damon has two daughters, Isabella and Gia, and stepdaughter Alexia from Barroso's prior marriage.
Early life
Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, realtor, and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. In an interview with Mail on Sunday, Damon stated that his grandfather is probably the most "impressive person he knows," stating, "He's Finnish, a very proud man, who would never take help from anybody. He came to America when he was a little boy, grew up during the Great Depression and sold shoes. He used to tell us the story about getting a raise of three and a half cents, and how that was an incredible moment of success. He's extraordinary." Damon is of English, Finnish, and Scottish ancestry. Damon has a brother, Kyle, who is an accomplished sculptor and artist. He and his family lived in Newton for the first two years of his life, but after his parents divorced, Damon and his brother moved with his mother to Cambridge.
Damon grew up near Ben Affleck, a close friend since childhood and collaborator on several films, and historian and author Howard Zinn, whose biographical film You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train and audio version of A People's History of the United States Damon narrated. He attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, and performed in several theater productions. Damon graduated from the school in 1988. He attended Harvard University from 1988 to 1992 but did not graduate. He instead pursued acting projects, including the TNT original film Rising Son and ensemble prep-school drama School Ties. While at Harvard, he studied English and lived in Lowell House. He did not take part in student theater generally, but did appear in A... My Name is Alice (in one of the three male roles usually performed by women). Damon dropped out of the university to pursue his acting career in Los Angeles when Geronimo: An American Legend was expected to be a big success.
Career
Early career
His first film role came in 1988 when he was eighteen, with a single line of dialogue in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza. Damon appeared in small roles before landing a big part in Geronimo: An American Legend with Gene Hackman and Jason Patric. He next appeared as a heroin-addicted soldier in 1996's Courage Under Fire. He was required to lose in 100 days (for only two days of filming). After following a self-prescribed diet and fitness regimen to lose the weight, Damon was told after filming that he was fortunate his heart did not shrink. Damon took medication for several years afterwards to correct the stress inflicted on his adrenal gland, and has stated that it was worthwhile to properly portray his character and show the industry how committed he was to the role.
Breakthrough
Damon and Ben Affleck wrote a screenplay about a young math genius, which they had pitched around Hollywood. Receiving advice from writer/director/actor Rob Reiner, screenwriter William Goldman, and their friend writer/director Kevin Smith, the two made changes to the script. The script eventually became Good Will Hunting, and received nine Academy Awards nominations, earning Damon and Affleck Oscars for Best Original Screenplay. Damon was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the same film and the film netted an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for co-star Robin Williams. Damon and Affleck were each paid salaries of $500,000; the film grossed over $100 million at the box office. Damon parodied his role in the film in Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. After meeting Damon on the set of Good Will Hunting, director Steven Spielberg cast Damon in the World War II film Saving Private Ryan (1998).
Along with Affleck and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, Damon founded the production company , through which the four created the documentary series Project Greenlight to find and fund worthwhile film projects from novice filmmakers. The company produced and founded 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.
Damon has been known to choose a wide variety of film roles, from his portrayal of bisexual murderer Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, to a fallen angel who discusses pop culture as intellectual subject matter in Dogma, in which he co-starred with Affleck (1999); from a conjoined twin in Stuck on You, to a film he co-wrote with friend Casey Affleck and Gus Van Sant with limited dialogue—the low budget experimental film Gerry. Damon has been part of two major film franchises. He played amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in the successful action movies The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, and starred as the youthful, optimistic thief Linus Caldwell, opposite George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts in Steven Soderbergh's 2001 remake of the Rat Pack's 1960 caper classic Ocean's Eleven. The successful crime dramedy spawned two sequels: Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).
Among other roles, Damon played a fictionalized version of Wilhelm Grimm in Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventure The Brothers Grimm and an energy analyst in Syriana. He was recently onscreen in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd as a career CIA officer, and played an undercover mobster working for the Massachusetts State Police in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong police thriller Infernal Affairs. He had an uncredited cameo in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (released in 2007), a cameo in the 2008 Che Guevara biopic Che, and a supporting role in Kenneth Lonergan's film Margaret, due in 2009.
In 2007, rumors stated that producer J.J. Abrams was trying to get Damon to play James T. Kirk in the 2009 movie Star Trek. In an interview with IGN, Damon denied the claim.
Box office performance
In motion pictures that feature him as a leading actor or supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of US$1.92 to US$2.28 billion (based on counting his roles as strictly lead or including supporting roles) at the North American box office, placing him in the top twenty-five grossing actors of all time. In August 2007, financial magazine Forbes created a list of actors who generated the best box office performance related to their salaries; the list placed Damon as the most bankable star of the actors reviewed, revealing that Damon had averaged US$29 at the box office for every dollar he earned for his last three films.
Upcoming films
Damon's projects include five films that are expected to debut in 2009, including his portrayal of Mr. Aaron in the drama Margaret. He began filming Green Zone in January 2008, and commenced filming Steven Soderbergh's thriller, The Informant, in Central Illinois on May 3, 2008. On June 27, 2008, producer Frank Marshall announced that a fourth Jason Bourne movie was expected to be made, with filming expected in the summer of 2009 for a release in 2010. Damon will provide a voice for the upcoming film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, although the specific role is as yet unknown.
He will be playing rugby team captain Francois Pienaar in the Clint Eastwood directed Nelson Mandela bio-pic The Human Factor, a film based on a 2008 book by John Carlin, and also featuring Morgan Freeman as Mandela. Carlin sold the film rights to Morgan Freeman.
Personal life
Damon has had relationships with several actresses throughout his career. Damon had a two-year relationship with actress Winona Ryder. He also dated Odessa Whitmire, who has worked as a personal assistant for Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck, from 2001 to 2003. His relationship with Good Will Hunting co-star Minnie Driver reportedly ended when Damon announced their break-up on The Oprah Winfrey Show, though both actors have repeatedly denied this. Damon later stated that he was "sick and tired" of hearing the story, saying it was false. Driver's sister allegedly told Cosmopolitan that the couple had broken up before the show was taped. Although the media often claimed Damon dated actress Eva Mendes, both have denied any relationship.
Damon met Argentine-born Luciana Bozan Barroso in Miami, where she was working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall. Damon became stepfather to Bozan's young daughter, Alexia, from her previous marriage. The couple's first child together, daughter Isabella, was born on June 11, 2006, in Miami, Florida. On August 20, 2008, Luciana gave birth to the couple's second child, Gia Zavala Damon. Damon describes himself as an overly cautious father: "At my house they have a nickname for me. They call me Red Alert. If any of the kids go near anything dangerous, I quickly say, 'Is she touching that? Watch out for that!'"
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel often says: "Our apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time" near the end of his ABC television show Jimmy Kimmel Live, a gag lampooning instances where shows cannot feature their last guest due to time constraints. On September 12, 2006, after a segment highlighting the running gag and a lengthy introduction by Kimmel, Damon finally appeared on the show, only for Kimmel to apologetically cut his interview and head to credits, as Damon cursed him. Kimmel later asserted to USA Weekend that the skit was entirely planned and Damon willingly played along. Kimmel's girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, also used this line at the end of the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. This gag was also used again when Guillermo interviewed Damon at the Ocean's Thirteen premiere, with Damon asking "Are you with Kimmel?" Silverman also aired a clip of her singing a song entitled "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" on January 31, 2008 on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Damon appeared in the song with Silverman and at the end when she is apologizing to Jimmy, Damon interrupts her saying, "Jimmy, we're out of time. Sorry." Kimmel himself later responded by showing a music video in which he announced, through song, that he is "fucking Ben Affleck". The video aired on February 24, 2008 and featured Affleck along with celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Cameron Diaz, Joan Jett, Macy Gray, Robin Williams, Don Cheadle, Pete Wentz, Perry Farrell, Benji and Joel Madden, Lance Bass, Huey Lewis, Josh Groban, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christina Applegate, Rebecca Romijn, Dominic Monaghan, Meat Loaf and various others.
Among Damon's interests include his support of the Boston Red Sox.
Philanthropy
Damon, along with frequent co-stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt, supports ONE, a campaign fighting AIDS and poverty in Third World countries. He has appeared in their print and television advertising. Damon is also an ambassador for OneXOne, a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in Canada, the United States, and around the world.
Damon is a board member of GreenDimes.com, a company that attempts to halt junk mail delivered to American homes each day. Appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 20, 2007, Damon promoted the organization's efforts to prevent the trees used for junk mail letters and envelopes from being chopped down. Damon stated: "For an estimated dime a day they can stop 70 per cent of the junk mail that comes to your house. It's very simple, easy to do, great gift to give, I've actually signed up my entire family. It was a gift given to me this past holiday season and I was so impressed that I'm now on the board of the company."
Damon, along with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, is one of the founders of Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur. He is also the founder of H2O Africa Foundation, the charitable arm of the Running the Sahara expedition.
Political views
Damon appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews in December 2006 and discussed the ongoing war in Iraq. Responding to Chris Matthews, Damon stated: "I don't think that it's fair, as I said before, that it seems like we have a fighting class in our country that's comprised of people who have to go for either financial reasons, or, I don't think that that is fair and if you're gonna send people to war ... then that needs to be shared by everybody."
On September 10, 2008 a video was released on YouTube by the Associated Press in which Matt Damon criticizes the Republican Vice President choice Sarah Palin. In the interview excerpt he expresses doubt on Palin's readiness to lead in case John McCain does not make it through his first term. Damon refers to it as a "bad Disney movie... 'I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska here to take on the White House'. It's absurd... I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. Because she’s gonna have the nuclear codes". He also states that "You do the actuarial tables. There's a 1 out of 3 chance that McCain doesn't survive his first term, and it'll be President Palin."
Awards and honors
- Damon won multiple awards for Good Will Hunting, a film he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. He was nominated for the Academy Award "Best Actor in a Leading Role" and won "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen".
- On July 25, 2007, Damon became the 2,343rd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Damon reacted to the award, stating: "A few times in my life I've had these experiences that are just kind of too big to process and this looks like it's going to be one of those times."
- Damon has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild awards and seven MTV Movie Awards for various films. Additionally, he has three Emmy nominations for his work on the first three seasons of Project Greenlight.
- Damon has been named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2007.
- Damon won 'Best Ass-Kicker' and 'Guy of the Year' at the Spike Guys' Choice Awards of 2008.
Filmography
Further reading
- Altman, Sheryl and Berk, Sheryl. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck: On and Off Screen. HarperCollins Publishers, 1998. ISBN 0061071455.
- Bego, Mark. Matt Damon: Chasing a Dream. Andrews Mcmeel Pub, 1998. ISBN 0836271319.
- Diamond, Maxine and Hemmings, Harriet. Matt Damon a Biography. Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 1998. ISBN 0671026496.
- Nickson, Chris. Matt Damon: An Unauthorized Biography. Renaissance Books, 1999. ISBN 1580630723.
External links
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