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Matthew Paige Damon (October 8, 1970) is an Academy
Award-winning American screenwriter and Academy Award-nominated actor.
****
Birth name Matthew Paige Damon
Born October 8, 1970
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Height 5 ft 10 in / 1.78 m
Spouse(s) Luciana Bozán Barroso
Notable roles Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting
(1997)
Rudy BaylorinThe Rainmaker (1997)
Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002)
Colin Sullivan in The Departed (2006)
Academy Awards
Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay (won)
and Academy Award for Best Actor (nominated) -- 1997's Good Will Hunting
****
Biography
Early
Life
Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son
of Kent Telfer Damon, a realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an
early childhood education professor at Lesley University. His grandfather was
Finnish.[1] Damon has a brother, Kyle, who is an accomplished sculptor and
artist.
Matt graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin
School in 1988, the only public high school in Cambridge, MA. He began Harvard
University in the fall of 1988 and should have graduated with the class of 1992,
but kept leaving classes to pursue acting projects, including the TNT original
movie Rising Son and ensemble prep-school drama School Ties. While at Harvard,
he concentrated in English and lived in Lowell House. He did not take part in
student theatre generally, but did appear in A... My Name is Alice (in one of
the two male roles usually performed by women). Although Damon needed only
twelve credits to graduate (about one semester), he dropped out of university to
pursue his acting career in Los Angeles after Geronimo: An American Legend was
expected (incorrectly) to be a big success.
Career
Damon's first film role came in 1988 with one line
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. The war film was an opportunity for Damon to show his dedication by
undergoing an extensive weight loss to help portray his character, as he was
required to lose 40 pounds (18 kg) in 100 days (for only two days of filming).
After following a self-prescribed diet and fitness regimen to lose the weight,
Damon was advised after the filming that he was fortunate his heart did not
shrink. Damon was required to be on medication for several years to correct the
stress inflicted on his adrenal gland, but maintains it was worthwhile to
properly reflect his character's anguish and to show the industry how committed
he was to the role.
Damon and actor Ben Affleck, close personal friends
as well as co-stars in several films, developed a thriller about a young math
genius, which they pitched around Hollywood. Receiving advice from
writer/director/actor Rob Reiner and screenwriter William Goldman, the two
changed the script around to focus on a young math genius trying to make his way
in the world. Goldman's only advice was to agree with Reiner in that the script
should lose its early thriller focus. This script eventually became Good Will
Hunting, which earned both Damon and Affleck Oscars for Best Original
Screenplay. Damon was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the
same film (which netted an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for co-star Robin
Williams). Damon parodied this as a fictional version of himself in Kevin
Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Damon also founded Project Greenlight with Affleck
and Chris Moore to find and fund worthwhile film projects from novice
filmmakers. The televised documentary about the making of the film projects has
been nominated for an Emmy three times.
Damon has been known to stray from the mainstream
in his choice of roles, such as his portrayal of bisexual murderer Tom Ripley in
The Talented Mr. Ripley, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for
Best Actor. He has also played a fallen angel who discusses pop culture as
intellectual subject matter in Dogma, in which he costarred with Affleck (1999),
a conjoined twin in Stuck on You, and he co-wrote with friend Casey Affleck and
Gus Van Sant the minimalist dialogue for the low budget and experimental film
Gerry. Damon's been part of two major film franchises. He played amnesiac
assassin Jason Bourne in the successful action movies The Bourne Identity and
The Bourne Supremacy, with another Bourne sequel, The Bourne Ultimatum, expected
on August 3, 2007. He also starred as a youthful, optimistic thief opposite,
among others, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts in Steven
Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, a frothy crime dramedy which was successful and has
spawned two sequels: Ocean's Twelve and the upcoming Ocean's Thirteen.
Among other high profile 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 is currently onscreen in
Robert DeNiro's The Good Shepherd as a career CIA agent, and was recently seen
as an undercover mobster working for the Massachusetts State Police in Martin
Scorsese's The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong police thriller Infernal
Affairs. He also has a supporting role in Kenneth Lonergan's film Margaret and
an uncredited cameo in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, both due in
2007.
It has recently been rumored that producer J.J.
Abrams is trying to get Damon to play James T. Kirk in the eleventh Star Trek
feature film, which has been rumored to be either a prequel to, or a reboot of,
the original Star Trek series. Damon told journalists at a press conference on
September 16, 2006 that he has not been approached about the film. (Previously
rumored for the part was Damon's long-time friend Ben Affleck.) Damon has said
that he would accept the role of Kirk if he liked the script.
Personal life
While filming Stuck on You in 2003, Damon met
Argentine-born Luciana Bozán Barroso at Crobar in Miami Beach, where she was
working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9,
2005 in New York City Hall. Damon became stepfather to Barroso's young daughter,
Alexia, from her previous marriage. The couple's first child together, daughter
Isabella, was born on June 11, 2006, in Miami.
Prior to meeting Barroso, Damon had dated actresses
Claire Danes, Minnie Driver and Winona Ryder, as well as model Bridget Hall and
Ben Affleck's former personal assistant, Odessa Whitmire. He wrote the female
lead character of Skylar in 1997's Good Will Hunting based on his real-life
former girlfriend, Skylar Satenstein (who married Metallica's Lars Ulrich a few
years later), whom he dated while attending Harvard University.
He, along with frequent co-stars George Clooney and
Brad Pitt, supports ONE, a campaign fighting AIDS and poverty in Third World
countries. He's appeared in their print and television advertising.
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 can't 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
appeared on the show, only to be turned away by Kimmel as part of a skit. Kimmel
told USA Weekend that it was planned for Kimmel to run out of time as Damon sat
down and for Damon to curse him.[2]
Most recently, Damon appeared on Hardball with
Chris Matthews and in the interview shared his thoughts about instituting a
mandatory draft for 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..."
Selected filmography
Year Film Role Notes
2007 The Bourne Ultimatum Jason Bourne Filming
Margaret Mr. Aaron Post-production
Ocean's Thirteen Linus Caldwell Post-production
2006 The Good Shepherd Edward Wilson
The Departed Colin Sullivan
2005 Syriana Bryan Woodman
The Brothers Grimm Wilhelm Grimm
2004 Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving
Train Narrator (voice)
Ocean's Twelve Linus Caldwell
The Bourne Supremacy Jason Bourne
Jersey Girl PR Exec #2 Cameo
Eurotrip Donny Cameo
2003 Stuck on You Bob
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Matt, bachelor
#2 Cameo
The Bourne Identity Jason Bourne
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Spirit Voice
Gerry Gerry Also co-writer
2001 The Majestic Luke Trimble Voice only
Ocean's Eleven Linus Caldwell
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Himself Cameo
2000 Finding Forrester Steven Sanderson Cameo
All the Pretty Horses John Grady Cole
The Legend of Bagger Vance Rannulph Junah
Titan A.E. Cale Tucker Voice
1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley Tom Ripley
Dogma Loki
1998 Rounders Mike McDermott
Saving Private Ryan Private James Francis Ryan
1997 Good Will Hunting Will Hunting Also co-writer
The Rainmaker Rudy Baylor
Chasing Amy Shawn Oran Cameo
1996 Glory Daze Edgar Pudwhacker Cameo
Courage Under Fire Specialist Ilario
1992 School Ties Charlie Dillon
1988 Mystic Pizza Steamer One line
Footnotes
1. "Matt Damon", Mail on Sunday, 2001-06-10.
Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
2. http://www.usaweekend.com/06_issues/061217/061217whosnews.html
****
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