The Boston-bred Oscar-winner Ben Affleck became a superstar in 1997 with “Good Will Hunting”, a film he co-wrote and starred in with childhood friend Matt Damon. Since then he has become an A-list star, and despite a current career lull due to major tabloid overexposure he remains a sought-after and well-liked actor.
Affleck was born in Berkeley, CA on August 15, 1972 to Tim and Chris Affleck, a social worker and schoolteacher respectively. The family soon moved to Boston, where Affleck attended high school with Damon at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Affleck was a child actor in the 80s, performing in commercials and on a regular role in the PBS children’s show “The Voyage of the Mimi”, in addition to a few minor parts in television movies. The actor briefly attended the University of Vermont and Occidental College in Los Angeles, and found work in a few major films in the early 90s, including “School Ties” and “Dazed and Confused”. Affleck’s first of many collaborations with indie director Kevin Smith, 1995’s “Mallrats”, boosted his career and made him a recognizable face with the Sundance set. A terrific performance in Smith’s best film to date, “Chasing Amy”, preceded the “Good Will Hunting” avalanche.
The hunky actor was living with Damon and his actor brother Casey Affleck in the mid-90s, and after hordes of failed auditions Damon and Affleck decided to write their own script based on some of their childhood experiences. The history of the tumultuous production of “Good Will Hunting” is a maze of distributors, script re-writes, and a slew of interested directors, but it was Harvey Weinstein at Miramax who finally got the project off the ground with Gus Van Sant at the helm and Robin Williams in a juicy supporting role that ultimately won him an Oscar. Unexpectedly, the film was a huge hit and received nine Oscar nominations, including a screenplay win for Damon and Affleck.
The suddenly famous actor next starred in mega-hits “Armageddon” and “Shakespeare in Love”, both in 1998. The latter film won a Best Picture Oscar in addition to a Best Actress award for star Gwyneth Paltrow. Affleck and Paltrow began a much-publicized affair, and together made the film “Bounce” in 2000 despite having already broken up. Other notable films for Affleck around this time include Kevin Smith’s “Dogma”, the unpopular “Reindeer Games” with Charlize Theron, and the hit action-romance epic “Pearl Harbor” in 2001.
The early 2000s were Affleck’s most successful period thus far as a leading man, with the aforementioned films and the 2002 hits “Changing Lanes” and “The Sum of All Fears”. Nonetheless it was Affleck’s personal life that was receiving most of the attention, particularly due to his romance with Jennifer Lopez, which began in 2002 and lasted until the stars broke off their engagement in 2004. Totally overexposed by the American media, the couple was dubbed ‘Bennifer’ by the press, and both lost significant credibility with the release of their notorious 2004 turkey “Gigli”. In 2005 Affleck married “Alias” star Jennifer Garner, and the happy couple has one daughter together.
Affleck’s last hit was 2003’s “Daredevil”, but the charming actor is currently preparing a comeback with two promising films in 2006 – “Hollywoodland” and “Smokin’ Aces”. Additionally, Affleck is writing and directing the Dennis Lehane adaptation “Gone, Baby, Gone”, which will star Michelle Monaghan and is slated for release this year.