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Matthew Paige Damon (/ˈdeɪmən/ ⓘ DAY-mən; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among Forbes's most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received various awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award[1], in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.

Key Information

Damon made his acting debut in the film Mystic Pizza (1988) before gaining prominence in 1997 when he and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, which won them the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. He established himself as a leading man by starring as Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Jason Bourne in the Bourne franchise (2002–2007; 2016), and Linus Caldwell in the Ocean's trilogy (2001–2007). He received a nomination for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for playing an astronaut stranded on Mars in The Martian (2015). He also acted in The Rainmaker (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Syriana (2005), The Departed (2006), The Informant! (2009), Invictus (2009), True Grit (2010), Contagion (2011), Ford v Ferrari (2019), The Last Duel (2021), Air (2023), and Oppenheimer (2023), the last of which is his highest-grossing feature.

On television, Damon portrayed Scott Thorson in the HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra (2013), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. He was Emmy-nominated for his guest role in 30 Rock in 2011 and hosting Saturday Night Live in 2019. He also produced the reality series Project Greenlight (2001–2015) as well as the film Manchester by the Sea (2016). Damon has performed voiceover work in both animated and documentary films and established two production companies with Affleck, Artists Equity and the former Pearl Street Films. He has been involved in charitable work with organizations including the One Campaign, H2O Africa Foundation, Feeding America, and Water.org.

Early life and education

[edit]

Matthew Paige Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 8, 1970,[2][3] the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University.[4][5][6] His father had English and Scottish ancestry, while his mother is of Finnish and Swedish descent; her family surname had been changed from Pajari to Paige.[7][8][9] Damon and his family moved to Newton for two years. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he and his brother returned with their mother to Cambridge,[5][10] where they lived in a six-family communal house.[11][12] His brother, Kyle, is a sculptor and artist.[5][13] Damon has said that, as a teenager, he felt lonely, as if he did not belong,[11] and that his mother's by-the-book approach to child-rearing[11] had made it hard for him to define his own identity.[11]

Damon attended Cambridge Alternative School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and was a good student.[14] He acted in several high-school theater productions,[5] and has credited his drama teacher, Gerry Speca, with having an important artistic influence on him, while noting wryly that Speca gave Ben Affleck (Damon's close friend and schoolmate) the "biggest roles and longest speeches".[14][15][nb 1] He attended Harvard University as a member of the class of 1992, residing in Lowell House, but left before receiving his degree to take a lead role in the film Geronimo: An American Legend. While at Harvard, as an exercise for an English class, Damon wrote an essay in the form of a film treatment that was later developed into the screenplay Good Will Hunting (for which he received an Academy Award).[17] At Harvard, Damon was a member of the Delphic Club, one of the university's Final Clubs. In 2013, he was awarded the Harvard Arts Medal.[18]

Career

[edit]
See also: Matt Damon filmography

1988–1999: Early work and breakthrough

[edit]

Damon entered Harvard University in 1988,[19][nb 2] where he appeared in student theater plays, such as Burn This and A... My Name is Alice.[21][22] Later, he made his film debut at the age of 18, with a single line of dialogue in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza.[23] As a student at Harvard, he acted in small roles such as in the TNT original film Rising Son and the ensemble prep-school drama School Ties.[24] He left the school in 1992, a semester (12 credits) shy of completing his Bachelor of Arts in English to feature in Geronimo: An American Legend[21][25] in Los Angeles, erroneously expecting the movie to be a big success.[21][nb 3] Damon next appeared as an opiate-addicted soldier in 1996's Courage Under Fire, for which he lost 40 pounds (18 kg) in 100 days[23][27] on a self-prescribed diet and fitness regimen. Courage Under Fire gained him critical notice; The Washington Post called his performance "impressive".[28]

Damon during filming for The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999

During the early 1990s, Damon and Affleck wrote Good Will Hunting (1997), a screenplay about a young mathematics genius, an extension of a screenplay Damon wrote as an assignment at Harvard, having integrated advice from director Rob Reiner, screenwriter William Goldman, and writer/director Kevin Smith.[29] He asked Affleck to perform the scenes with him in front of the class and, when Damon later moved into Affleck's Los Angeles apartment, they began working on the script more seriously.[30] The film, which they wrote mainly during improvisation sessions, was set partly in their hometown of Cambridge, and drew from their own experiences.[31][32] They sold the screenplay to Castle Rock in 1994, but after a conflict with the company, they convinced Miramax to purchase the script.[33][34] The film received critical praise; Quentin Curtis of The Daily Telegraph found "real wit and vigour, and some depth" in their writing and Emanuel Levy of Variety wrote that Damon "gives a charismatic performance in a demanding role that's bound to catapult him to stardom. Perfectly cast, he makes the aching, step-by-step transformation of Will realistic and credible."[35][36] It received nine Academy Awards nominations, including Best Actor for Damon; he and Affleck won the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay.[37] He and Affleck were each paid salaries of $600,000, while the film grossed over $225 million at the worldwide box office.[38][39] The two later parodied their roles from the film in Kevin Smith's 2001 movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.[40]

Of his "overnight success" through Good Will Hunting, Damon said that by that time he had been working in the cinema for 11 years but still found the change "nearly indescribable—going from total obscurity to walking down a street in New York and having everybody turn and look".[41] Before the film, Damon played the lead in the critically acclaimed drama The Rainmaker (1997), where he was recognized by the Los Angeles Times as "a talented young actor on the brink of stardom."[42] For the role, Damon regained most of the weight he had lost for Courage Under Fire.[43] After meeting Damon on the set of Good Will Hunting, director Steven Spielberg cast him in the brief title role in the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan.[44] He co-starred with Edward Norton in the 1998 poker film Rounders, playing a reformed gambler in law school who must return to playing high-stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks. Despite meager earnings at the box office, it is considered one of the best poker movies of all time.[45]

Damon then portrayed antihero Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), a role for which he lost 11 kilograms (25 lb). Damon said he wanted to display his character's humanity and honesty on screen despite his criminal actions.[46] An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel of same name, the film costarred Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cate Blanchett, and received praise from critics.[47] "Damon outstandingly conveys his character's slide from innocent enthusiasm into cold calculation", according to Variety magazine.[48] In Dogma (1999), Damon plays a fallen angel who discusses pop culture as intellectual subject matter with Affleck's character.[49] The film received generally positive reviews, but proved controversial among religious groups who deemed it blasphemous.[50]

2000–2008: Worldwide recognition

[edit]

In 2000, Damon, Affleck, and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey founded the production company LivePlanet to create the Emmy-nominated documentary series Project Greenlight, which aimed to find and fund worthwhile film projects by novice filmmakers.[51][52] Among the company's projects was the short-lived mystery-hybrid series Push, Nevada.[53]

Damon in 2001

Damon's attempts at leading characters in romantic dramas such as 2000's All the Pretty Horses and The Legend of Bagger Vance were commercially and critically unsuccessful.[38] Variety said of his work in All the Pretty Horses: "He just doesn't quite seem like a young man who's spent his life amidst the dust and dung of a Texas cattle ranch. Nor does he strike any sparks with [Penelope] Cruz."[54] He was similarly deemed "uncomfortable being the center" of Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance by Peter Rainer of New York magazine.[55]

During this period, Damon joined two lucrative film series—Ocean's Trilogy (2001–2007) and Bourne (2002–2016)—and produced the television series Project Greenlight (2001–2005, 2015). He co-starred as thief Linus Caldwell in the former's first installment, Steven Soderbergh's 2001 ensemble film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the Rat Pack's Ocean's 11 (1960).[23] The role was originally meant for Mark Wahlberg, who declined it in favor of other projects.[56] The film grossed $450 million on a budget of $83 million.[57] Damon, alongside Affleck and others, produced the documentary series Project Greenlight, aired on HBO and later Bravo, which helped newcomers develop their first film. The series was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004, and 2005.[58] Damon later said that he and Affleck felt proud that the show helped launch the careers of several directors; Damon later served as the executive producer of a number of projects directed by the winners of the show.[59]

In 2002, Damon began writing and starring in Gerry, a drama about two friends who forget to bring water and food when they go hiking in a desert. The film's reviews were generally favorable, but it was a box-office failure.[60][61] He then played amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in Doug Liman's action thriller The Bourne Identity (2002). Liman considered several actors for the role before he cast Damon.[62] Damon insisted on performing many of the stunts himself, undergoing three months of extensive training in stunt work, the use of weapons, boxing, and eskrima.[63] He said that before The Bourne Identity he was jobless for six months, and many of his films during that period underperformed at the box office. He doubted the film's financial prospects, but it proved a commercial success.[61] The film's reviews were also good;[64] Roger Ebert praised it for its ability to absorb the viewer in its "spycraft" and "Damon's ability to be focused and sincere".[65] For his role, Entertainment Weekly named Damon among "the decade's best mixer of brawn and brains."[66]

Damon attending an event for The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007

Damon voiced the role of Spirit in the animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and later played a conjoined twin in Stuck on You (2003), which received a mixed critical reception.[67] His major releases in 2004 included starring roles in the sequels The Bourne Supremacy and Ocean's Twelve. Both films earned more than $280 million at the box office.[68][69] BBC's Nev Pierce called The Bourne Supremacy "a brisk, engrossing and intelligent thriller", adding, "Damon is one hell of an action hero. He does a lot with very little, imbuing his limited dialogue with both rage and sorrow, looking harder and more haunted as the picture progresses".[70] For the film, he earned an Empire Award for Best Actor; Empire attributed Damon's win to his "astute, underplayed performance, through which he totally eschews movie star vanity".[71] He played a fictionalized version of Wilhelm Grimm alongside Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventure The Brothers Grimm (2005), a critically panned commercial failure;[38] The Washington Post wrote, "Damon, constantly flashing his newscaster's teeth and flaunting a fake, 'Masterpiece Theatre' dialect, comes across like someone who got lost on the way to an audition for a high school production of The Pirates of Penzance."[72]

Later in 2005, he appeared as an energy analyst in the geopolitical thriller Syriana alongside George Clooney and Jeffrey Wright.[73] The film focuses on petroleum politics and the global influence of the oil industry. Damon says starring in the film broadened his understanding of the oil industry and that he hoped people would talk about the film.[74] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was mainly impressed with Clooney's acting, but also found Damon's performance "whiplash".[75] In 2006, Damon joined Robert De Niro in The Good Shepherd as a career CIA agent, and played 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.[23] Assessing his work in the two films, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that Damon has the unique "ability to recede into a film while also being fully present, a recessed intensity, that distinguishes how he holds the screen."[76] The Departed received critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.[77][nb 4]

According to Forbes in August 2007, Damon was the most bankable star of the actors reviewed. His last three films at that time averaged $29 at the box office for every dollar he earned.[78] Two of his major releases in 2007 were the films Ocean's Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum, the third installments of their respective series. Both films earned more than $300 million at the box office.[79][80] Damon had an uncredited cameo in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (2007) and another in the 2008 Che Guevara biopic Che.[81][82] While working on the Bourne films, Damon declined an offer from James Cameron to star in his upcoming film Avatar, as he did not want to break his Bourne contract. Cameron offered Damon 10% of the profits for the film, which went on to become the most successful of all time. Damon said later: "I will go down in history... you will never meet an actor who turned down more money."[83]

2009–2019: Established actor

[edit]
Damon attending an event for The Informant! at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival

He made a guest appearance in 2009 on the sixth-season finale of Entourage as himself, where he tries to pressure Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) into donating to his real foundation ONEXONE.[84][85] His next role was Steven Soderbergh's dark comedy The Informant! (2009),[86] of his Golden Globe-nominated work in which Entertainment Weekly wrote: "The star—who has quietly and steadily turned into a great Everyman actor—is in nimble control as he reveals his character's deep crazies."[87] Also in 2009, Damon portrayed South Africa national rugby union team captain François Pienaar in the Clint Eastwood-directed film Invictus, based on the 2008 John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation and featuring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela.[88] Invictus earned Damon an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The New Republic observed that he brought "it off with low-key charm and integrity."[89] Damon also lent his voice to the English version of the animated film Ponyo, released in the United States in August 2009.[90]

In March 2010, Damon and Affleck collaborated again to create another production company, Pearl Street Films, a Warner Bros.-based production company.[91][92] That year, he reunited with director Paul Greengrass, who directed him in the Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum, for the action thriller Green Zone, which flopped commercially[93] and received a score of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes and ambivalent critical reception.[94] He appeared as a guest star in an episode of Arthur, titled "The Making of Arthur", as himself.[13] During season 5 of 30 Rock, he appeared as a guest star in the role of Liz Lemon's boyfriend in the episodes "I Do Do", "The Fabian Strategy", "Live Show", and "Double-edged Sword". Damon's 2010 projects included Clint Eastwood's Hereafter and the Coen brothers' remake of the 1969 John Wayne-starring Western True Grit.[95] He also narrated Inside Job, a documentary film about the effects of financial deregulation in the 2008 financial crisis.[96]

In 2010, he was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time, ranking 37th.[97] In 2011, he starred in The Adjustment Bureau, Contagion, and We Bought a Zoo. That same year, the documentary he narrated, American Teacher, opened in New York before national screening.[98] Also in 2011, he voiced a krill named Bill in the animated film Happy Feet Two.[99] In 2012, Damon signed a multiyear deal to be the voice of TD Ameritrade advertisements, replacing Sam Waterston as the discount brokerage's spokesman. He donated all fees from the ads to charity.[100] In 2012, Damon filmed Promised Land, directed by Gus Van Sant, which Damon co-wrote with John Krasinski.[101][102][103] Damon's next film with Soderbergh was Behind the Candelabra, a drama about the life of pianist/entertainer Liberace (played by Michael Douglas), with Damon playing Liberace's longtime partner Scott Thorson. The film premiered on HBO on May 26, 2013.[104]

Damon at the French premiere of The Monuments Men in 2014

Damon starred in the science fiction film Elysium (2013), playing car-thief-turned-factory-worker Max DeCosta.[105] He also appeared in the science fiction movie The Zero Theorem in 2013, directed by Terry Gilliam.[106] That same year, Damon appeared in a 20-second advertisement for Nespresso, directed by Grant Heslov, with whom he worked on The Monuments Men. The deal earned him $3 million.[107] Damon also provided voiceover for United Airlines' resurrected "Fly the Friendly Skies" ad campaign in 2013.[108] In 2014, he starred in George Clooney's The Monuments Men,[109] and played the minor role of scientist Dr. Mann in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. That same year, Damon appeared as a celebrity correspondent for Years of Living Dangerously.[110]

In 2015, Damon had the lead role, astronaut Mark Watney, in Ridley Scott's The Martian, based on Andy Weir's bestselling novel of the same name, a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Having not returned for the fourth film in the Bourne film series,[111][112] Damon reprised his role in 2016's Jason Bourne, reuniting with Paul Greengrass. In 2017, Damon played the lead role in Zhang Yimou's The Great Wall, a hit internationally and a disappointment at the domestic box office. The film, and Damon's casting, were not well received by critics.[113][114][115] Later in 2017, he starred in two satires, George Clooney's 1950s-set Suburbicon, released in October,[116] and Alexander Payne's comedy Downsizing, released in December.[117] In September 2018, he portrayed jurist Brett Kavanaugh on the late night sketch series Saturday Night Live.[118] In 2019, Damon portrayed Carroll Shelby in the action biographical drama Ford v Ferrari, directed by James Mangold.[119]

2021–present: Continued positive critical reception

[edit]

As of 2021, the films in which he had appeared had collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North American box office.[120] In 2021, Damon starred in Tom McCarthy's crime drama Stillwater, playing an unemployed oil rig worker from Oklahoma who sets out with a French woman to prove his convicted daughter's innocence. The film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. IndieWire called Damon's performance "graced with a quiet softness that offsets the sheer volume of the character he's playing".[121] That same year saw the release of the historical drama The Last Duel, which he starred in and co-wrote alongside Ben Affleck. The film, set in medieval France and based on the book of the same name, focuses on the true story of a knight, Jean de Carrouges, portrayed by Damon, who challenges his former friend to a judicial duel after he's accused of raping his wife. It premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival and was favorably reviewed but a financial failure.[122]

In 2023, Damon starred as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro in Air, a drama film about the launch of Air Jordan, co-starring and directed by Affleck.[123] It marked the first release from Affleck and Damon's independent production company, Artists Equity, which they formed in 2022.[124] The company was founded with a mission to give creators a larger stake in the financial success of their projects, utilizing a data-driven approach to distribution and offering profit participation to both above- and below-the-line talent.[125] Following Air, the company's next major project was the Jennifer Lopez-led science fiction film Atlas, released on Netflix in 2024.[126]Damon received praise for the role, earning a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. He also reunited with Christopher Nolan in the biographical film Oppenheimer,[127] playing Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project.[128][129] The film was a critical and commercial success, becoming Damon's highest-grossing movie.[130]

In 2024, Damon starred in and produced The Instigators, alongside Casey Affleck, for Apple TV+.[131] The film received mixed reviews, with critics generally praising the chemistry between Damon and Affleck but finding the script formulaic.[132]

Damon will work with Nolan once again on The Odyssey, portraying Odysseus.[133][134][135]

Activism

[edit]
Damon with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti in 2008

With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub, Damon is one of the founders of Not On Our Watch Project, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur.[136] Damon supports One Campaign, which is aimed at fighting AIDS and poverty in Third World countries. He has appeared in its print and television advertising. He is an ambassador for ONEXONE, a nonprofit foundation committed to supporting, preserving, and improving the lives of children at home in Canada, the United States, and around the world.[137]

Damon is a spokesperson for Feeding America, a hunger-relief organization, and a member of its Entertainment Council, participating in its Ad Council public service announcements.[138] He was a board member of Tonic Mailstopper (formerly GreenDimes). This company attempted to halt the delivery of junk mail to American homes.[139][nb 5] Damon founded the H2O Africa Foundation, the charitable arm of the Running the Sahara expedition,[141] which merged with WaterPartners to create Water.org in 2009.[142] Water.org has partnered with corporate sponsors to promote awareness and raise funds to support its mission of bringing safe, clean, cost-effective drinking water and sanitation to developing countries.[143] In this context, Damon has been the face of advertising campaigns to promote Water.org in conjunction with products from major sponsors.

In 2011, Water.org received an $8 million grant from the PepsiCo Foundation to scale up WaterCredit, which provides microloans to families in India.[144] Damon has promoted those efforts, tying in with Aquafina and Ethos Water bottled water, owned by PepsiCo and Starbucks.[145][146] Since 2015, Damon has promoted Anheuser-Busch InBev's Stella Artois beer as a Water.org partner, including the sale of limited-edition "blue chalice" glasses imprinted with an embellished blue version of the brand's logo.[147][148] In a commercial made for broadcast during the 2018 Super Bowl of the United States' National Football League (NFL), he promoted Water.org and Stella Artois's role in supporting its work.[149]

In October 2021, he announced a new partnership with the cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com, under which Crypto.com was to make a $1 million donation to Water.org. In the announcement, Damon said, "Crypto.com gave us this great donation, which is amazing. The money that I make for the commercials to promote them, I give 100% of that to Water.org as well. So, it's millions of dollars coming in to us."[150][151] Damon's Crypto.com commercial[152] started rolling out in cinemas late in 2021, and then on television in January 2022, mainly during sports programming such as NFL games. Once it was broadcast widely on television, it sparked much criticism, as did its accompanying "making of" featurette.[153] In The Independent, Nathan Place wrote, "Twitter is cringing after a TV commercial starring Matt Damon compared trading cryptocurrency to mankind's greatest achievements. In the ad, which aired during Sunday night's NFL games, Mr Damon makes an abstract plug for crypto.com – a platform for exchanging digital currencies like Bitcoin – while striding past images of explorers and astronauts.[154] In The New Zealand Herald, Lexie Cartwright summed up viewer reaction: "Matt Damon's new commercial plugging cryptocurrency has been absolutely savaged on social media, with viewers dubbing it 'insulting' and 'disgusting'." Cartwright included a series of tweets, among them one by Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer that read, "There isn't enough yuck in the world to describe Matt Damon advertising a Ponzi scheme and comparing it to the moon landings."[155] Jody Rosen of the New York Times wrote, "There is something unseemly, to put it mildly, about the famous and fabulously wealthy urging crypto on their fans" and "The bleakness of that pitch is startling."[156]

Public image

[edit]

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel had a running gag on his ABC television show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he apologized for not being able to interview Damon at the end of each show. It culminated in a planned skit on September 12, 2006, when Damon stormed off after having his interview cut short.[157] Damon appeared in several of E! Entertainment's top ten Jimmy Kimmel Live! spoofs.[158][nb 6] On January 24, 2013, Damon took over his show and mentioned the long-standing feud and having been bumped from years of shows. It involved celebrities who were previously involved in the "feud", including Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, and Sarah Silverman.[161]

Personal life

[edit]
Damon with his wife Luciana Bozán at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival

Damon met his wife, Luciana Bozán, while filming Stuck on You in Miami in April 2003.[162][163] They became engaged in September 2005 and married in a private civil ceremony at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau on December 9, 2005. They have three daughters together, born in 2006,[164] 2008,[165] and 2010.[166] He also has a stepdaughter from Bozán's previous marriage, and considers her his own.[167][168][169]

The couple has lived in Miami and New York City;[170] since 2012, they have lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles.[171] In 2018, Damon bought a luxury penthouse in New York City's Brooklyn Heights neighborhood for $16.5 million.[172]

He is a fan of the Boston Red Sox.[173] After the team won the 2007 World Series, he narrated the commemorative DVD release of the event.[174] He has competed in several World Series of Poker (WSOP) events,[175][176] including the 2010 World Series of Poker main event.[177] He was eliminated from the 1998 WSOP by poker professional Doyle Brunson.[178]

Political and social views

[edit]

While discussing the Iraq War on Hardball with Chris Matthews in December 2006, Damon expressed concern about inequities across socioeconomic classes with regard to who is tasked with the responsibility of fighting wars.[179]

In an interview with the Sunday Herald in January 2003, Damon expressed his support for gun control with "I actually hate guns. They freak me out."[180]

Damon is a supporter of the Democratic Party and has made several critical attacks on Republican Party figures. He also expressed disappointment over the policies of President Barack Obama.[181][182] He had a working relationship with the Obama administration, primarily due to his friendship with Jason Furman, his former Harvard roommate who became Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors to Obama.[183] In 2012, Damon joined Affleck and John Krasinski in hosting a fundraiser for Democratic Senate nominee Elizabeth Warren.[184] Damon endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.[185][186]

In October and December 2017, Damon made headlines when he made a series of comments about the Me Too movement against sexual harassment and misconduct. On October 10, Sharon Waxman, a former reporter for The New York Times, mentioned that Damon and Russell Crowe had made direct phone calls to her to vouch for the head of Miramax Italy, Fabrizio Lombardo. In her report, she suspected Lombardo of facilitating incidents of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct in Europe.[187][188][189] Damon later clarified that the calls were solely to reassure her of Lombardo's professional qualifications in the film industry.[190] Waxman endorsed Damon's statement on Twitter hours later.[191] Also during this time, Damon said he had heard a story from Affleck that Gwyneth Paltrow, a co-worker on a feature film of his, had been harassed by Weinstein in 1996, but thought "she had handled it" because they continued to work together, and Weinstein "treated her incredibly respectfully".[192][193]

In another series of interviews in December 2017, Damon advocated a "spectrum of behavior" analysis[194][195][196][197] of sexual misconduct cases, noting that some are more serious than others.[198][196][197] The comment offended prominent members of the Me Too movement[198][199] and the public for being "tone-deaf in understand[ing] what abuse is like".[199][198] On January 17, 2018, Damon apologized on The Today Show for his social commentary, saying he "should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while".[200]

In March 2018, Damon and Affleck announced they would adopt the inclusion rider agreement in all future production deals with Pearl Street Films.[201]

In August 2021, Damon sparked controversy after saying in an interview with The Sunday Times that he had only "months ago" stopped using the word "fag", saying that it "was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application".[202] This came after an incident in which his daughter left the table due to his usage of the word and "wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous".[203] He denied ever using the word "faggot" in his personal life, and of the word "fag": "I explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recently as 2003... To my admiration and pride, she was extremely articulate about the extent to which that word would have been painful to someone in the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how culturally normalized it was. I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice."[204]

Awards and honors

[edit]
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Matt Damon

Aside from awards he has garnered for his role as an actor and producer, Damon became the 2,343rd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 25, 2007.[205] He reacted to the award by 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."[206]

Notes

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References

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Further reading

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Matt Damon

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Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American , , , and philanthropist. Damon rose to fame co-writing the screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997) with childhood friend , a semi-autobiographical drama about a troubled mathematical genius that earned them the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the . He starred as the protagonist Will Hunting in the film, directed by , which also won Best Supporting Actor for and grossed over $225 million worldwide. Following this breakthrough, Damon became a leading man in high-grossing franchises, including the action-spy Bourne series—starting with The Bourne Identity (2002)—and ensemble heist films like (2001), contributing to a filmography where his projects have collectively earned billions in global revenue. Beyond acting, Damon co-founded the nonprofit Water.org in 2009 with engineer Gary White, building on his earlier H2O Africa Foundation to promote market-based financing for safe water and sanitation access in developing regions, impacting millions through microloans and infrastructure. In 2017, he faced public backlash for comments in interviews asserting that sexual misconduct encompasses a spectrum of behaviors—from minor infractions like unwanted advances to severe crimes like assault—rather than treating all allegations uniformly, a view he maintained addresses varying levels of harm but which critics, including former co-star Minnie Driver, deemed insensitive to victims' experiences.

Early years

Childhood and family

Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in , the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a involved in and preparation, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor of at . His family background combined financial from his father's with academic and educational influences from his mother, who specialized in and later became known for advocating against media violence in education. The Damons resided in a middle-class environment typical of the Cambridge-Newton area, with Damon's upbringing shaped by his parents' professional worlds prior to their separation. Damon's parents divorced in 1973, when he was two years old, leading to a primary residence with his mother in after a two-year stint in Newton following the family's initial moves. He maintained a close relationship with both parents despite the split, describing two supportive households that avoided acrimony, though he lived predominantly under his mother's influence in a progressive academic setting tied to her work in . His older brother, Kyle Damon (born circa 1968), pursued a as a sculptor and , sharing the family's creative inclinations amid the post-divorce stability provided by their mother's household. This familial structure exposed Damon to intellectual discussions on child psychology and social issues through his mother's professional circles, fostering an early environment of inquiry without overt conflict.

Education and formative influences

Damon attended , a public high school in , graduating in 1988. The institution, noted for its diverse student population and integration of alternative and traditional curricula, produced notable alumni such as , with whom Damon formed a close friendship. At the school, Damon excelled academically, earning membership in the , and engaged in theater productions that honed his early performance skills. In 1988, Damon enrolled at as an English major, attending intermittently while taking on acting roles. His coursework exposed him to canonical literature and philosophical texts, providing a foundation for analytical thinking and narrative construction. He left in 1992, approximately 12 credits short of a , prioritizing professional acting opportunities over completion. During this period, Damon initiated collaboration with Affleck on scriptwriting, developing the initial draft of —a project rooted in Harvard writing exercises that emphasized self-taught intellect over institutional validation. The setting, blending proximity to Harvard's academic elite with the of public schooling, contributed to Damon's formative emphasis on practical creativity and skepticism of credentialism, evident in his decision to forgo a degree for real-world application of learned skills. This intellectual environment, coupled with early , cultivated an approach prioritizing empirical problem-solving and narrative authenticity over conformist paths.

Acting career

Beginnings and early roles (1980s–1996)

Damon began pursuing acting in his late teens, securing his screen debut at age 18 in the romantic comedy (1988), where he portrayed a minor character named Dave. The film, set in a small town and featuring early appearances by and , marked his initial foray into feature films while he was still attending . That same year, he appeared in a small role in the drama The Good Mother, directed by and starring , further establishing his presence in supporting parts amid limited opportunities. Throughout the early 1990s, Damon's career consisted primarily of bit roles and television work, reflecting the challenges of breaking into Hollywood as a newcomer. He featured in the TNT Rising Son (1990), a drama about family struggles, and took on a supporting role in the prep school ensemble (1992), which addressed among elite students and starred . In 1993, he appeared as a lieutenant in the Western Geronimo: An American Legend, a project that highlighted his ability to handle period pieces but yielded little career momentum due to the film's modest reception. These roles, often uncredited or brief, underscored his persistence in auditioning and relocating for opportunities despite frequent rejections. During high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Damon formed a close creative partnership with classmate , collaborating on theater productions where Affleck occasionally directed him in plays. This bond extended to early scriptwriting efforts as they navigated post-education uncertainties; after dropping out of Harvard to focus on acting, Damon moved to in the early 1990s to join Affleck, who had preceded him there, and together they developed multiple screenplays amid industry setbacks. Their joint writing process, honed through iterative drafts and agent submissions, laid groundwork for future successes while Damon supplemented income with odd jobs. By 1996, Damon's incremental progress culminated in a notable supporting role as a specialist in Courage Under Fire, directed by and starring and ; the film examined military valor and cover-ups, providing Damon with exposure to a major production and critical acclaim for his intense portrayal of a troubled soldier. This appearance, filmed after his relocation, represented a step up from prior bit parts, signaling growing recognition in Hollywood circles though still far from leading status.

Breakthrough with Good Will Hunting (1997–1999)

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck developed the screenplay for Good Will Hunting over several years, beginning with a 40-page one-act play Damon wrote as a Harvard playwriting assignment that evolved into the full script focused on a troubled mathematical genius. Completed around 1994, they sold it to Castle Rock Entertainment for approximately $600,000 after shopping it to multiple studios. Production rights later shifted to Miramax Films, with Gus Van Sant directing; principal photography occurred in 1997, and Damon starred as Will Hunting, a MIT janitor with prodigious talent in mathematics discovered by a professor. The film premiered on December 5, 1997, earning critical praise for its authentic working-class dialogue and character depth, and grossed $225.9 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. At the in 1998, Damon and Affleck received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; Damon was also nominated for , highlighting his shift from peripheral roles to central dramatic performances. This breakthrough elevated Damon from relative obscurity—despite over a decade in —to status, providing financial stability after prior lean years and opening doors to major projects. Building on this momentum, Damon portrayed paratrooper Private James Francis Ryan in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), a World War II epic depicting the D-Day invasion and a squad's mission to rescue him; the film grossed $482.4 million worldwide and garnered five Oscar wins, reinforcing Damon's credibility in intense ensemble dramas. In 1999, he led as the deceptive sociopath Tom Ripley in Anthony Minghella's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, delivering a chilling portrayal of identity theft and murder among the elite; the thriller earned $138 million globally and five Oscar nominations, solidifying his versatility in psychologically complex leads.

Rise to international prominence (2000–2009)

Following his breakthrough in the late 1990s, Damon expanded his career with ensemble and action roles in the early 2000s. In Ocean's Eleven (2001), he portrayed Linus Caldwell, the novice pickpocket son of a veteran con artist, within Steven Soderbergh's heist remake featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt; the film grossed $450.7 million worldwide against an $85 million budget. This success highlighted Damon's ability to integrate into high-profile casts while building toward lead action roles. Damon's portrayal of Jason Bourne, an amnesiac CIA assassin, in The Bourne Identity (2002) marked his emergence as an action lead, with the film directed by Doug Liman grossing $214 million worldwide on a $60 million budget and redefining the spy thriller genre through realistic fight choreography and handheld camerawork. The franchise continued with The Bourne Supremacy (2004), directed by Paul Greengrass, which earned $290.6 million globally, and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), grossing $442.8 million and concluding the original trilogy with intensified pursuit sequences across multiple continents. These entries solidified Damon's status as a box-office draw, emphasizing his physical commitment to performing stunts and conveying Bourne's resourceful vulnerability. Amid action dominance, Damon demonstrated versatility in dramatic and experimental projects. He provided the voice of the titular wild mustang in the animated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), narrating the story of resistance against capture in the American West. In (2005), he played Bryan Woodman, an energy analyst navigating Middle Eastern oil intrigue and personal tragedy, contributing to the ensemble political thriller's layered depiction of global power dynamics. His role as Colin Sullivan, a mob mole embedded in the , in Martin Scorsese's (2006) showcased moral ambiguity in a crime saga that grossed $291.5 million worldwide and won Best Picture at the Oscars, with Damon's performance noted for its subtle range amid the star-studded cast. By the decade's end, Damon earned praise for supporting turns emphasizing historical depth. In Che: Part Two (2008), he appeared briefly as Father Schwartz, a Bolivian priest, in Steven Soderbergh's biopic. Culminating the period, Invictus (2009) featured Damon as Pienaar, captain of South Africa's Springboks rugby team, under Clint Eastwood's direction; reviewers commended his authentic Afrikaner accent and physical transformation, aiding the film's exploration of post-apartheid reconciliation and Mandela's use of the . On June 6, 2007, Damon cemented his stardom by imprinting his hand and foot prints in cement at .

Expansion into action and drama (2010–2019)

![Damon attending the premiere of 'The Martian' at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.](./assets/MKr347638_Matt_Damon_SmallThingsLikeTheseSmall_Things_Like_These%252C_Berlinale_2024 In 2011, Damon portrayed widowed father Benjamin Mee in We Bought a Zoo, directed by Cameron Crowe and based on a memoir about renovating a family zoo. The film, released December 23, 2011, earned $75.6 million domestically against a $21 million budget, achieving moderate commercial success with international totals reaching $120.2 million worldwide. Critics gave it a 64% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, praising Damon's heartfelt performance amid the film's sentimental tone. Damon co-wrote and starred as corporate landman Steve Butler in Promised Land (2012), initially set to direct before yielding to Gus Van Sant due to scheduling conflicts. The drama, critiquing natural gas fracking, opened December 28, 2012, but underperformed with $7.6 million domestic and $12.4 million worldwide against a $15 million budget.) It received mixed reviews, scoring 53% on Rotten Tomatoes for its earnest environmental message but formulaic execution. Meanwhile, the Bourne franchise expanded without Damon in The Bourne Legacy (2012), directed by Tony Gilroy, whom Damon publicly criticized for script changes; Damon did not participate, citing disinterest after prior entries. Damon's action roles intensified with (2013), where he played ex-convict Max da Costa battling corporate overlords in a dystopian future, directed by . The film grossed $286.1 million worldwide on a $115 million budget, succeeding commercially despite a 64% score for its heavy-handed allegory. In 2014, he made a surprise appearance as treacherous astronaut Dr. Mann in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, a pivotal whose betrayal drives key plot turns. Reuniting with , Damon led The Martian (2015) as botanist Mark Watney, stranded on Mars and using science for survival; the adaptation of Andy Weir's novel earned $630.2 million worldwide against $108 million, with Damon receiving an Academy Award nomination for among seven total nods.) Damon revived in 2016 under Paul Greengrass's direction, their fourth collaboration, grossing $416.1 million worldwide on $120 million amid 55% critical approval for repetitive thrills. The decade closed with (2019), where Damon embodied racer-turned-executive opposite Christian Bale's , chronicling Ford's 1966 challenge; directed by , it amassed $225.5 million worldwide on $125 million, earning 92% on and Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.) These roles highlighted Damon's shift toward high-stakes action, sci-fi survival, and , blending commercial viability with selective prestige acclaim.

Contemporary roles and producing ventures (2020–present)

Damon starred as Bill Baker, an American father navigating the French legal system to exonerate his daughter in the crime drama Stillwater (2021), directed by Tom McCarthy. The film, inspired by the Amanda Knox case, earned Damon a San Diego Film Critics Society nomination for Best Actor but polarized audiences with its pacing and thematic depth. In the same year, he portrayed 14th-century knight Jean de Carrouges in Ridley Scott's historical action-drama The Last Duel (2021), a project he co-produced under his Pearl Street Films banner. Despite critical praise for its performances and direction, the film underperformed commercially, grossing $23 million against a $100 million budget amid pandemic-era theater challenges. Damon's screen time in 2022 was limited to a meta-cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder, where he appeared as a theatrical actor depicting Loki's brother in a play-within-the-film, directed by Taika Waititi. This brief role highlighted his willingness to participate in Marvel Cinematic Universe projects for comedic effect, though it drew minor fan discourse on its fidelity to Norse mythology. The year 2023 saw Damon in two high-profile ensemble roles: as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro in Ben Affleck's Air, chronicling the company's deal to sign Michael Jordan, which grossed $90 million worldwide and received acclaim for its sharp script and casting. He also played U.S. Army General Leslie Groves in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, the biographical thriller about J. Robert Oppenheimer that earned $975 million globally and secured Damon supporting actor nominations, including from the Critics Choice Awards. In 2024, Damon led and co-produced , a Boston-set heist comedy directed by for Apple TV+, reuniting him with as bumbling thieves evading mobsters and police. The film garnered mixed reception, with a 41% score from 158 critics citing its formulaic plot and uneven pacing, though some praised the leads' chemistry and local authenticity. Individual reviews varied, from Roger Ebert's zero-star dismissal of its lack of innovation to acknowledgments of harmless value. Through his production company Artists Equity, co-founded with in 2022 to prioritize filmmaker equity and backend participation, Damon has focused on ventures emphasizing creative control and talent-driven stories. Notable outputs include and the upcoming (2026), a crime thriller where he stars as Lieutenant Dane Dumars alongside Affleck, directed by and set for January 16 release. In promoting the film on The Joe Rogan Experience in January 2026, Damon stated that Netflix films often reiterate the plot three or four times in the dialogue because viewers are frequently distracted by their phones. Damon is slated to star as in Nolan's adaptation of , slated for July 17, 2026, marking another collaboration with the director following Oppenheimer. For the role, he reduced his weight to 167 pounds—his lightest since high school—from approximately 185-200 pounds through a gluten-free diet and grueling training regimen, which he discussed with the Kelce brothers on their podcast, to achieve a lean but strong physique as directed by Nolan; viral photos of his physique at age 55 sparked debate. Principal photography occurred on location in Greece, Iceland, Morocco, and other sites, with Nolan's crew completing production ahead of schedule; the production is the first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras, and Damon praised Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema's innovative techniques for overcoming challenges with the loud IMAX cameras—which he likened to a blender—during dialogue scenes, addressed using giant enclosures around the camera and mirror systems. In a January 2026 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Damon described the shoot as the pinnacle of his career, noting that every location and workday was the hardest of any film he had done, yet he loved every minute; Ben Affleck visited the set with his children during filming—the only such guest permitted over the six-month production—and confirmed its ambitious epic scale requiring maximum effort from the entire crew. He is also attached to The King of Oil (TBA), potentially portraying commodities trader in a biopic exploring global markets. These commitments reflect a post-2020 pattern of selective engagements with prestige directors and limited output, averaging fewer than two major roles annually compared to prior decades, prioritizing ensemble depth and narrative substance over volume.

Producing and writing contributions

Key collaborations and scripts

Damon and Affleck co-wrote the for Good Will Hunting (1997), drawing from Damon's experiences at Harvard where he initially developed the story as a playwriting assignment before refining it collaboratively with Affleck over several years. The script, which centers on a self-taught mathematical from grappling with personal trauma, earned them the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1998. This partnership marked their debut as screenwriters and established a template for blending authentic working-class narratives with intellectual depth, though they have rarely revisited co-writing since, with Damon noting the process strained their friendship due to intense revisions. In producing, Damon collaborated with Affleck and Chris Moore to launch , a reality documentary series that debuted on in 2001 and ran intermittently through 2015, selecting and funding unknown filmmakers to direct low-budget features. The initiative backed projects such as (2002) and (2003), providing hands-on production support while exposing the raw challenges of independent filmmaking, including budget constraints and studio interference. By mentoring emerging talents like Pete Jones and , the series influenced indie cinema by democratizing access to resources, though later seasons faced criticism for selection biases favoring certain demographics. Damon and Affleck extended their producing efforts by co-founding Artists Equity in November 2022 alongside investor Gerry Cardinale, an independent studio emphasizing profit-sharing models to retain more earnings for cast, crew, and creators amid Hollywood's traditional backend inequities. Under this banner, they produced Air (2023), a biopic on Nike's pursuit of Michael Jordan, and Small Things Like These (2024), adapting Irish author Claire Keegan's novel about moral reckonings during the Magdalene Laundries era. These ventures reflect a deliberate shift toward artist-centric structures, with Damon advocating for streamlined deals that prioritize long-term incentives over upfront studio dominance. Their collaborations have notably propelled underrepresented voices and disrupted conventional production hierarchies, as seen in Project Greenlight's talent pipeline and Artists Equity's equity-focused ethos, fostering sustainable careers beyond blockbuster constraints.

Impact on independent film

Damon served as a producer on Manchester by the Sea (2016), securing final cut approval for director Kenneth Lonergan amid production delays and legal disputes, which enabled the film's realization after initial financing challenges. Developed under his Pearl Street Films company co-founded with Ben Affleck in 2012, the $8.5 million production grossed $79 million worldwide and secured Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor, demonstrating viability for character-driven independent narratives outside major studio backing. In March 2018, Damon and Affleck pledged to adopt inclusion riders in all future production deals through their companies, contractually requiring efforts to achieve demographic parity in and —targeting at least 50% representation from underrepresented groups—to empirically counter Hollywood's documented imbalances in hiring data from sources like the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. This move aligned with broader industry pushes post-Oscars awareness, though implementation varies by project feasibility. Co-founding Artists Equity in November 2022 with Affleck and investor Gerry Cardinale, Damon advanced financial models emphasizing upfront compensation over deferred backend profits for stars, redistributing equity shares to broader cast, crew, and filmmakers to lower barriers for independent ventures. The studio's inaugural release, Air (2023), earned $90 million on a $90 million budget, validating the approach, while Damon has critiqued studio reliance on blockbusters—citing the post-DVD era's 20-30% ancillary revenue loss as causal in sidelining $20-40 million films—arguing it stifles creative diversity absent alternative funding. A 2025 Sony distribution deal further scales such models for global reach.

Activism and philanthropy

Focus on global water access

Matt Damon co-founded Water.org in 2009 with hydraulic engineer Gary White, merging Damon's H2O Africa Foundation with White's WaterPartners to create a nonprofit focused on expanding access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries through market-based solutions. The organization's core approach, WaterCredit, leverages by partnering with local financial institutions to offer affordable loans—typically $200–$500—to low-income households for household water connections, latrines, and related infrastructure, rather than relying solely on grants or aid. This model emphasizes repayment rates exceeding 99% and scalability in regions where traditional infrastructure projects fall short. By October 2025, Water.org had empowered more than 81 million people with access to safe water or sanitation across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, mobilizing $7.1 billion in capital and disbursing 17.5 million loans. Empirical outcomes include significant uptake in India, where millions have installed individual water systems, and in African nations like Kenya and Uganda, where programs have integrated sanitation loans with existing microfinance portfolios, leading to measurable increases in household coverage. Damon's involvement includes on-site visits to project areas, such as , to assess implementations and co-authoring The Worth of Water (2022) with White to document the approach. He serves in a foundational leadership capacity, promoting the initiative through public engagements while maintaining separation from his acting pursuits via the nonprofit's autonomous governance and funding mechanisms.

Other humanitarian efforts

Damon co-founded the organization Not On Our Watch in 2007 alongside , , , and to raise awareness and resources aimed at preventing mass atrocities, with an initial focus on the crisis in , . The group announced a $2.75 million donation that year to support humanitarian efforts in the region. In 2009, Damon visited refugee centers in , , as part of the organization's work addressing displacement from . Not On Our Watch later merged into The Sentry in 2019, continuing advocacy for and accountability in conflict zones. In collaboration with , Damon and produced two short films in 2010 to highlight domestic hunger relief efforts. He appeared in a for the organization in 2011, urging action against food insecurity. Damon has supported broader anti-poverty initiatives through the , which advocates for increased aid and policy changes to combat in developing nations. Damon has advocated for public education funding and teacher empowerment, drawing from his experiences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, public schools. In August 2011, he spoke at the Save Our Schools March in Washington, D.C., emphasizing the role of educators free from excessive standardized testing. Influenced by his mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a retired early childhood education professor, Damon has critiqued reforms prioritizing test preparation over substantive teaching. In May 2006, Damon visited a anti-poverty project in during an advocacy tour to promote strategies. His philanthropic approach often emphasizes targeted, behind-the-scenes contributions over high-visibility events, including recent matching donations for relief in partnership with initiatives like RIP Medical Debt.

Critiques and effectiveness of initiatives

Water.org, co-founded by Damon and engineer Gary White in , has received favorable evaluations from charity watchdogs for its financial efficiency and program focus. In 2023, program expenses accounted for approximately 88% of total spending, with administrative costs at about 6% and at 7%, contributing to a four-star rating from . Independent assessor awarded a B+ grade, noting a 70% program percentage and efficient where $9 is spent to raise $100. The organization's microloan model for water and infrastructure has reportedly reached over 70 million people across 16 countries as of October 2024, at an average cost of $5 per person served, emphasizing sustainability through borrower repayments averaging 98%. Despite these metrics, critics of celebrity-led , including Damon's involvement, argue that high-profile endorsements can inflate public perceptions of impact relative to outcomes, potentially prioritizing media attention over deeper systemic change. Water.org's approach has faced broader scrutiny associated with , where loans—rather than —may impose burdens on low-income households, potentially exacerbating financial stress despite high repayment rates. Some analyses question the model's scalability for the global water crisis affecting 2.2 billion people, suggesting that while it catalyzes local solutions, it relies heavily on mobilizing private capital and may not fully address the deepest without complementary subsidies or investments. Damon has countered such concerns by advocating for evidence-based strategies over traditional , stating that philanthropy alone cannot solve the crisis and that market-driven tools like enable self-reliance and replication. In response to fact-checks of promotional claims, such as a 2018 Super Bowl advertisement tying chalice sales to water access, independent reviews confirmed the feasibility of promised impacts given the organization's low per-person costs and loan recycling. He has emphasized rigorous monitoring, including household surveys and portfolio tracking, to verify long-term rather than short-term emotional appeals.

Political and social views

Support for Democratic causes

Damon signed a petition in December 2002, organized by Artists United to Win Without War, opposing a U.S. military invasion of Iraq, alongside over 100 other Hollywood figures. This action aligned with broader Democratic opposition to the Iraq War initiated under President George W. Bush in March 2003. In the 2004 presidential election, Damon publicly backed Democratic nominee , participating in celebrity-led initiatives to promote Kerry's campaign against Bush. Damon has donated significantly to Democratic candidates and organizations, including $10,400 to in 2013, $2,700 to in 2016, and $83,000 to the around 2010. During the 2016 election, Damon endorsed , emphasizing her positions on issues like global clean water access as a key factor in his support. He expressed alarm over Republican nominee , describing a potential Trump presidency as frightening and praising ' eventual endorsement of Clinton to counter that prospect. In 2019, Damon voiced strong personal affection for , stating "I love Joe Biden, especially now," and identifying him as a preferred Democratic candidate for the presidential race. Damon's early political leanings were shaped by his upbringing in , where he attended progressive public schools, and by his mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an emeritus professor and advocate for reform aligned with progressive principles.

Critiques of progressive orthodoxy

In December 2017, amid the #MeToo movement's revelations of in Hollywood, Damon critiqued the emerging orthodoxy by advocating for distinctions among offenses, stating in an that "there's a difference between... patting someone on the butt and or child molestation." He argued that conflating lesser infractions with severe crimes risked eroding , emphasizing the need to discuss false accusations—which he noted occur at rates of 2-10% in various studies—and the before proven guilt. These remarks, delivered on platforms like ABC's Popcorn with Peter Travers, positioned Damon against a narrative that treated all allegations as equivalent, prompting accusations from activists like that he was defending predators, though Damon clarified his opposition to all harassment while insisting on nuanced evaluation. Damon's interventions highlighted a perceived stifling of in entertainment circles, where he observed that topics once open for discussion, such as male perspectives on workplace dynamics, now prompted shutdowns to avoid offense. He defended the value of free expression by noting that the movement overlooked "men who are actually not predators," urging acknowledgment of behavioral gradients to foster accountability without blanket condemnation. This stance reflected broader reservations about enforcing conformity, as Damon later reiterated in 2018 that rigid frameworks hindered constructive dialogue on misconduct. For his role as an oil-rig worker in the 2021 film Stillwater, Damon conducted extensive on-location , embedding with Trump-supporting roughnecks whose economic and resentment toward elite narratives he found "eye-opening." Over weeks in the state, he engaged directly with these communities, concluding that their support for Trump stemmed from pragmatic survival needs rather than bigotry, and he expressed frustration at politicians who inflamed coastal-working class divides for electoral gain. This preparation humanized demographics often caricatured in progressive media as uniformly reactionary, underscoring Damon's rejection of monolithic portrayals that prioritize ideological signaling over empirical understanding of voter motivations. Damon has further deviated from left-leaning assumptions by asserting that is not the exclusive domain of progressives, challenging the notion that aligns inherently with partisan . His positions, rooted in firsthand and logical differentiation, prioritize causal factors like individual agency and evidentiary standards over collective moral panics, even as they invite scrutiny from institutional gatekeepers in Hollywood and academia prone to leftward tilts.

Nuanced positions on capitalism and division

Matt Damon has expressed a balanced perspective on capitalism, rejecting outright hostility toward it while acknowledging its capacity for driving innovation, particularly in his philanthropic work with Water.org. In a 2022 appearance on Firing Line, the self-described "Cambridge liberal" stated that he does not share the same antagonism toward the forces of capitalism and finance as some progressives, noting, "I don't view it as all bad or all good." He highlighted how capital markets have enabled Water.org to mobilize over $4.6 billion in loans and financing by 2022, serving more than 62 million people with water and sanitation access through market-based microfinance models that leverage private investment for technological and infrastructural advancements in underserved regions. This approach underscores his view of capitalism as a tool for practical problem-solving rather than an inherent evil, contrasting with ideological critiques that dismiss financial mechanisms wholesale. Damon has similarly advocated for transcending partisan divisions by focusing on shared human priorities. In August 2021, while promoting the film Stillwater, he described spending time with Trump-supporting oil rig workers in , which led him to conclude that "the things that really matter, really unite us" across red and blue lines, emphasizing common concerns like and over political . He criticized politicians for deliberately stoking divides, expressing frustration at how such tactics exacerbate national fragmentation despite underlying commonalities. In a 2022 interview, Damon reinforced this by asserting that "the left doesn't have a monopoly on ," framing global issues like water access as non-partisan imperatives driven by universal values rather than ideological allegiance. This reflects his evolution from a stereotypically liberal upbringing in , to a more pragmatic stance that critiques extremes on both sides, prioritizing evidence-based solutions and cross-aisle dialogue over dogmatic purity.

Controversies

Comments on sexual misconduct and #MeToo

In December 2017, during an on ABC News' Popcorn with Peter Travers, Matt Damon distinguished between degrees of , stating there is "a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and or molestation" and emphasizing that "all of that behavior needs to be confronted, but there is a spectrum of behavior." He advocated for in allegations, arguing against presuming guilt without evidence, as "I believe in , I believe in the ." Damon also highlighted the lack of attention to men who do not engage in such behavior, noting that "one thing that's not being talked about is, there are a lot of men out there who aren't that guy." These remarks drew immediate backlash from critics who deemed them tone-deaf and dismissive of victims' experiences amid the #MeToo movement's focus on systemic abuse. Actress Minnie Driver, Damon's former partner, publicly stated that men like him "cannot understand what abuse is like" and that such comments invalidate women's trauma. Social media users and feminist commentators accused him of defending predators like Louis C.K., whose admitted misconduct Damon had suggested warranted a second chance if consensual elements were involved, labeling the views as enabling a hierarchy that minimizes non-violent harassment. Supporters, however, praised the comments as grounded in causal distinctions between behaviors, aligning with empirical data showing false sexual assault reports occur at rates of 2-8% in studied cases, underscoring the need for evidentiary standards to avoid miscarriages of justice. In January 2018, Damon clarified his stance on NBC's Today show, affirming support for victims coming forward while reiterating opposition to "binary" outcomes that equate all allegations without nuance, and expressing intent to "close my mouth for a while" amid the criticism. He apologized for any unintended insensitivity but maintained that the movement should not devolve into "witch hunts," reflecting a commitment to balancing with procedural fairness. Detractors viewed this as partial backpedaling under pressure from Hollywood's progressive consensus, while proponents argued it preserved first-principles reasoning against , citing institutional biases in media coverage that amplify unverified claims.

Use of homophobic language

In a July 2021 interview with , Matt Damon stated that "months ago" he had ceased using what his daughter described as "the f-slur for a homosexual" following her objection to a private joke he made, which prompted her to write a "very long, beautiful treatise" explaining the word's harmful connotations. Damon contextualized the remark by noting he had similarly "retired" other terms like the "r-slur" from his vocabulary, emphasizing that these were not directed at individuals but part of informal speech he had phased out through family discussion rather than external pressure. He clarified that the usage occurred in non-public settings, such as referencing lines from films like , and denied any history of deploying the slur against people. The comments sparked immediate backlash on and in outlets, with critics labeling Damon as out of touch or insensitive for only recently discontinuing the term and drawing parallels between slurs, amid heightened post-#MeToo. LGBTQ+ advocacy group responded by stressing the word's role as a longstanding tied to against , urging Damon to recognize its unique impact beyond mere equivalence to other derogatory language. Damon addressed the uproar in an August 2, 2021, statement to Variety, reiterating that he had "never called anyone ‘f****t’ in my " and framing the episode as a misrepresentation of a familial learning moment, not an admission of habitual prejudice. He underscored personal evolution through his daughter's perspective, absent any pattern of public animus toward LGBTQ+ communities. Despite the outrage, the incident yielded negligible professional repercussions for Damon, with no reported project cancellations or industry , highlighting limits to cancel culture's enforcement when private speech lacks evidence of targeted harm. Mainstream coverage amplified the controversy through selective quoting, often omitting Damon's full contextualization of retirement across multiple terms, which aligns with patterns of media incentives favoring indignation over nuanced private accountability. Damon's account reflects first-hand behavioral adjustment via interpersonal influence, contrasting reactive public shaming, and no subsequent events indicate or broader ideological opposition to gay rights.

Other public disputes and media backlash

In January 1998, shortly after the release of , Damon publicly ended his relationship with co-star by announcing on a that he was single, an action Driver later described as leaving her unaware of the breakup until seeing it broadcast. At the on March 23, 1998, Driver appeared visibly emotional during the ceremony, where Damon attended with a new girlfriend, later reflecting on the moment as one of profound heartbreak. During the September 13, 2015, premiere episode of Project Greenlight's fourth season, which Damon co-executive produced, he debated producer Effie Brown on hiring practices, asserting that crew selection should emphasize narrative strength and talent over explicit diversity targets behind the camera, as such quotas could undermine project cohesion, while on-screen representation inherently advances inclusivity. The exchange, in which Damon interjected to refocus on merit, sparked widespread social media criticism portraying his view as dismissive of racial inequities in Hollywood, leading to accusations of "Damonsplaining" from observers. Damon responded on September 16, 2015, with a statement conceding he had "misspoken" and agreeing that diversity efforts must extend to all production roles to foster broader perspectives. Damon's casting as the lead in the 2016 film The Great Wall drew backlash from critics who labeled it an instance of whitewashing, despite the character's depiction as a 9th-century European fitting the screenplay's historical-fantasy framework. Damon countered in December 2016 interviews that the controversy misrepresented the production, as no mythological or historical elements were altered to accommodate his role, emphasizing instead the film's collaborative international elements. These episodes highlight recurring media scrutiny of Damon's public statements, often framed as tone-deaf amid cultural debates on identity and equity, though his positions consistently prioritized practical efficacy—such as merit in hiring or fidelity to source material—over mandated representational checkboxes, prompting clarifications but underscoring tensions between individual accountability and institutional narratives.

Public perception

Media portrayal and cultural impact

Matt Damon has been portrayed in media as an of the intelligent, relatable , often embodying cerebral heroes who combine intellectual prowess with everyday appeal. This image emerged prominently from his breakout role in (1997), where he played a self-taught mathematical from a working-class background, establishing a template for characters blending vulnerability and resilience. His frequent casting in roles requiring sharp intellect, such as or the astronaut in The Martian (2015), reinforces this persona, with analysts noting how his on-screen "smartness" enhances his appeal as a grounded rather than a distant . Culturally, Damon has become a fixture in lighthearted memes and pop references, particularly through his recurring comedic "feud" with late-night host , originating from a 2005 Jimmy Kimmel Live! sketch where Damon was humorously "bumped" from the show. This gag evolved into annual interruptions and surprise appearances, such as Damon's 2025 disguised infiltration during Kimmel's "Brooklyn Week," amplifying his image as a self-deprecating, affable . The sketches have permeated online culture, symbolizing Hollywood's playful insider banter and sustaining Damon's visibility beyond film roles. Damon's performances have influenced depictions of male vulnerability in cinema, notably through , which humanized emotional struggles for intelligent, tough exteriors and encouraged discussions on men's by portraying as a path to growth. This contrasts with more stoic archetypes, offering a model of American masculinity that grapples with personal flaws amid high-stakes competence, as seen in later roles exploring inner conflict. His box-office track record underscores reliability, with starring vehicles like the Bourne series and The Martian grossing over $3.5 billion worldwide combined, positioning him as a consistent draw for studios despite occasional underperformers. Critiques of Damon's portrayal highlight a perceived disconnect between his working-class screen personas and his status as a Hollywood liberal , with observers noting his advocacy for public education clashing with his family's choice of private schooling in . Media depictions often frame him as a "good-guy" activist whose progressive stances, such as critiques of inequality in films like (2013), invite scrutiny for not fully aligning with his privileged industry position. Yet, his resilience in maintaining broad appeal amid such commentary reflects a cultural durability, where his roles buffer perceptions.

Relationships with peers and industry figures

Damon's most enduring professional partnership is with Ben Affleck, formed during their childhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they met at age eight or ten through theater classes and basketball. This bond directly catalyzed their breakthrough, as they co-wrote Good Will Hunting (1997), which earned them the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and launched both into leading roles, providing Damon with script control that shaped subsequent career choices like selective project involvement. Their collaborations extended to producing via Artists Equity, founded in 2022 to prioritize filmmaker equity and backend deals, yielding projects like Air (2023), where mutual trust enabled Damon's portrayal of Sonny Vaccaro amid Affleck's directorial pivot, insulating them from industry volatility. Damon has forged repeated alliances with elite directors, enhancing his versatility in high-stakes genres. With , collaborations began with a pivotal cameo as Dr. Mann in Interstellar (2014), escalating to General in Oppenheimer (2023)—a performance lauded for grounding the ensemble—and culminating in starring as in Nolan's upcoming [The Odyssey](/page/The Odyssey) (scheduled for 2026 IMAX release), decisions driven by Nolan's preference for Damon's reliability in complex scientific narratives. Similarly, Ridley directed Damon in The Martian (2015), leveraging his everyman appeal for the lead role, which grossed $630 million worldwide and solidified Damon's box-office draw in sci-fi, though Scott's rigorous style reportedly intensified on-set demands without reported fractures. A notable directorial tactic influencing Damon's early career came from on (1998), where Spielberg excluded Damon from the cast's pre-production boot camp to foster authentic resentment among co-stars like and , mirroring the soldiers' envy of Private Ryan and yielding a rawer ensemble dynamic that elevated Damon's breakthrough dramatic presence. This method, while isolating, underscored Damon's professional adaptability without derailing future opportunities, as evidenced by no subsequent tensions; however, scheduling conflicts later cost him a role in Spielberg's Minority Report sequel plans alongside . In mentorship, Damon co-hosted HBO's revivals (2015 onward) with Affleck, critiquing emerging directors' works to impart practical lessons on budgeting and storytelling, fostering industry goodwill and indirectly expanding his producer network beyond actor silos. His avoidance of factional Hollywood entanglements, prioritizing merit-based alliances, has sustained respect from peers, enabling consistent access without reliance on transient trends.

Personal life

Marriage and family

Damon met Luciana Barroso, an Argentine immigrant working as a bartender in , in 2003 while he was filming Stuck on You there; the couple began dating shortly after, with Damon later describing the encounter as serendipitous amid his location scouting. They married on December 9, 2005, in a low-key civil ceremony at , attended by close family and friends, marking Damon's first and only marriage to date. Barroso, born in 1976, brought a daughter, Alexia (born August 1999), from a prior relationship; Damon adopted her soon after the wedding, integrating her fully into the family. The couple has three biological daughters: Isabella (born June 11, 2006), (born August 20, 2008), and Stella (born October 20, 2010). Following the marriage, Damon and his relocated to , where they established a in Pacific Palisades, prioritizing a stable, low-profile domestic life amid his rising Hollywood profile. Damon has emphasized as a grounding force, crediting Barroso's influence for fostering normalcy—such as shared household responsibilities and limited public exposure for the children—while avoiding the excesses of . The Damons maintain strict privacy boundaries, rarely granting family interviews or allowing access, though they have made select joint appearances, including events for films like in 2024, where all four daughters accompanied their parents. This approach reflects Damon's stated commitment to shielding his daughters from fame's intrusions, enabling them to pursue independent paths, such as Alexia's attendance and the younger ones' enrollment in private schools.

Lifestyle and residences

Damon owned a Zen-inspired in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of from 2012 until its sale in 2021 for $18 million. The 13,508-square-foot property included seven bedrooms, ten bathrooms, a central atrium with 35-foot ceilings, a , and an expansive backyard featuring a cascading , , and dining terrace. He has spent significant time in Australia, describing it as a "second home" for his family, including a four-month trip across the country following his father's death in 2017. Damon has rented luxury properties there, such as in , during visits tied to filming and personal retreats, though he has not purchased a . A devoted Boston sports fan, Damon supports the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins, often sharing emotional reflections on their achievements, such as tearing up over Red Sox victories. Despite substantial wealth from his career, he adheres to a grounded routine reflective of his middle-class upbringing, eschewing ostentatious displays and prioritizing simplicity. His philanthropic commitments, including co-founding Water.org in to promote for water access, are woven into daily life without public extravagance.

Accolades and legacy

Major awards and nominations

Damon co-wrote the screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997) with , earning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the ceremony on March 23, 1998. For his lead performance as Will Hunting in the same film, he received an Academy Award nomination for . His subsequent Academy Award nominations include Best Supporting Actor for Invictus (2009) at the 82nd ceremony in 2010, and Best Actor for The Martian (2015) at the 88th ceremony in 2016. Damon won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture for Good Will Hunting at the 55th on January 18, 1998. He later received the Golden Globe for in a Motion Picture – Musical or for The Martian at the 73rd on January 10, 2016. These victories align with his broader commercial success, as films featuring Damon in lead or major roles have collectively grossed over $9.93 billion worldwide as of 2025. In 2007, Damon received a star on the , recognizing his contributions to cinema. He has also earned multiple Award nominations, including for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for Good Will Hunting at the 4th ceremony in 1998 and for The Martian in 2016.
AwardCategoryWorkYearResult
Academy AwardBest Original ScreenplayGood Will Hunting1998Won
Academy AwardBest ActorGood Will Hunting1998Nominated
Academy AwardBest Supporting ActorInvictus2010Nominated
Academy AwardBest ActorThe Martian2016Nominated
Golden GlobeBest Screenplay – Motion PictureGood Will Hunting1998Won
Golden GlobeBest Actor – Musical or ComedyThe Martian2016Won
Motion Picture StarN/A2007Honored

Influence on cinema and public discourse

Damon's co-writing of (1997) with exemplified a writer-actor model that enabled emerging talents to secure leading roles through self-authored scripts, a strategy rooted in their early struggles as out-of-work actors developing the screenplay during cross-country drives. This approach influenced peers by demonstrating that actors could bypass traditional barriers via original content, though Damon and Affleck produced limited subsequent writing credits, with Affleck directing and scripting films like (2007). Their model contributed to a shift where actors increasingly pursued production roles for creative control, as seen in Damon's founding of Artists Equity in 2022 with Affleck to ensure equitable pay for crew, disrupting conventional profit-sharing amid post-2017 industry reckonings over labor economics. In public discourse, Damon has advocated for merit-based selection in filmmaking, arguing during a 2015 Project Greenlight episode that diversity efforts should prioritize casting over director hires to maintain quality, a stance that provoked backlash for appearing to undervalue representational hiring but aligned with empirical outcomes where talent correlates with commercial success. He later clarified support for more diverse filmmakers while emphasizing that artistic merit, not quotas, drives enduring films, a position critiqued in media outlets as insensitive amid rising institutional pressures for demographic proportionality. Damon's public support for the , stressing "fair contracts to survive" against studio resistance, further positioned him against perceived industry exploitation, sustaining his relevance in debates over economic realism versus ideological conformity. Critics note Damon's limited directorial output, with expressed interest in future projects but no feature credits to date, contrasting Affleck's trajectory and suggesting a selective focus on and production over helming. His role choices, spanning action (Bourne series), drama (The Martian, 2015), and ensemble (Oppenheimer, 2023), reflect deliberate avoidance of via varied personas and stipulations like portraying defeats in non-franchise fights, bolstered by a low-profile that preserved versatility. This curation has yielded consistent box-office draws exceeding $10 billion lifetime, underscoring causal ties between disciplined selection and sustained influence amid Hollywood's polarization.

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  162. https://www.splinter.com/matt-damon-has-a-totally-ignorant-response-to-the-criti-1793864110
  163. https://www.newsweek.com/matt-damon-comments-diversity-resurface-wake-f-admission-1615137
  164. https://www.denverpost.com/2006/12/25/matt-damon-creates-a-new-screen-archetype/
  165. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/matt-damon-the-martian-sexy-smart/
  166. https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Matt-Damon-always-portray-a-genius-in-his-movies-such-as-Good-Will-Hunting-Jason-Borne-Rounders-The-Talented-Mr-Ripley-the-Departed-etc-Is-there-a-particular-reason
  167. https://brianaluca.substack.com/p/pop-culture-history-lessons-jimmy
  168. https://www.themovieblog.com/2025/10/matt-damon-crashes-jimmy-kimmel-live-in-neon-mascot-and-sparks-hilarious-feud-moment/
  169. https://www.insidehook.com/film/good-hunting-mental-health
  170. https://theweek.com/culture/1002965/matt-damon-stillwater
  171. https://ideas.time.com/2013/08/09/matt-damon-hypocrite-on-public-school-education/
  172. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/elisabethdonnelly/goodwillriddance
  173. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/02/matt-damon-activist-star-elysium
  174. https://people.com/movies/matt-damon-ben-affleck-friendship-timeline/
  175. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/matt-damon-christopher-nolan-the-odyssey-odysseus-first-look-photo-1236139274/
  176. https://en.as.com/entertainment/this-is-what-steven-spielberg-did-to-make-the-saving-private-ryan-cast-resent-matt-damon-n/
  177. https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64595937/
  178. https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/watch-matt-damon-and-ben-affleck-are-intense-filmmaking-mentors-in-exclusive-teaser-for-hbos-project-greenlight-59524/
  179. https://people.com/movies/who-is-luciana-barroso-matt-damon-wife/
  180. https://www.instyle.com/matt-damon-wife-luciana-barroso-11829292
  181. https://parade.com/1241264/alexandra-hurtado/matt-damon-wife-luciana-barroso/
  182. https://parade.com/celebrities/matt-damon-kids
  183. https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/20210129105714/matt-damon-home-los-angeles-inside-photos/
  184. https://people.com/parents/all-about-matt-damon-kids/
  185. https://nypost.com/2024/08/01/entertainment/matt-damon-wife-and-4-daughters-hit-red-carpet-for-the-instigators/
  186. https://www.eonline.com/news/1407612/matt-damon-shares-insight-into-familys-major-adjustment-after-daughters-college-milestone
  187. https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2021-11-22/matt-damon-sells-pacific-palisades-mansion
  188. https://people.com/home/matt-damon-lists-pacific-palisades-home-21-million/
  189. https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/news/matt-damon-explains-2nd-home-in-australia-with-his-family/
  190. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/matt-damon-found-2nd-home-093748804.html
  191. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/11/14/lifestyle/matt-damon-relives-boston-sports-memories-bill-simmons-podcast/
  192. https://www.boston.com/culture/lifestyle/2018/11/15/matt-damon-talks-about-getting-teary-over-the-red-sox/
  193. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/wef-2019-matt-damon-on-water-charity-work.html
  194. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000354/awards/
  195. https://goldenglobes.com/person/matt-damon/
  196. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUYaRMo1oIc
  197. https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-star-records/worldwide/lifetime-acting/top-grossing-stars
  198. https://walkoffame.com/matt-damon/
  199. https://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/4th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards
  200. https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/writing-good-will-hunting/
  201. https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Matt-Damon-and-Ben-Affleck-end-their-screenwriting-career-after-Good-Will-Hunting
  202. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/30j1nf/what_happened_to_matt_damon_and_ben_afflecks/
  203. https://variety.com/2015/film/news/matt-damon-project-greenlight-diversity-apology-1201595189/
  204. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/17/matt-damon-damonsplaining-apology-diversity-race
  205. https://time.com/4037168/matt-damon-diversity-response/
  206. https://news.sky.com/video/matt-damon-reasons-behind-hollywood-actors-strike-unbelievably-important-12920199
  207. https://the-talks.com/interview/matt-damon/
  208. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3701756/Jason-Bourne-star-Matt-Damon-not-typecast.html
  209. https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/matt-damon-insisted-losing-fights-movies-werent-bourne-films.html/
  210. https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/entertainment/how-matt-damon-became-a-cultural-icon/story
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