Matt Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University.

Damon's parents divorced when he was two years old, and he and his brother returned with their mother to Cambridge, where they lived in a six-family communal house.

Damon attended Cambridge Alternative School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he was a good student and acted in several high-school theater productions.

Damon graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

Damon attended Harvard University as an English major but left before receiving his degree to pursue an acting career.