Ben Affleck

Birth Name: Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt

Nickname/Stage Name: Ben Affleck

Birth Date: August 15, 1972

Genres: Action, Drama, Sci-fi, Superhero

Occupation(s): Actor, Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Years Active: 1981 till Present

Net Worth: $150 million

 

Personal Life

Ben Affleck was born in Berkeley, California. He started dating actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 1997 after a dinner meeting (they would work together in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love). They broke up in January 1999 and resumed their romance after co-starring in Bounce (2000). They finally went their separate ways in October 2000.

The actor was romantically linked to singer and actress Jennifer Lopez from 2002 to 2004. They started dating after they met on the set of Gigli (2003). Their relationship was the subject of wide media coverage. They became engaged in November 2002 but had to shift their planned wedding due to "excessive media attention." They called it quits in January 2004 in what Lopez called her "first real heartbreak."

Affleck began going out with actress Jennifer Garner in 2004 after they became friends due to their involvement in Pearl Harbor (2001) and Daredevil (2003). They got married in June 2005 in a private ceremony and jointly filed for divorce in April 2017. The actor describes the divorce (finalized in October 2018) as the biggest regret of his life.

He and Garner have three children together; daughters Violet Anne (born in 2005), Seraphina Rose Elizabeth (born in January 2009), and son Samuel Garner (born in February 2012).

Affleck started a long-distance relationship with TV producer Lindsay Shookus from mid-2017 to mid-2018. They dated again briefly in the early part of 2019 and the actor started dating actress Ana de Armas in the fall of 2019. They broke up in January 2021.

Education

He attended the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School and spent a few months studying Spanish at the University of Vermont. 

Affleck also studied Middle Eastern Affairs at Occidental College for a year and a half.

Career

He acted professionally as a child, making his first appearance at the age of seven in the independent film The Dark End of the Street (1981).

When he was a teen, he appeared in the ABC after-school special Wanted: A Perfect Man (1986). After high school, he moved briefly to New York in search of acting jobs and made an uncredited appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992).

Affleck's first leading role was as a student in the college drama Glory Daze (1995). He co-wrote the screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997) with fellow actor and best friend Matt Damon, and the success of the film marked a turning point in his career.

His role in Michael Bay's Armageddon (1998) established his Hollywood leading man status and he had a supporting part as an English actor in the period romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love (1998).

He starred as the titular blind superhero in Daredevil (2003) and played a reverse engineer in the science-fiction thriller Paycheck (2003).

Affleck made his directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone (2007), a crime drama starring his younger brother Casey as a private investigator.

He starred as the DC's charismatic Caped Crusader in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). His portrayal was met with positive reactions.

The actor reprised the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Justice League (2017) and starred as a recovering alcoholic in the sports drama The Way Back (2020).

Awards

Satellite Award (1997)

Florida Film Critics Circle Award (1997)

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (1997)

National Board of Review Award (1997, 2007, 2010, 2012)

Golden Globe Award (1998, 2013)

Academy Award (1998, 2013)

Screen Actors Guild Award (1998, 2012)

Teen Choice Award (2001)

Golden Raspberry Award (2003, 2014, 2016)

Venice Film Festival Award (2006)

Saturn Award (2006)

Hollywood Film Award (2006, 2007, 2012)

Austin Film Critics Association Award (2007)

Boston Society of Film Critics Award (2007)

Chicago Film Critics Association Award (2007)

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award (2010)

Palm Springs International Film Festival Award (2011, 2013)

Directors Guild of America Award (2012)

Producers Guild of America Award (2012)

American Film Institute Award (2012)

Cesar Award (2012)

Robert Award (2012)

African-American Film Critics Association Award (2012)

Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award (2012)

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (2012)

Florida Film Critics Circle Award (2012)

Houston Film Critics Society Award (2012)

Online Film Critics Society Award (2012)

San Diego Film Critics Society Award (2012)

St. Louis Film Critics Association Award (2012)

BAFTA Award (2013)

Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award (2013)

Irish Film & Television Award (2013)

Quotes

"I feel like fame is wasted on me."

"Sure, I suffered a lot. But it's not like the end of the world and it's not who I am. I lead quite a pleasant life and I'm able to divorce a perceived reality from my actual experience of life."

"I've finally learned how to say 'No comment'. To appear in the tabloids is a real learning curve and a steep one at that. You had better learn quick or you get burnt."

Trivia

Named People's magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 2002.

His ancestry is English, Irish, German, Scottish, Swiss-German, Swedish, French, and Welsh.

His favourite Marvel Comic character growing up was Daredevil. He played the blind superhero in the 2003 movie.

Movies

The Dark of the Street (1981)

School Ties (1992)

Mallrats (1995)

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Armageddon (1998)

Reindeer Games (2000)

The Sum of All Fears (2002)

Surviving Christmas (2003)

Smokin' Aces (2006)

State of Play (2009)

Gone Girl (2014)

Triple Frontier (2019)

The Way Back (2020)