About
Ben Affleck is an American actor and filmmaker born on August 15, 1972, in Berkeley, California. He first appeared on the screen at the age of seven years old. Affleck appeared in many network- TV dramas while still attending school. Affleck attended the University of Vermont and California’s Occidental College. He eventually left school to fulfill his dreams of acting in Hollywood.
His first significant movie was School Ties which was released in 1992. After this film, Affleck appeared in 1993 as a bully in the cult classic Dazed and Confused. He then joined the cast in director Kevin Smith’s Mallrats in 1995 and was the romantic lead in Smith’s Chasing Amy in 1997.
Ben Affleck and his childhood friend Matt Damon worked together on a screenplay called Good Will Hunting in 1992, about a troubled young math genius. After their struggle to get the script produced, Miramax obtained the rights to the film in 1996. This film was released in 1997 to both critical and popular approval. Affleck and Damon won a Golden Globe and Academy Awards for the best unique screenplay, pushing the friends into the public eye.
Affleck has appeared in several high-profile movies, including the blockbuster Armageddon which was released in 1998. Affleck starred alongside Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler. The movie became the second top-grossing movie of that year and earned 550 million dollars worldwide. Affleck also starred in the film Shakespeare in Love. In 2000, Affleck played a supporting role in the slick stock- market drama Boiler Room.
In 2001, Affleck teams up again with Armageddon director-producer Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer for the blockbuster action flick Pearl Harbor, co-starring Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Affleck becomes more involved with television and film production in the early 2000s again. He and Damon had set up Pearl Street Films in 1998, named after the street that ran between their childhood homes. Their next production company LivePlanet, co-founded in 2000 with Sean Bailey and Chris Moore, sought to integrate the Internet into mainstream television and film production.
LivePlanet’s biggest success was the documentary series Project Greenlight, aired on HBO and later Bravo, which focused on first-time filmmakers being given the chance to direct a feature film. Project Greenlight was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
After marrying actress Jennifer Garner in 2005, and welcoming their first child, Affleck began a career comeback in 2006. In 2007, Affleck made his feature film directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone, a crime drama set in a working-class Boston neighborhood, starring his brother Casey Affleck. While Affleck intended to “keep a primary emphasis on directing” going forward in his career, he acted in three films in 2009.
In 2010, Affleck and Damon’s production company, Pearl Street Films, signed a first-look producing deal at Warner Bros. Affleck soon began work on his next directorial project, Argo (2012), for Warner Bros. Argo was written by Chris Terrio and starred Affleck as a CIA operative.
In 2015, Affleck and Damon’s Project Greenlight was resurrected by HBO for one season.
In addition to his various Batman commitments throughout 2016 and 2017, Affleck appeared in a few other films, including The Accountant. He starred as an autistic accountant in the action thriller. The movie was an unexpected commercial success.
