The Matt Damon Handbook - Everything you need to know about Matt Damon

Smith Emily

Description

Matthew Paige 'Matt' Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting (1997), from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck.

The pair won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work and Damon garnered multiple Best Actor nominations, including the Academy Award, for his lead performance in the film.

Damon has since starred in commercially successful films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), the Ocean's trilogy, and the Bourne series, while also gaining critical acclaim for his performances in dramas such as Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), and The Departed (2006).He garnered a Golden Globe nomination for portraying the title character in The Talented Mr.Ripley (1999) and was nominated for an Academy Award as a supporting actor in Invictus (2009).He is one of the top forty highest grossing actors of all time.

In 2007, Damon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.

This book is your ultimate resource for Matt Damon. Here you will find the most up-to-date information, photos, and much more.

In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about his Early life, Career and Personal life right away. A quick look inside: Matt Damon, Mystic Pizza, Field of Dreams, School Ties, Geronimo: An American Legend, Courage Under Fire, Good Will Hunting, The Rainmaker (1997 film), Rounders (film), Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley (film), Dogma (film), All the Pretty Horses (film), The Legend of Bagger Vance, Ocean's Eleven (2001 film), The Bourne Identity (2002 film), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Gerry (2002 film), Stuck on You (film), Ocean's Twelve, The Bourne Supremacy (film), Syriana, The Brothers Grimm (film), The Good Shepherd (film), The Departed, Ocean's Thirteen, The Bourne Ultimatum (film), The Informant!, Invictus (film), Green Zone (film), True Grit (2010 film), Hereafter (film), Inside Job (film), The Adjustment Bureau, Contagion (film), Margaret (2011 film), Happy Feet Two, We Bought a Zoo, Elysium (film), The People Speak (film).

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• Publié par: Emereo Publishing
• Date de parution: 24 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781743336700
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 12 Mo

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Contents

Articles Matt Damon Mystic Pizza Field of Dreams School Ties Geronimo: An American Legend Courage Under Fire Good Will Hunting The Rainmaker (1997 film) Rounders (film) Saving Private Ryan The Talented Mr. Ripley (film) Dogma (film) All the Pretty Horses (film) The Legend of Bagger Vance Ocean's Eleven (2001 film) The Bourne Identity (2002 film) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Gerry (2002 film) Stuck on You (film) Ocean's Twelve The Bourne Supremacy (film) Syriana The Brothers Grimm (film) The Good Shepherd (film) The Departed Ocean's Thirteen The Bourne Ultimatum (film) The Informant! Invictus (film) Green Zone (film) True Grit (2010 film) Hereafter (film) Inside Job (film) The Adjustment Bureau

1 15 18 24 26 29 33 39 44 48 58 63 68 71 75 79 88 93 95 99 104 109 117 124 132 143 148 157 162 168 175 182 190 195

Contagion (film) Margaret (2011 film) Happy Feet Two We Bought a Zoo Elysium (film) The People Speak (film)

References Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Article Licenses License

201 209 212 216 218 220

223 231

233

Matt Damon

Matt Damon

Born

Alma mater

Occupation

Years active

Spouse

Children

Awards

Matt Damon

Damon in 2009

Matthew Paige Damon October 8, 1970 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.

Harvard University (Dropped out)

Actor, screenwriter, producer

1988–present

Luciana Barroso (m. 2005–present)

4

Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay

Matthew Paige"Matt"Damon(born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the filmGood Will Hunting(1997), from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck. The pair won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work and Damon garnered multiple Best Actor nominations, including the Academy Award, for his lead performance in the film.

Damon has since starred in commercially successful films such asSaving Private Ryan(1998), theOcean'strilogy, and theBourneseries, while also gaining critical acclaim for his performances in dramas such asSyriana(2005), The Good Shepherd(2006), andThe Departed(2006). He garnered a Golden Globe nomination for portraying the title character inThe Talented Mr. Ripley(1999) and was nominated for an Academy Award as a supporting actor in Invictus(2009). He is one of the top forty highest grossing actors of all time. In 2007, Damon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named Sexiest Man Alive byPeoplemagazine.

Damon has been actively involved in charitable work, including the ONE Campaign, H2O Africa Foundation, and Water.org.

1

Matt Damon

Early life Matt Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy [1] [2] Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Damon is of Scottish, English, [3] [4] Finnish, and Swedish ancestry, and is a distant cousin of actors Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck. He has a [2] [5] brother, Kyle, who is an accomplished sculptor and artist. He and his family moved to Newton and lived there [2] [6] for two years. After his parents divorced, Damon and his brother moved with their mother back to Cambridge, [7] [8] where they lived in a six-family communal house. Damon grew up near Ben Affleck, a close friend since [9] childhood and collaborator on several films, and historian and author Howard Zinn, whose biographical filmYou Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Trainand audio version ofA People's History of the United StatesDamon later [8] narrated. [7] Damon took to role-playing as a child partly because his mother raised him "by the book," which made him feel as [7] though "you couldn’t define yourself, because you already had been defined by her." He attended Cambridge Alternative School (now Graham & Parks) and then Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he was a [10] [11] disciplined student but had a "terrifying" first two years due to his short height at the time. As a lonely [7] adolescent, Damon has described feeling "such pain in wanting to belong somewhere and not belonging." Damon [2] performed as an actor in several high school theater productions; he has credited his drama teacher at Rindge and Latin, Gerry Speca, as an important artistic influence, even though Damon recalls that, "Mr. Speca always seemed to [10] trust Ben [Affleck] with the biggest roles and longest speeches." [12] Damon attended Harvard University from 1988 to 1992 but did not graduate. While at Harvard, he studied [13] English and lived in Lowell House. He took part in student theater, appearing in plays such asBurn This in [14] Winthrop HouseandA... My Name is AliceDamon(in one of the three male roles usually performed by women). dropped out of the university to pursue his acting career in Los Angeles because he mistakenly expectedGeronimo: [15] An American Legendto become a big success. "By the time I figured out I had made the wrong decision, it was too late. I was living out here with a bunch of actors, and we were all scrambling to make ends meet," Damon has [16] said.

Acting career

Early years Damon's first film role came in 1988 when he was eighteen, with a single line of dialogue in the romantic comedy [17] Mystic Pizzaa student at Harvard University, he continued to pursue acting and performed small roles in. As [18] projects such as the TNT original filmRising Sonand the ensemble prep-school dramaSchool Ties. In 1992, he [18] landed a big part inGeronimo: An American LegendFour years later, hewith Gene Hackman and Jason Patric. [19] auditioned for a small role inCutthroat IslandDamon next appeared as an opiate-addicted, but was turned away. soldier in 1996'sCourage Under Firedays (for only two days ofkg) in 100 . He was required to lose 40 pounds (18 [20] [21] filming). After following a self-prescribed diet and fitness regimen to lose the weight, Damon was told after filming that he was fortunate his heart did not shrink. He took medication for several years afterwards to correct the stress inflicted on his adrenal gland.Courage Under Firegained him some critical notice, asThe Washington Post [22] labeled his performance "impressive;" Damon has stated that it was worthwhile to risk his health in order to [17] [21] properly portray his character and show the industry how committed he was to his work as an actor.

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Matt Damon

Breakthrough During the early 1990s, Damon and Affleck wrote a screenplay about a young math genius, which they then pitched around Hollywood for a long time. Receiving advice from director Rob Reiner, screenwriter William Goldman, and [15] their friend writer/director Kevin Smith, the two made changes to the script. The script eventually becameGood Will Hunting(1997), and received nine Academy Awards nominations, earning Damon and Affleck Oscars for Best [23] [24] Original Screenplay. Damon was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the same film, [23] which also netted an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for co-star Robin Williams. He and Affleck were each paid [25] [26] salaries of $600,000, while the film grossed over $225 million at the worldwide box office. The two later parodied their roles from the film in Kevin Smith's 2001 movieJay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Also in 1997, Damon was the lead in the critically acclaimed dramaThe Rainmaker, where he was recognized by the [27] Los Angeles Timesas "a talented young actor on the brink of stardom." After meeting Damon on the set ofGood Will Hunting, director Steven Spielberg cast Damon as the titular character in the 1998 World War II filmSaving [15] Private Ryan.

Hollywood star

Damon has become known for choosing a wide variety of film [28] roles, from his portrayal of Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero Tom [17] Ripley inThe Talented Mr. Ripley(1999) to a fallen angel who discusses pop culture as intellectual subject matter with Affleck in Dogma(1999); from a conjoined twin inStuck on You(2003), which [29] got a mixed critical reception, to the low budget experimental film Gerry(2002), which he co-wrote with Casey Affleck and Gus Van Sant. Damon garnered generally positive critical reaction for his [30] Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Ripley, withVarietystating, "Damon outstandingly conveys his character's slide from innocent [31] enthusiasm into cold calculation."

BradPitt,GeorgeClooney,Damon,AndyGarcaa, Julia Roberts (the cast ofOcean's Eleven), with director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

Damon's attempts at essaying leading characters in romantic dramas such as 2000'sAll the Pretty HorsesandThe [25] Legend of Bagger Vancewere commercially and critically unsuccessful.Varietysaid of his work inAll the Pretty Horsesjust doesn't quite seem like a young man who's spent his life amidst the dust and dung of a Texas: "[Damon] [32] cattle ranch. Nor does he strike any sparks with [Penelope] Cruz." He was similarly deemed "uncomfortable [33] being the center" of Robert Redford'sThe Legend of Bagger Vance.

From 2001 to 2007, Damon gained wider international recognition as part of two major film franchises. He co-starred as thief Linus Caldwell, alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts, in Steven Soderbergh's 2001 remake of the Rat Pack's 1960 caper filmOcean's 11; the successful crime dramedy spawned two sequels, [17] Ocean's Twelve(2004) andOcean's Thirteen(2007). He played amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in the hit action [17] thrillersThe Bourne Identity(2002),The Bourne Supremacy(2004), andThe Bourne Ultimatum(2007). Entertainment Weeklyplaced Damon as an "action star" on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "When he first signed on as the ass-kicking amnesiac Jason Bourne in 2002, no one would've predicted that Damon would [34] become the decade's best mixer of brawn and brains. Shows what we know." In August 2007, financial magazine Forbescreated a list of actors who generated the best box office performance related to their salaries; the list placed Damon as the most bankable star of the actors reviewed, revealing that Damon had averaged USD29 at the box [35] [36] office for every dollar he earned for his last three films.

3

Matt Damon

Damon played a fictionalized version of Wilhelm Grimm in Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventureThe Brothers Grimm(2005), which was a [25] critically panned commercial failure;The Washington Post concluded, "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 [37] production of 'The Pirates of Penzance.'" Later that year, he [38] appeared as an energy analyst inSyriana2006, Damon joined. In Robert De Niro inThe Good Shepherdas a career CIA officer, and played an undercover mobster working for the Massachusetts State Damon with Robert De Niro in Berlin in Police in Martin Scorsese'sThe Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong February 2007 for the premiere ofThe Good [17] police thrillerInfernal Affairshis work in the two films,. Assessing Shepherd Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Timeswrote that Damon "does what [28] few stars with his kind of billing do: he disappears."The Departedwas a success amongst critics and audiences [25] [39] alike.

Damon had an uncredited cameo in Francis Ford Coppola'sYouth Without Youth(2007) and another cameo in the 2008 Che Guevara biopicChe. He lent his voice to the English version of the animated filmPonyo on the Cliff by the [40] Sea, which was released in the United States in August 2009. He also made a guest appearance in 2009 on the sixth season finale ofEntourageas himself, where he tries to pressure Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) into donating to his charity OneXOne—a real foundation for which Damon is an ambassador—and gets increasingly irritated when [41] [42] Chase does not seem to comply. [43] Damon next appeared in Steven Soderbergh's dark comedy,The Informant!(2009), in which his Golden Globe-nominated work was described byEntertainment Weeklyas such: "The star–who has quietly and steadily [44] turned into a great Everyman actor–Also in 2009,is in nimble control as he reveals his character's deep crazies." Damon portrayed South Africa national rugby union team captain Franbois Pienaar in the Clint Eastwood-directed Nelson Mandela filmInvictus, which is based on the 2008 John Carlin bookPlaying the Enemy: Nelson Mandela [45] and the Game That Changed a Nationand features Morgan Freeman as Mandela.Invictusearned Damon an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.The New Republicobserved, "It is not a demanding role, but [46] the ever-more-actorly Damon brings it off with low-key charm and integrity." In 2010, Damon re-teamed with director Paul Greengrass, who directed him in theBourne SupremacyandBourne Ultimatum, for the action [47] thrillerGreen Zone, which flopped commercially and received [48] ambivalent reception from critics.

In motion pictures that feature him either as a leading actor or as a [49] supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of U.S.$1.94 to [50] U.S.$2.42 billion (based on counting his roles as strictly lead or including supporting roles, respectively) at the North American box office, placing him in the top forty grossing actors of all time. Handprints and footprints of Damon in front of He has appeared as a guest star in an episode ofArthur, titledThe the Grauman's Chinese Theatre [51] Making of Arthur, as himself. During Season 5 of30 Rock, he appeared as guest star in the role of Liz Lemon's boyfriend in the episodes "I Do I Do," "The Fabian Strategy," "Live Show," and "Double Edged Sword."

Damon's 2010 projects includedThe Adjustment Bureau, Clint Eastwood'sHereafter, and the Coen Brothers' remake of the 1969 John Wayne-starring WesternTrue Grit; the latter movie started filming in March 2010 and was released [52] in December of that year.

4

Matt Damon

Upcoming films He will next work with frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh on a project as the longtime Liberace love interest, [53] Scott Thorsen, opposite Michael Douglas in an upcoming film centered on the pianist's life. He will also star in We Bought a Zoo, and has been cast to play inElysium.

Producing career Along with Affleck and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, Damon founded the production company [54] LivePlanet , through which the four created the documentary seriesProject Greenlightto find and fund [55] worthwhile film projects from novice filmmakers. The company produced and founded the short-lived mystery-hybrid seriesPush, Nevada, among other projects.Project Greenlightwas nominated for an Emmy for [15] Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004, and 2005. [56] In March 2010, Damon and Affleck teamed up again to sign a first-look production deal with Warner Bros.

Humanitarian work

Damon was the founder of H2O Africa Foundation, the charitable arm [15] [57] of theRunning the Saharaexpedition, which merged with [58] WaterPartners to create Water.org in July 2009. He, along with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, is one of the founders of Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such [59] as in Darfur. Damon supports the ONE Campaign, which is aimed at fighting AIDS and poverty in Third World countries. He has Damon volunteering in Haiti as part of the United appeared in their print and television advertising. Damon is also an Nations Stabilization Mission ambassador for OneXOne, a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in [60] Canada, the United States, and around the world. Damon is also a spokesperson for Feeding America, the largest USA-focused hunger-relief organization, and a member of their Entertainment Council, participating in their Ad Council PSAs.

Damon is a board member of Tonic Mailstopper (formerly GreenDimes), a company that attempts to halt junk mail [61] delivered to American homes each day. Appearing onThe Oprah Winfrey Showon April 20, 2007, Damon promoted the organization's efforts to prevent the trees used for junk mail letters and envelopes from being chopped down. Damon stated: "For an estimated dime a day they can stop 70 percent of the junk mail that comes to your house. It's very simple, easy to do, great gift to give, I've actually signed up my entire family. It was a gift given to [62] me this past holiday season and I was so impressed that I'm now on the board of the company." [63] In 2011, the documentary which he narrated,American Teacher, opened in New York prior to national screening.

In the media

Kimmel and Damon Comedian Jimmy Kimmel at some point started stating near the end of his ABC television showJimmy Kimmel Live!, "My apologies to Matt Damon; we ran out of time." The line is a gag lampooning instances where shows cannot feature their last guest due to time constraints. On September 12, 2006, after a segment highlighting the running gag and a lengthy introduction by Kimmel, Damon finally appeared on the show, only for Kimmel to apologetically cut his interview and head to credits, as Damon cursed him. This encounter was entirely planned by

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Matt Damon

[64] Kimmel and Damon. Kimmel's girlfriend at the time, comedian Sarah Silverman appeared onJimmy Kimmel Liveon January 31, 2008 and aired a clip where she is singing a song entitled "I'm Fucking Matt Damon." Damon appeared in the song with [65] Silverman. Kimmel responded by airing his own music video in which he announced, through song, that he is "fucking Ben Affleck." The video aired on February 24, 2008, and featured Affleck along with a host of celebrities, including Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford, and Robin Williams. Later on, Kimmel's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof ofThe Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as he cursed about Kimmel being behind all this. The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with other "Handsome Men" including Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe and Lenny Kravitz. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by Damon stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a [66] sinister laugh.

Political views Damon appeared onHardball with Chris Matthewsin December 2006 and, while discussing the ongoing war in Iraq, he stated: "I don't think that it's fair, as I said before, that it seems like we have a fighting class in our country that's comprised of people who have to go for either financial reasons, or ... if you're gonna send people to war, then that [67] needs to be shared by everybody." On September 10, 2008, a video was released on YouTube by theAssociated Pressin which Damon criticized the Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whom he found unready to lead the country in case John McCain were to not make it through his first term. Damon referred to Palin as a "...bad Disney movie... 'I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska here to take on the White House,'" and added, "It's absurd ... I need to know if she really [68] thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. Because she’s gonna have the nuclear codes." Damon narrated the audiobook version of historian Howard Zinn'sA People's History of the United States, published [69] in 2003. Zinn had been his next-door neighbor growing up in Cambridge.

Personal life [70] Damon dated hisGood Will HuntingHe laterco-star Minnie Driver. [17] had a two-year relationship with actress Winona Ryder. From 2001 to 2003, he dated Odessa Whitmire, a former personal assistant of Billy [17] Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck. While filmingStuck on Youin [71] 2003, Damon met Argentine-born Luciana Bozcn Barroso (born [72] 1976) in Miami, where she was working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, at the [72] Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall. Damon DamonwithwifeLucianaBozcnBarrosoatthe became stepfather to Barroso's young daughter, Alexia, from her 2009 Venice International Film Festival previous marriage. The couple's first child together, daughter Isabella, [73] was born on June 11, 2006. On August 20, 2008, Barroso gave birth [74] to the couple's second child, Gia Zavala Damon, both girls born in Miami, Florida. On October 20, 2010, Barroso [75] gave birth to their third daughter, Stella Zavala Damon, in New York. As of 2011, Damon and his family reside [56] in Manhattan.

[76] Damon is a fan of the Boston Red Sox. After the team won the 2007 World Series, he narrated the [77] commemorative DVD release of the event. [78] [79] Damon enjoys playing poker and has competed in several World Series of Poker (WSOP) events including [80] the 2010 World Series of Poker main event. He dropped $25,000 at the WSOP while researching his role as a

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Matt Damon

[81] professional poker player inRounders(1998) and after filming the movie Damon was busted out of the 1998 [82] WSOP by poker professional Doyle Brunson.

Awards and honors

Damon won multiple awards forGood Will Hunting, a film he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. He was nominated for the Academy Award as "Best Actor in a Leading Role" and won for "Best [23] [24] Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen". On July 25, 2007, Damon became the 2,343rd person to receive a [83] star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 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 [84] of those times." Damon has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild awards Matt Damon's star on the Hollywood Walk of and seven MTV Movie Awards for various films. Additionally, he Fame has three Emmy nominations for his work as producer on three [85] seasons ofProject Greenlight. [86] Damon was namedPeoplemagazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2007. [87] Damon won 'Best Ass-Kicker' and 'Guy of the Year' at the Spike Guys' Choice Awards of 2008. On March 27, 2010, Damon received the 24th Annual American Cinematheque Award, which was presented to him by Ben Affleck at a ceremony comprising roasts from Damon's colleagues and friends in the entertainment [88] industry.

Filmography

Year

1988

1988

1989

1992

1993

1996

1996

Title

Mystic Pizza

The Good Mother

Field of Dreams

School Ties

Geronimo: An American Legend

Glory Daze

Courage Under Fire

Role

Steamer

Extra

Fenway Park extra

Charlie Dillon

2nd Lt. Britton Davis

Edgar Pudwhacker

Specialist Ilario

Film and television

Notes

7