Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He is ranked among Forbes magazine's most bankable stars and is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Damon has received several accolades for his acting, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. His father is of English and Scottish descent, and his mother is of Finnish and Swedish ancestry. Damon's family traveled to many different places when he was young, including Germany and Australia, and he attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
Damon began his acting career in the late 1980s, appearing in small roles on television shows and in films. His breakthrough came in 1997 with the drama film Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Damon won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Actor.
Since then, Damon has appeared in many critically acclaimed films, such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, The Bourne Identity and its sequels, Interstellar, and Manchester by the Sea. He has also lent his voice to animated films, including the Shrek and Kung Fu Panda franchises.
In addition to his acting career, Damon is actively involved in charitable and humanitarian causes. He co-founded the non-profit organization Water.org, which works to provide clean drinking water to people in developing countries. He has also worked with organizations such as ONE Campaign and H2O Africa Foundation.
Damon has been married to Luciana Bozán Barroso since 2005, and they have four daughters together. The family resides in the New York City area.
Throughout his career, Damon has become known for his versatility as an actor, his ability to portray a wide range of characters, and his commitment to socially-conscious causes. He has established himself as one of the most talented and respected actors in Hollywood, and his work has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades.
In the early 1990s, Damon began his acting career with small roles on television shows and films. He made his film debut in 1988 with a minor role in the film Mystic Pizza, and he later appeared in films such as School Ties (1992) and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993).
Damon's big break came in 1997 with the film Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Damon received widespread acclaim for his performance as Will Hunting, a troubled young man with a genius-level intellect. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Actor.
After the success of Good Will Hunting, Damon's career took off, and he appeared in a number of successful films in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1999, he starred in The Talented Mr. Ripley, a psychological thriller based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith. He received positive reviews for his portrayal of Tom Ripley, a young man who becomes embroiled in a dangerous web of deceit and murder.
In 2001, Damon starred in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film was a blockbuster hit and spawned two sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). In the film, Damon played Linus Caldwell, a young pickpocket and con artist who is recruited by Danny Ocean (George Clooney) to help rob three Las Vegas casinos.
In 2002, Damon took on the role of Jason Bourne in the action film The Bourne Identity, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Damon received praise for his portrayal of Bourne, an amnesiac who becomes a skilled assassin while trying to uncover his past. The Bourne Identity spawned three sequels, The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Jason Bourne (2016), all of which featured Damon as the titular character.
In the 2010s, Damon continued to appear in a variety of films, including the science fiction film Interstellar (2014), the comedy-drama The Martian (2015), and the drama Manchester by the Sea (2016). In The Martian, Damon played Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on Mars who must find a way to survive and signal to Earth for rescue. The film was a commercial and critical success, and Damon received praise for his performance. In Manchester by the Sea, he played Lee Chandler, a man who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his brother and the responsibility of caring for his teenage nephew. The film was highly acclaimed and earned Damon a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In addition to his acting career, Damon is actively involved in charitable and humanitarian causes. He co-founded the non-profit organization Water.org, which works to provide clean drinking water to people in developing countries. He has also worked with organizations such as ONE Campaign and H2O Africa Foundation. In 2010, Damon was named a UN Messenger of Peace, and in 2013, he was appointed to the board of directors of Water.org.
Damon has been married to Luciana Bozán Barroso since 2005, and they have four daughters together. The family resides in the New York City area.
Throughout his career, Damon has established himself as one of the most talented and respected actors in Hollywood, and his work has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades. He has won an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, and he has been nominated for numerous other awards, including three additional Academy Awards and six additional Golden