Ben Affleck, Benjamin Geza Affleck Boldt was born on 5 August 1972 at Berkeley, California. An actor, screenwriter, and producer who is widely known as one of the most prominent actors of Hollywood. He aced the roles in action, drama, and comedy films alike.
EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
After his birth, his family moved to Cambridge Massachusetts. His mother, Chris Affleck was an Irish woman and worked as a school teacher. On the other hand, his father Tim Affleck worked as a bartender, a mechanic, and even a janitor at Harvard University. His father’s work inspired many parts of Ben’s film “Good Will Hunting.”
Ben’s parents separated soon after his birth and got divorced before his 12th birthday.
Affleck’s acting started at the age of seven when he starred in “The Dark End of the Street” in 1979 that was produced by a family friend, he also worked in Burger King Commercials during that time. Later in 1984 when he was 8 years old, he got featured in a TV series “The Voyage of Mimi.”
The same year he met his future best friend, Matt Damon who lived just a street away, with whom he took drama classes together. To this day, both of them are still best friends and work in film projects on and off.
Ben studied at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, from where he graduated in 1990, he then went to Occidental College in Middle Eastern. Dropping out after 1 year, he also got enrolled in the University of Vermont but dropped out after the very first semester.
BEN’S ACTING JOURNEY
Dazed and Confused, Chasing Amy;
Five years later in 1993, Ben was cast in “Dazed and Confused” in which he played the role of a bully. He then landed the roles in independent films as Kevin Smith’s “Mallrats” in 1995 and “Chasing Amy” in 1995. Both of these films received a commendable appreciation at Sundance Festival.
The ups and downs in films left the two friends in distress as they were given the supporting roles rather than big main roles. They took the break and started working on writing the script so they can have their own work.
Good Will Hunting; the career kick starter
In 1997, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon finished their first script for “Good Will Hunting ” and handed it to their agent Patrick Whitesell who showed their script to some Hollywood studios. Their hope was getting down as they first did not get the response over the control on the project they are hoping for. Finally, Miramax took the script and gave them the control they were looking for. That year brought so much luck to them as in that year Good Will hunting was released and turned their names from unknowns to famous names.
The Film managed to get one academy award out of nine nominations, which was mainly for best writing, screenplay written for the screen. They sold their script for unknown reasons in 1997 for $600000.
Armageddon, Shakespeare in Love
After his Oscar win, he got the chance to be a part of the action-adventure and science-fiction film “Armageddon” in 1998 alongside Bruce Wills and Liv Tyler. The film was the second top-grossing film of the year. The film was about drillers who were sent by NASA to detect the asteroid which was on a collision course to Earth.
The same year, he chose to act in the popular romantic film “Shakespeare in Love”, which grabbed many academy awards including for the best picture.
A year later, he appeared in Kevin Smith’s Dogma, co-starring Matt Damon, Chris Rock. He was also part of Romantic Comedy “Forces of Nature” alongside Sandra Bullock.
Pearl Harbor, Daredevil
In 2000, Affleck worked in a stock-market drama Boiler room; he also co-starred along with Paltrow.
In the 2001 summer, Affleck again teamed up with Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer for the Blockbuster film “Pearl Harbor”, alongside Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Ben got roles in many famous films further on, one such film is Daredevil, the Movie (2003). In this movie, he played the role of a Child named Matt Murdock who was stained by some radioactive material in an accident that makes him blind. The flick goes on to tell how he overcame his disability and managed to develop a sixth sense that allows him to get aware of the surroundings.
Gigli, Pay Check, Smith’s Jersey Girl
Ben then got the role in “Gigli” (2003), written and directed by Martin Brest. The film also had Jennifer Lopez, Al Pacino, and Christopher Walken in major roles. In early 2004, he acted in Pay Check which didn’t receive a positive response from the critics.
His next films, Smith’s Jersey Girl (2004) and comedy Surviving Christmas (2004), also didn’t manage to grab the audience’s attention.
Affleck continues to remain occupied in Hollywood, as he starred in Smokin’ Aces and the popular one Hollywood land (2006), Clerks II in (2006); and Man About Town (2006) all of which managed to do good business at the box office.
Gone Baby Gone, Argo
In 2007, Affleck transformed his career by working as the director and co-writer of the movie “Gone Baby Gone”.
In 2009, Ben Affleck went back to acting in the movies with “He’s just Not That Into You”, and an action flicker “State of Play and Extract.”
Ben had one of the biggest successes behind the camera and in front of camera alike, in the film “Argo” a movie about a former CIA Operative Tony Mendez who took six American citizens to safety during the Iran Hostage crisis back in 1979. Affleck acted, co-produced, and directed the blockbuster film. He got Golden Globe awards for the best director, the film also got the best picture award and in 2013 the academy award for the best picture.
Runner Runner, Gone Girl
After that, Affleck took different projects as he starred in the thriller “Runner Runner” in 2013, with Justin Timberlake and Gemma Arterton alongside in the cast.
Ben starred in the film “Gone Girl” (2014), in which he played the role of a husband who becomes a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, which was portrayed by Rosamund Pike.
Batman vs. Superman, Suicide Squad, Justice League
In 2013 August, Affleck suddenly made news when he signed on to play the role of Batman in Batman vs. Superman. Batman’s fans got so anguished that they even launched a petition to remove the actor from the cast. But he got the support from within the Hollywood industry from some big names.
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was then released in 2016, and although the film received mixed reviews, Affleck was acclaimed for his portrayal of Batman.
He then starred as Batman in the hit superhero movie “Suicide Squad” (2016) and repeated the role in Justice League (2017).
The Accountant, Triple Frontier
Apart from Dark Knight, Ben Affleck took unique roles and played the role of Autistic accountant in the “The Accountant” (2016) and a gangster in Dennis Lehane’s novel “Live by night” (2016).
In 2018, Affleck starred in Netflix’s flicker Triple Frontier; in which he played the role of a Military Veteran who was recruited for a mission to take out a South American Druglord.
He then appeared in Kevin Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” (2019) and acted as a diplomat in Anne Hathway’s troubled journalist in “The Last Thing He Wanted” (2020).
BEN AFFLECK’S PERSONAL LIFE
Gwyneth Paltrow
The actor has a long list of relationships, starting from Gwyneth Paltrow to whom he met at a dinner party thrown by Harvey Weinstein in 1997. They dated soon after the actress ended her engagement with Brad Pitt. They dated from 1997 until 2000, in that period they also worked together in films as Shakespeare in love in 1998 and Bounce in 2000. However, the actress stated that they are friends to this day.
Jennifer Lopez
He started dating Jennifer Lopez in 2002 when they both starred in the movie “Gigli”, which still got positive reviews from the critics and got good stars from the rotten tomatoes.
At that very time, their relationship was the most high profile romance, and most talked about everywhere. Jennifer also made fun of the paparazzi in her 2003 video song “Jenny from the block.”
Affleck proposed to her with a 6.1 karat pink diamond ring and was planning to get married in September 2003, but the couple called off the wedding one week before the wedding due to excessive media attention. In early 2004, Lopez confirmed that their engagement was over.
JENNIFER GARNER
Jennifer Garner met Ben Affleck on the set of Pearl Harbour in 2000. But both of them were not linked then. It was in October 2004 just nine months after the split from J.Lo, Affleck was seen out with the pretty actress. At the 33rd Birthday celebration of the actress at her home in Brentwood, Ben proposed to her with a 4.5-carat ring.
The love birds got married in a private ceremony in 2005 in Turks and Caicos.
In 2005 the couple welcomed their first daughter, Violet, and then a daughter Seraphina in 2009 and their son Samuel in 2012. They were together for 10 years, eventually parting ways in 2015 and officially got divorced in 2017. Speaking in an interview, Garnier said that Ben was the love of her life.
The actor recently opened about his alcohol addiction and said that during the difficult years of his marriage, he was drinking more than usual. He further said that the divorce was the biggest regret of his life.
Two years after his divorce, he found love again when he started dating Saturday Night Writer Lindsay Shookus.
They were first spotted together in 2017 when he was shooting for the Justice League. Their romance also didn’t work out and they split as the couple was said to be dating model Shauna Sexton.
As of March 2020, Ben had found a new love interest as he was spotted in Cuba with his co-star Ana de Armas.
POLITICS
Ben is quite active in politics as he attended a lot of Democratic rallies and appeared in Political Talk shows such as “A real-time with Maher.” Apart from that, he was also involved in a cause to end the violence in Congo, and in other projects as Paralyzed Veterans Americans, Feeding America, and the A-T Children’s project.
AWARDS
He won an academy award for his movie “Good Will Hunting” and “Argo” got the best picture award.
Alongside that, he also won numerous Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
BEN AFFLECK’S NET WORTH
Ben Affleck has a net worth of around $150 million. From a troubled life to a successful actor in Hollywood, he inspired many others to pursue their dreams.
