Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt, better known as Ben Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He became known in the mid 1990s, after his involvement in his friend
Kevin Smith's
View Askewniverse, first with the film
Mallrats and later playing the lead role in
Chasing Amy in 1997. Affleck has since become an
Academy Award winner for his screenplay with
BFF Matt Damon in
Good Will Hunting in 1997. He has established himself as a Hollywood leading man, having starred in several big budget films, such as
Armageddon (1998),
Pearl Harbor (2001),
Changing Lanes (2002),
The Sum of All Fears (2002) and
Daredevil (2003). In 2003 he starred in the bomb
Gigli, which at the time
killed his career as a big star.
He's since rebuilt his acting career from the ground up by focusing on less glamorous roles than his earlier career, earning back a lot of cred with an award-winning turn as the troubled
George Reeves in
Hollywoodland, and had a full-on
Career Resurrection in 2007 with his directorial debut
Gone Baby Gone which was both a critical and commercial success and with the reviews of 2010's
The Town has proved that he's a force to be reckoned with. In 2012, he made the fact-based thriller
Argo which is said to be his best yet and won an Oscar for Best Picture.
After a high profile relationship with actress
Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998, his relationship with actress/singer
Jennifer Lopez attracted worldwide media attention in which Affleck and Lopez were dubbed as
"Bennifer", arguably one of the earliest public examples of the
Portmanteau Couple Name being used by the mainstream media. Following their breakup in 2004, he began dating
Daredevil co-star
Jennifer Garner. "Bennifer 2.0" was much more successful, eventually leading to marriage and three kids - two daughters and a son before separating in 2015. Affleck is also known for his outspoken support of liberal politics.
Many fans have stated the fact that
he looks
◊ a lot like the young version of Robert Smith from
The Cure.
Older brother of actor
Casey Affleck.
On August 22, 2013, Affleck was
announced to be the next
Batman in the
DC Extended Universe, appearing for the first time alongside
Henry Cavill's
Superman and
Gal Gadot's
Wonder Woman in the sequel to
Man of Steel,
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in 2016.
In April 2016, it was announced he will also have his own standalone Batman film, which he will also direct, scheduled for a 2018 release.
Filmography:
◊ a lot