Matt Damon

Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Kent Damon, a stockbroker, realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Matt has an older brother, Kyle, a sculptor. His father was of English and Scottish descent, and his mother is of Finnish and Swedish ancestry. The family lived in Newton until his parents divorced in 1973, when Damon and his brother moved with his mother to Cambridge. He grew up in a stable community, and was raised near actor Ben Affleck.

Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and he performed in a number of theater productions during his time there. He attended Harvard University as an English major. While in Harvard, he kept on skipping classes to pursue acting projects, which included the TNT original film, Conexão Patriótica (1990), and prep-school drama, Código de Honra (1992). It was until his film, Gerônimo: Uma Lenda Americana (1993), was expected to be a big success that he decided to drop out of university completely. Arriving in Hollywood, Matt managed to get his first break with a part in the romantic comedy, Três Mulheres, Três Amores (1988). However, the film did not do too well and his film career failed to take off. Not letting failure discourage him from acting, he went for another audition, and managed to get a starring role in Código de Honra (1992). Up next for Matt was a role as a soldier who had problems with drug-addiction in the movie, Coragem Sob Fogo (1996). Matt had, in fact, lost forty pounds for his role which resulted in health problems.

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The following year, he garnered accolades for Gênio Indomável (1997), a screenplay he had originally written for an English class at Harvard University. Gênio Indomável (1997) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, one of which, Matt won for Best Original Screenplay along with Ben Affleck. In the year 1998, Matt played the title role in Steven Spielberg's film, O Resgate do Soldado Ryan (1998), which was one of the most acclaimed films in that year. Matt had the opportunity of working with Tom Hanks and Vin Diesel while filming that movie. That same year, he starred as an earnest law student and reformed poker player in Cartas na Mesa (1998), starring opposite Edward Norton and John Malkovich. The next year, Matt rejoined his childhood friend, Ben Affleck and fellow comedian, Chris Rock, in the comedy Dogma (1999).

Towards the end of 1999, Matt played "Tom Ripley", a working-class young man who tastes the good life and will do anything to live it. Both Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow also starred in the movie. O Talentoso Ripley (1999) earned mixed reviews from critics, but even so, Matt earned praise for his performance. Matt lent his voice to the animated movie, Titan A.E. (2000) in the year 2000, which also earned mixed reviews from the public. He also starred in two other movies, Espírito Selvagem (2000) and the golf comedy-drama, Lendas da Vida (2000), starring alongside Will Smith. In the year 2003, he signed on to star in O Desinformante! (2009) by Steven Soderbergh and the Farrelly Brothers' Ligado em Você (2003). He also starred in Gerry (2002), a film he co-wrote with his friends, Gus Van Sant and Casey Affleck. One of Matt's most recognizable work to date is his role in the "Bourne" movie franchise. He plays an amnesiac assassin, "Jason Bourne", in A Identidade Bourne (2002), A Supremacia Bourne (2004) and O Ultimato Bourne (2007). Another praised role is that as "Linus Caldwell" in the "Ocean's" movie franchise. He had the opportunity to star opposite George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle in Onze Homens e um Segredo (2001). The successful crime comedy-drama eventually had two other sequels, Doze Homens e Outro Segredo (2004) and Treze Homens e um Novo Segredo (2007). Among other highly acclaimed movies that Matt has been a part of are Terry Gilliam's Os Irmãos Grimm (2005), George Clooney's Syriana - A Indústria do Petróleo (2005), Martin Scorsese's Os Infiltrados (2006) and Robert De Niro's O Bom Pastor (2006).

In his personal life, Matt is now happily married to Argentine-born Luciana Damon, whom he met in Miami, where she was working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. The couple have four daughters Alexia, Luciana's daughter from a previous relationship, as well as Isabella, Gia and Stella. Matt is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox and he tries to attend their games whenever possible. He has also formed great friendships with his Ocean's co-stars, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, whom he works on charity projects with. He and actor Ben Affleck have remained lifelong friends and collaborators.

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