Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt (born August 15, 1972), better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997). Affleck won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997), which he co-wrote with Matt Damon, and has appeared in lead roles in such popular hits as Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Daredevil (2003), Hollywoodland (2007) and State of Play (2009).
Affleck is a critically acclaimed filmmaker. He directed Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010), playing the lead in the latter. He has worked with his younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, on several projects, including Good Will Hunting and Gone Baby Gone. Affleck has been married to Jennifer Garner since June 2005. They have two daughters, Violet Anne, born December 2005, and Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, born January 2009, and are currently expecting their third child. He dated the actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998. His relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez attracted worldwide media attention, in which Affleck and Lopez were dubbed "Bennifer". The two broke up in 2004. Affleck has been actively involved in politics and charitable causes. He and Matt Damon also founded the production company LivePlanet.
Affleck was born in Berkeley, California. His mother, Christine Anne "Chris" , is a school district employee and teacher, and his father, Timothy Byers Affleck, has been, at various times, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, writer, director, and actor with the Theater Company of Boston. Affleck's mother graduated from Harvard University and was a freedom rider in the 1960s; she teaches in Cambridge Public Schools. His younger brother is actor Casey Affleck. Affleck has Irish, Scottish, English, and German ancestry (the surname "Affleck" is Scottish). He was raised in a mostly Episcopal family. His family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was very young and his parents divorced in 1984. At age eight, Affleck met 10-year-old Matt Damon, who lived two blocks away (Damon is Affleck's tenth cousin, once removed, through a common New England ancestor). The two later attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School together, although they were in different grades. Affleck attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, as well as the University of Vermont, and majored in Middle Eastern affairs.
In 2009, Affleck returned to acting, starring in three features, He's Just Not That into You, State of Play, and Extract. In He's Just Not That into You, a romantic comedy, he was part of an ensemble cast that included Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long, and Jennifer Connelly. The film generated mostly mixed reviews, but was a box office success, earning $165 million worldwide. In State of Play, an adaptation of the British television serial State of Play, Affleck played Congressman Stephen Collins. The film is a political thriller which explores the relationship between politicians and the media. In the comedy film Extract, Affleck played Dean, a bartender, and the best friend to Jason Bateman's character. His performance in the film was well-received, with Barbara Vancheri of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting that "Affleck is a hoot as a long-haired fount of bad advice and drugs he keeps in a little tin behind the bar. After playing a square-jawed crimefighter, an actor turned Superman and a congressman, he is actually loose and funny."
Affleck directed his second feature, The Town, an adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves, that was both a critical and commercial success when it was released in theaters in 2010. Along with directing and co-writing the film, he was part of the cast that includes Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper and Blake Lively. Affleck will star in an upcoming romantic drama written and directed by Terrence Malick, alongside Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz. Filming took place in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Affleck will also be directing his third feature, Argo, for producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film tells the story of a CIA operation to save six ambassadors during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis by faking a production for a large-scale science fiction film.
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