July 03, 2010

Matt Damon

Matt Damon has been honored for his work on both sides of the camera, including an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Damon has a wide range of projects forthcoming. He recently filmed George Nolfi’s thriller The Adjustment Bureau, opposite Emily Blunt, and reunited with director Clint Eastwood on the drama Hereafter, written by Peter Morgan. Damon will also film the Coen brothers’ remake of the classic western True Grit. His upcoming films also include the independent feature Margaret, directed by Kenneth Lonergan.

Damon most recently starred in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, opposite Morgan Freeman, for which Damon received Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Screen Actors Guild award nominations. He also played the title role in The Informant!, which marked his fifth collaboration with Steven Soderbergh and for which Damon received another Golden Globe nomination. He previously teamed with the director as part of the all-star casts in the action comedies Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen. Damon also had a cameo role in the second part of Soderbergh’s two-part biopic Che.

For the small screen, Damon both executive produced and appeared in The People Speak, based on a book co-written by famed historian Howard Zinn and featuring dramatic readings and performances from some of the most famous names in the entertainment industry. It aired on the History Channel in December 2009.

In 2002, Damon originated the role of Jason Bourne in the blockbuster actioner The Bourne Identity. He went on to reprise his role in the two hit sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, both directed by Paul Greengrass. Damon’s other recent film credits include Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Best Picture The Departed, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg; Robert DeNiro’s dramatic thriller The Good Shepherd, with DeNiro and Angelina Jolie; and Stephen Gaghan’s geopolitical thriller Syriana, with George Clooney.

Hailing from Boston, Damon attended Harvard University and gained his first acting experience with the American Repertory Theater. He made his feature film debut in Mystic Pizza, followed by roles in School Ties, Walter Hill’s Geronimo: An American Legend and the cable projects Rising Son and Tommy Lee Jones’ The Good Old Boys. He first gained attention with his portrayal of a guilt-ridden Gulf War veteran tormented by memories of a battlefield incident in 1996’s Courage Under Fire.

Together with his lifelong friend Ben Affleck, Damon co-wrote the acclaimed 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, for which they won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as several critics groups awards, for Best Original Screenplay. Damon also garnered Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor. Also in 1997, Damon starred as an idealistic young attorney in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker and made a cameo appearance in Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy.

The following year, Damon played the title role in Steven Spielberg’s award-winning World War II drama Saving Private Ryan and also starred in John Dahl’s drama Rounders, with Edward Norton. Damon earned his third Golden Globe nomination for his performance in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, under the direction of Anthony Minghella. He also reunited with Ben Affleck and director Kevin Smith to star in the controversial comedy Dogma.

Damon’s other film credits include starring roles in Robert Redford’s The Legend of Bagger Vance; Billy Bob Thornton’s All the Pretty Horses; the Farrelly brothers’ comedy Stuck on You, opposite Greg Kinnear; and Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm, with Heath Ledger; as well as a cameo appearance in George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

Damon and Affleck formed the production company LivePlanet to produce film, television and new-media projects. LivePlanet produced three Emmy-nominated seasons of Project Greenlight, chronicling the making of independent films by firsttime writers and directors. The Project Greenlight films produced to date are Stolen Summer, The Battle of Shaker Heights and Feast. LivePlanet also produced the documentary Running the Sahara, directed by Oscar winner James Moll.

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