Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his screenwriting in Good Will Hunting and was nominated for his lead performance in the same film. Growing steadily in popularity from that film back in 1997 with many appearances alongside other A-list actors in mainstream films, today he is rated amongst the top actors in Hollywood.Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, realtor, and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Damon has a brother, Kyle, who is an accomplished sculptor and artist.
Damon grew up next door to historian and author Howard Zinn. Damon worked Zinn's popular book A People's History of the United States into his character's dialogue in the movie Good Will Hunting, saying: "That book will knock you on your ass." Later he did the narration for Zinn's own biographical film You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train and an audio version of A People's History of the United States.
He graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 1988, the only public high school in Cambridge. He began Harvard University in the fall of 1988 and could have graduated with the class of 1992, but kept leaving classes to pursue acting projects, including the TNT original movie Rising Son and ensemble prep-school drama School Ties. While at Harvard, he concentrated in English and lived in Lowell House. He did not take part in student theatre generally, but did appear in A... My Name is Alice (in one of the three male roles usually performed by women). Damon dropped out of university to pursue his acting career in Los Angeles after Geronimo: An American Legend was expected (incorrectly) to be a big success.
While filming Stuck on You in 2003, Damon met Argentine-born Luciana Bozan Barroso in Miami, where she was working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, in New York City Hall. Damon became stepfather to Barroso's young daughter, Alexia, from her previous marriage. The couple's first child together, daughter Isabella, was born on June 11, 2006.
Damon had a three-year relationship with Winona Ryder. He also dated Odessa Whitmire, who has worked as a personal assistant for Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck, from 2001 to 2003. His relationship with Good Will Hunting co-star Minnie Driver reportedly ended when Damon announced their break-up on The Oprah Winfrey Show, though both actors have repeatedly denied this. Damon later stated that he was "sick and tired" of hearing the story, saying it was false. Driver's sister allegedly told Cosmo that the couple had broken up before the show was taped.
Damon, along with his best friend Ben Affleck, are die-hard Boston Red Sox fans.
