Matt Damon

Did You Know?

• Damon and Jimmy Kimmel have maintained a long-running comedic feud on Kimmel's talk show, with Damon often attempting to appear as a guest and Kimmel finding ways to prevent it.
• Damon became the 2,343rd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 25, 2007.
• While at Harvard, Damon performed a scene with fellow classmate and future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Early life and education

Matt Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second son of stockbroker Kent Telfer Damon and early childhood education professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige. His father has English and Scottish ancestry; his mother is of Finnish and Swedish descent. His parents divorced when he was two, and he and his brother Kyle, later a sculptor, returned with their mother to Cambridge. Damon attended Cambridge Alternative School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he acted in theater productions and credited drama teacher Gerry Speca as an important influence.

He entered Harvard University as a member of the class of 1992 and resided in Lowell House. While at Harvard, he wrote an essay for an English class that later became the screenplay for Good Will Hunting. He also took a course on the Ancient Greek Hero and was a member of the Delphic Club. Damon left Harvard without receiving his degree to take a lead role in Geronimo: An American Legend. In 2013 he received the Harvard Arts Medal.

Career

Damon made his film debut with a single line in Mystic Pizza while still a teenager. He left Harvard in 1992, 12 credits short of completing his Bachelor of Arts in English, to appear in Geronimo: An American Legend. He gained critical notice for his role as an opiate-addicted soldier in Courage Under Fire, for which he lost 40 pounds. The film earned nine Academy Award nominations; Damon and Affleck won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Screenplay.

Damon was paid $600,000 for the film, which grossed over $225 million worldwide. He later parodied his Good Will Hunting role in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Damon established himself as a leading man with roles in The Talented Mr. Ripley, the Bourne franchise, and the Ocean's trilogy. He received an Academy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for The Martian.

His other films include Saving Private Ryan, The Departed, Interstellar, Ford v Ferrari, Oppenheimer, and the upcoming The Odyssey.

Activism

Damon is a founder of Not On Our Watch Project, which focuses global attention on stopping mass atrocities such as in Darfur. He supports the One Campaign, which fights AIDS and poverty in developing countries, and is an ambassador for ONEXONE, a foundation improving children's lives. He serves as a spokesperson for Feeding America and was a board member of Tonic Mailstopper. Damon founded the H2O Africa Foundation, which merged with WaterPartners to create Water.org in 2009.

Water.org promotes safe drinking water and sanitation in developing countries, and Damon has promoted its efforts through partnerships with PepsiCo, Starbucks, and Anheuser-Busch InBev's Stella Artois. In 2011 Water.org received an $8 million grant from the PepsiCo Foundation. On July 30, 2025, Damon competed on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $1 million for Water.org, becoming the third celebrity and sixteenth overall contestant to win the top prize.

Personal life

Damon met Argentine bartender Luciana Barroso while filming Stuck on You in Miami in April 2003. They became engaged in September 2005 and married in a private civil ceremony at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau on December 9, 2005. The couple has three daughters: Isabella, Gia, and Stella. They lived in Miami and New York City before moving to Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles in 2012; Damon relocated back to New York City in 2018. He is a Boston Red Sox fan and narrated the commemorative DVD of their 2007 World Series win. Damon has competed in World Series of Poker events, including the 2010 main event. He has expressed support for gun control and is a supporter of the Democratic Party, endorsing Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.