Below is a compiled list of the most interesting facts about Matt Damon. Check it out!
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.
Interesting Facts about Matt Damon
- Became a father for the 1st time at age 35 when his wife Luciana Barroso gave birth to their daughter Isabella Zavala Damon on June 11, 2006.
- Both he and Ben Affleck worked as extras on the film Field of Dreams (1989). At one point during the shoot, Matt took some blades of grass from the field as mementos for his father.
- Dropped 47 pounds for his role as a Gulf War vet in Courage Under Fire (1996).
- Is the real-life best friend of Ben Affleck. Each has starred together or had cameos in each of the other’s films.
- He has worked with 9 directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Anthony Minghella, Robert Redford, Steven Soderbergh, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, and Joel Coen & Ethan Coen.
- As of 2019, has appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (not counting his unconfirmed bit part in Field of Dreams (1989)): Good Will Hunting (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Departed (2006) , True Grit (2010), The Martian (2015) and Le Mans ’66 (2019), and produced Best Picture nominee Manchester by the Sea (2016). The Departed (2006) won in the category.
- Named Hollywood’s “best value” by Forbes Magazine, with his films making $29 (US) for each dollar he is paid (2007).
- Had never made a sequel until he made Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004), both in the same year. In 2007, the third parts of those series, Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), opened, making the first trilogies he’s starred in.
- 1998: Played in $10,000 buy-in Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at the World Series of Poker (www.wsop.com) in Las Vegas. He was knocked out in the first day by poker legend Doyle Brunson. Damon had kings, Brunson aces.
- He gained over 30 pounds to play Mark Whiteacre in The Informant! (2009), which he dieted off as soon as the shoot was complete.
- He is close friends with Chris Hemsworth.
- Is sometimes (but rarely) mistaken for actor Mark Wahlberg.
Personal Quotes by Matt Damon
My parents divorced when I was young but I was brought up in two really loving households. I didn’t have a contentious relationship with my mom or dad.
Matt Damon
There are people who appear in the magazines and I don’t know who they are. I’ve never seen anything they’ve done and their careers are over already. They’re famous for maybe 10 minutes. Real careers, I think, take a long time to unfold.
Matt Damon
The values that I have are the values I was raised with, from where I’m from, which is a middle-class place. So that informs everything about me, my politics and all that stuff. I mean, politically, I vote against my own self-interest at every election. I actively ask these people to raise my taxes.
Matt Damon
That’s the way this business works: if your movies do well at the box office, you will be offered more movies. It doesn’t matter if you’re a nice guy or you’re a prick. If your movies do well, there’s a job waiting for you in Hollywood. It’s not any more complicated than that.
Matt Damon
Some people get into this business and they’re so afraid to lose anything. They try to protect their position like clinging to a beachhead. These actors end up making really safe choices. I never wanted to go that route. If I go down, I’m going down swinging.
Matt Damon
