See a young Matt Damon in his ‘80s high school yearbook photos and get to know the ‘Good Will Hunting’ and ‘The Martian’ actor better.
Full Name: Matthew Paige Damon
Birthdate: October 8, 1970 (age 55)
High School: Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Yearbooks: 1988
Who is Matt Damon?
You’d be lying if you said you didn’t remember Matt Damon’s legendary acting roles, especially as janitor-turned-math prodigy Will Hunting in ‘Good Will Hunting’ and as amnesiac hitman Jason Bourne in the ‘Bourne’ franchise.
Matthew Paige Damon is a legendary actor who is best known for writing and starring in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting alongside childhood friend Ben Affleck. The film is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, and Damon and Affleck were the youngest ever recipients of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for their writing of the film.
Barbara Kinney, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Damon began his career in the late 1980s with a minor role in the film Mystic Pizza (1988) alongside Julia Roberts, and slowly crawled his way to stardom throughout the ‘90s. By the late ‘90s, he had established himself as a Hollywood icon, and had taken the film world by storm. His exceptional talent and versatile acting abilities allowed him to stand out in his most memorable films, and left a lasting impact on those growing up at the height of his legendary career.
User: Stilfehler at wikivoyage shared, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Should You Know About Matt Damon?
- Matt Damon Education & Early Life: Raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He later attended Harvard University, leaving just 12 credits short of a degree to pursue acting in Los Angeles.
- Breakout Success: Matt Damon skyrocketed to fame after co-writing and starring in Good Will Hunting (1997) with childhood friend Ben Affleck. The duo became the youngest winners of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
- Iconic Franchises: He is the face of the high-octane Bourne series as amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne and starred as Linus Caldwell in the star-studded Ocean’s trilogy.
- Versatile Performer: Known for his physical and emotional range, Damon’s career-defining roles include a soldier in Saving Private Ryan, a calculated mole in The Departed, and a stranded astronaut in The Martian.
- Personal Life: Damon has been married to Luciana Bozan since 2005. They have three daughters: Isabella, Gia, and Stella. Damon is also a stepfather to Alexia, Bozan’s daughter from a previous marriage.
Where Did Matt Damon Go to School?
Where Did Matt Damon Go to Elementary School?
Damon attended elementary school at Cambridge Alternative School. It was during this time that he met lifelong friend and fellow actor, Ben Affleck, after their parents arranged a playdate at Affleck’s home. They grew up two blocks away from one another, and quickly became inseparable.
Where Did Matt Damon Go to High School?
You’re probably wondering, what high school did Matt Damon go to? Well, Damon attended high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School along with close friend Ben Affleck, where the two of them starred in high school theatre productions together. Damon recalled that Affleck would always get the “biggest roles and longest speeches”.
Where Did Matt Damon Go to College?
Damon attended Harvard University from 1988 until 1992, leaving just a semester shy of graduating to star in Geronimo: An American Legend (1993). During his time at Harvard, Damon wrote a draft for a screenplay for his English class, which was later adapted into the screenplay for Good Will Hunting.
Matt Damon: Then vs. Now
Matt Damon has always captured attention with his handsome looks and effortless charm. From the ‘80s to today, here’s how he looked from his teenage years vs. now.
Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Talented Matt Damon
Early Career in the Late ‘80s and 90s
Matt Damon made his film debut while attending Harvard in 1988 in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza, having only a single line of dialogue. He acted in the prep-school drama School Ties in 1992, also while still at Harvard. This marked his first credited film role alongside childhood friend Ben Affleck, with the duo previously appearing as extras in Field of Dreams (1989). The film also starred Brendan Fraser and Chris O’Donnell.
Universal Pictures (previously part of MCA), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Damon left Harvard for Los Angeles just a semester shy of graduating in 1992 to appear in his third feature film, Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), incorrectly predicting that it would be a massive success. Damon’s first role to garner attention from critics was in Edward Zwick’s Courage Under Fire (1996), in which he portrayed a U.S. Army soldier addicted to opiates. He lost 40 pounds in 100 days for the role, which seems to have paid off, as The Washington Post called his performance “impressive”.
In the early 1990s, Damon and Ben Affleck began writing the script for Good Will Hunting, an extension of an English project from one of Damon’s classes at Harvard. The pair began working on the script seriously after Damon moved in with Affleck in Los Angeles following his departure from Harvard. The story was inspired by many of their own experiences growing up in Cambridge, and was released in December of 1997, featuring Damon in the lead role and Affleck in a supporting role. It was the first big break for both actors, and catapulted both of them into seemingly overnight success, earning them nine Academy Award nominations and one win for Best Original Screenplay.
Damon’s success from Good Will Hunting landed him a number of notable film roles throughout the late ‘90s, including as the titular character in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan and as poker player Mike McDermott in the 1998 film Rounders opposite Edward Norton. Damon also portrayed complex antihero Tom Ripley in the 1999 film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, for which he received significant critical acclaim.
Continued Success in the 2000s
Early 2000s
Damon appeared in a few unsuccessful romantic dramas in the early 2000s before achieving success with the Ocean’s trilogy and Bourne franchise. He starred as Linus Caldwell in the first installment of the Ocean’s series in 2001, Ocean’s Eleven, alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts.
Damon first starred as amnesia-afflicted hitman Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity in 2002. He performed many of the stunts for the film himself, and underwent three months of extensive training in order to do so.
Schreibwerkzeug, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mid-2000s
In 2004, Damon reprised his roles as Jason Bourne and Linus Caldwell in The Bourne Supremacy and Ocean’s Twelve. He received tremendous praise for his reprisal of Bourne, with Nev Pierce from BBC calling him “one hell of an action hero”. Damon also had a cameo in the teen comedy EuroTrip (2004) as a punk rock singer.
Damon continued the trend of action and thriller appearances throughout the remainder of the 2000s, starring in the geopolitical thriller Syriana in 2005, and as a CIA agent in the spy thriller The Good Shepherd (2006) with Robert DeNiro and Angelina Jolie.
Damon portrayed Colin Sullivan, a gangster operating as an undercover mole within the Massachusetts State Police Department in Martin Scorsese’s crime film The Departed (2006), which featured an ensemble cast of other A-listers, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Alec Baldwin. This is highly regarded as one of Damon’s career-defining performances, as it displayed his ability to play a villain just as well as he plays a hero. The film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2007, Damon once again reprised his roles as Linus Caldwell and Jason Bourne in Ocean’s Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum.
Late 2000s
Damon rounded out the 2000s with his portrayal of Mark Whitacre, an FBI whistleblower struggling with bipolar disorder in Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant! (2009), further proving his versatility. He also starred in Clint Eastwood’s sports docudrama Invictus (2009) as South African rugby team captain Francois Pienaar, while Morgan Freeman starred as Nelson Mandela.
Matt Damon in the 2010s
In 2010, Damon and Ben Affleck created a production company together called Pearl Street Films, named after the street they both grew up on. Damon guest starred in the sitcom 30 Rock in 2010 and 2011 as the boyfriend of Tina Fey’s character Liz Lemon. He collaborated once again with Clint Eastwood when he starred in his 2010 film Hereafter and also appeared in the Coen brothers’ western True Grit that same year.
2011 was also a big year for Damon, as he appeared in a number of notable films, including The Adjustment Bureau, Contagion, and We Bought a Zoo. He continued to showcase his talents throughout the remainder of the 2010s, including in the science fiction film Elysium (2013), Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winning film Interstellar (2014) opposite Matthew McConaughey, and as astronaut Mark Whatney in The Martian (2015), which earned him his second Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Damon once again reprised his role as Jason Bourne in Jason Bourne (2016), and portrayed Formula One driver Carroll Shelby in the critically acclaimed biographical action drama Ford v Ferrari (2019).
The 2020s so Far
Damon has continued to bless audiences with legendary performances into the 2020s, with impressive showings in the crime drama Stillwater (2021) and the historical drama The Last Duel (2021), which he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. He collaborated with Affleck again in 2023 when he starred as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro in Affleck’s film Air, which tells the story of the launch of the Air Jordan brand.
Damon also starred as Leslie Groves in Christopher Nolan’s Academy-Award winning film Oppenheimer (2024) alongside Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr. The film received significant praise from critics and viewers alike, and is the highest grossing biopic ever made. Damon is set to play the lead role of Odysseus in Nolan’s upcoming film The Odyssey, which will hit theatres in July of 2026.
Who is Matt Damon’s Family?
Matt Damon’s Mom, Dad, & Sibling
Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to his mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor, and his father, Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker.
His family moved to Newton for the first two years of his life, and he subsequently moved back to Cambridge with his mother and brother, Kyle, after the divorce of his parents. The three of them lived together in a six-family communal house in Cambridge.
Wife & Kids
Damon has been married to his wife, Luciana Bozan since 2005. They met in Miami in 2003 while Damon was filming Stuck on You. The couple has three kids together, Isabella, 19, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15.
Nicolas Genin, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Damon also has a stepdaughter from his wife’s previous marriage, Alexia, 26. Damon and Bozan have previously lived in Miami and New York City, and currently reside in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Matt Damon: An American Legend
Matt Damon has established himself as one of the most influential actors the world has ever seen. It is impossible to discuss the all-time greats in film without mentioning his name, and those who were fortunate enough to grow up during his rise to fame in the ‘90s look back fondly on his stellar performances.
He has appeared in the following outstanding films:
- Mystic Pizza (1988)
- School Ties (1992)
- Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
- Courage Under Fire (1996)
- Chasing Amy (1997)
- The Rainmaker (1997)
- Good Will Hunting (1997)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Rounders (1998)
- Dogma (1999)
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
- Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
- Gerry (2002)
- The Bourne Identity (2002)
- Stuck On You (2003)
- EuroTrip (2004)
- The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
- Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
- Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (2005)
- The Brothers Grimm (2005)
- Syriana (2005)
- The Departed (2006)
- The Good Shepherd (2006)
- Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
- Ponyo (2009)
- The Informant! (2009)
- Invictus (2009)
- Green Zone (2010)
- True Grit (2010)
- The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
- Contagion (2011)
- Margaret (2011)
- Happy Feet Two (2011)
- We Bought A Zoo (2011)
- Promised Land (2012)
- Behind the Candelabra (2013)
- Elysium (2013)
- The Monuments Men (2014)
- Interstellar (2014)
- The Martian (2015)
- Jason Bourne (2016)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Deadpool 2 (2018)
- Ocean’s 8 (2018)
- Ford v Ferrari (2019)
- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
- Stillwater (2021)
- The Last Duel (2021)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
- Air (2023)
- Oppenheimer (2023)
- The Instigators (2024)
- The Rip (2026)
- The Odyssey (2026) (upcoming)
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