Biography

Benjamin Geza Affleck was born on August 15th, 1972 in Berkeley, California. HisFather works in a Drug rehabilitation hospital in California and his mother is a Teacher in Cambridge. His younger brother (and only sibling), Casey, is also an actor and co-starred with Ben in Good Will Hunting. When Affleck was very young his family relocated to the Boston area. This is where he broke into acting. At the age of eight he starred in PBS’s marine biology-themed'' The Voyage of the Mimi.'' He also struck up a friendship with Matt Damon, a boy two years older than himself who lived down the street. After Graduating high school the young Affleck dabbled in higher education at both the University of Vermont and California’s Occidental College. He found it all too restricting and opted to give Hollywood a try. He landed parts in made-for-TV movies and had a small role in ''School Ties'' in 1992 which also featured Matt Damon. Ben followed with work in ''Dazed and Confused'' (1993), and ''Mall rats'' in 1995.

Affleck began feeling frustrated with the lack of substantial roles he found in Tinseltown. He received a phone call from long time friend Matt Damon. Damon wanted Ben to help him work on a screen play he had started while at Harvard. Affleck agreed and together they came up with a brilliant story that featured them in the lead characters. However, it was Afflecks brother, Casey, who introduced the pair to director Gus Van Sant. Van Sant had directed Casey in ''To Die For.'' Thanks to Van Sant’s interest the script was picked up by Miramax and in 1997 ''Good Will Hunting'' was realized. The movie was a huge success and so were Affleck and Damon. They won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Ben became one of Hollywoods most promising young men. He also gained a lot of attention for his ongoing relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow.

He continued to keep busy with enormous success in Oscar winner ''Shakespeare in Love'' starring Gwyneth Paltrow and the block buster ''Armegedon'' (1999) opposite Liv Tyler and Bruce Willis. He has continued with a dizzying pace, appearing in''Forces of Nature,'' ''Boiler Room,'' ''Daddy and Them'', and reuniting with Damon in ''Dogma. ''You can currently catch him in ''Deception'' co-staring  Charlize Theron, as an ex-con trying to mend his ways. He has also tried his hand at directing a short feature with the provocative title I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat hook, and Now I have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney.

Facts

Name: Ben Affleck

Birth Name: Benjamin Geza Affleck

Height: 6' 2½ Sex: M Nationality: American

Birth Date: August 15, 1972 Birth Place: Berkeley, California, USA

Profession: actor

Education: University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont (dropped out after one semester)   Occidental College, Eagle Rock, California (was attending when he made School Ties in 1992; dropped out after one year; studied Middle Eastern Studies)

Husband/Wife: Jennifer Garner (actress; b. April 17, 1972; dating since 2004; married on June 29, 2005 at the Parrot Cay resort in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos)

Relationship: Jennifer Lopez (actress; b. July 24, 1970; July 2002-January 2004), Gwyneth Paltrow (actress; b. September 28, 1972; dated 1998-2000), Cheyenne Rothman (dated on and off since high school)

Father: Tim Affleck (drug rehab counselor; divorced)

Mother: Chris (teacher; divorced)

Brother: Casey Affleck (actor; born on August 12, 1975; married in June 2006)

Sister in law: Summer Phoenix (actress; born on December 10, 1978; siblings: Joaquin and River Phoenix)

Daughter: Violet Anne Affleck (born on December 1, 2005 at 6:26, mother: Jennifer Garner)

Claim to fame: as the writer of Good Will Hunting (1997)