| He said that in 1995, he was paid $20,000 to be in Tommy Lee Jones film The Good Old Boys (1995). That money kept Damon and Ben Affleck free from having to take other jobs so that they could write Good Will Hunting (1997). |
| Has starred in six films with Casey Affleck: Good Will Hunting (1997), Gerry (2002), Oceans Eleven (2002), Oceans Twelve (2004), Oceans Thirteen (2007) and Interstellar (2014). Interstellar (2014) is the only one in which They do not have any scenes together. |
| He starred in two science fiction films with Jessica Chastain where his character needs to be rescued: Interstellar (2014) and The Martian (2015). |
| He has starred in three different films where rescuing his character is a major plot point: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Interstellar (2014) and The Martian (2015). |
| 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. |
| Jimmy Kimmel had a long running gag of ending his late night show with an apology to Matt Damon for not being able to interview him. |
| He has appeared in four films directed by Kevin Smith: Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)_ and Jersey Girl (2004). |
| Tenth cousin once removed of Ben Affleck.They are both descendants of William Knowlton Jr., a bricklayer who came to the United States from England in the 1630s. |
| Exactly one year younger than Jeremy Davies, both appeared in Saving Private Ryan (1998) as Private Ryan and Corporal Upham. Both born on 8 October. |
| Stated that his appearance on The Graham Norton Show (2007) with Hugh Bonneville and Bill Murray was 'the best time he'd ever had on a chat show'. |
| As of 2016, has appeared in five 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) and The Martian (2015). The Departed (2006) won in the category. |
| Is sometimes (but rarely) mistaken for actor Mark Wahlberg. |
| Currently shooting director Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson in New York City and Boston. [August 2005] |
| Filming The Informant! (2009) in Decatur, Illinois (Home to ADM). Various locations. [May 2008] |
| New York City, USA: The documentary film which he narrated, American Teacher (2011), premiered here before opening around the country. [September 2011] |
| Attended The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) premiere in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Aug. 23rd. [August 2007] |
| Became a father for the 3rd time at age 40 when his wife Luciana Barroso gave birth to their daughter Stella Zavala Damon on October 20, 2010. |
| Became a father for the 2nd time at age 37 when his wife Luciana Barroso gave birth to their daughter Gia Zavala Damon on August 20, 2008. |
| 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. |
| Put his Miami Beach mansion on North Bay Rd on the market for $20 million in May 2013. |
| When he and best friend Ben Affleck were struggling actors, they both shared a Boston bank account. |
| Was, along with Jake Gyllenhaal, the studio's first choice for the role of Jake Sully in Avatar (2009), but director James Cameron chose the (back then) more unknown Sam Worthington in the lead role instead. |
| Appeared twice on the cover of GQ magazine: December '99 and August '07. |
| Was at some point in talks to star in a remake of Blue Thunder (1983) with John Milius directing. |
| Participated in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town, South Africa. [March 2009] |
| Originally cast as Dan White in Milk (2008), but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts with Green Zone (2010). |
| Visited Haiti with Wyclef Jean to deliver food to hurricane victims. [September 2008] |
| Has an older brother named Kyle, who is a sculptor. |
| He and Ben Affleck lived two blocks away from each other in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when they were children. |
| He gained over 30 pounds to play Mark Whiteacre in The Informant! (2009), which he dieted off as soon as the shoot was complete. |
| Named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine in 2007. |
| Named Hollywood's "best value" by Forbes Magazine, with his films making $29 (US) for each dollar he is paid (2007). |
| Is only 11 years older than Eddie Redmayne who plays his son in The Good Shepherd (2006). |
| Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (26 July 2007). |
| Both he and best friend, Ben Affleck, spent Father's Day 2007 with their wives and children together on vacation in Hawaii. |
| Appears in two of the six summer 2007 "threequels": Ocean's Thirteen (2007) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). He also appeared in the second; movies of the "Bourne" and "Ocean" franchises in the same year (2004). |
| Turned down the role of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight (2008). |
| Francis Ford Coppola cast him in The Rainmaker (1997) after seeing him in Courage Under Fire (1996). |
| Turned down the part of Bobby Mercer in Four Brothers (2005), as he found the script to be "ultra-violent". The part eventually went to Mark Wahlberg. |
| Has English and Scottish ancestry on his father's side, and Finnish and Swedish ancestry on his mother's side. His maternal grandfather had changed his surname from "Pajari" (a Finnish surname) to "Paige". |
| Was once offered the chance at playing Daredevil when it was in production at Miramax in 1999. This version would have starred Damon and been written by Kevin Smith and directed by Robert Rodriguez. However, Marvel Comics wanted too large a budget for the filmmakers' tastes. |
| Met his wife, Luciana Barroso, in Florida, while he was filming Stuck on You (2003) and she was working as a bartender. |
| Became stepfather to girlfriend Luciana Barroso's daughter, Alexia, when he married Luciana at City Hall in New York City (December 9, 2005). |
| 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. |
| After a notable weight gain for Stuck on You (2003), he lost 22 pounds training for The Bourne Supremacy (2004), eventually having six-pack abs. |
| One of his first movie roles was a one-line part in Mystic Pizza (1988) starring Julia Roberts. Later, he starred with Roberts in Ocean's Eleven (2001). |
| Was considered for the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Daredevil (2003). The role eventually went to his best friend Ben Affleck. |
| Learned to play piano for the film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). |
| Lost 30 pounds for his role in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). |
| 1998: Formed Pearl Street Productions with Ben Affleck and Chris Moore. |
| Grew up next door to radical historian Howard Zinn. Damon references Zinn's seminal work "A People's History of the United States" as Will in Good Will Hunting (1997). |
| Quit smoking after visiting a hypnotist in L.A. |
| His uncle, George Brunstad, swam the English Channel at the age of 70. He completed the 21-mile swim in 15 hours and 59 minutes, making him the new world record holder as the oldest person to complete the swim. In the process, he raised $12,000 for a Haitian children's group (29 August 2004). |
| While promoting The Bourne Supremacy (2004) on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), he revealed that when he was a college freshman his agent from a "ma and pa agency" inadvertently sent him and Ben Affleck to an audition for The New Mickey Mouse Club (1977). They were under the impression that they were going to meet the head of Touchstone Pictures. |
| Has starred in 8 movies where the title contains some part of his character's name in that movie: Good Will Hunting (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Gerry (2002), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), The Bourne Identity (2002), and The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). |
| Is the real-life best friend of Ben Affleck. Each has starred together or had cameos in each of the other's films. |
| Had a cameo as a waiter in the film The Sum of All Fears (2002), but it was cut from the final film. |
| Started a bowling league in Berlin while making The Bourne Supremacy (2004). |
| Shaved his head for the movie The Brothers Grimm (2005) (to assist in the wearing of a wig for that role). The shaved head was shown in the movie EuroTrip (2004), which was filmed in Prague at the same time. |
| Was named as one of E!'s "25 Most Eligible Bachelors" in June, 2002. |
| When his baby nephew cries, he sings "Afternoon Delight" for him. |
| Turned down the lead role in The Majestic (2001). |
| Turned down a role in Mort ou vif (1995). Leonardo DiCaprio was cast instead. |
| 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. |
| Audtioned for a part in Primal Fear (1996) that was eventually played by Edward Norton. He and Norton starred together two years later in Rounders (1998). |
| Auditioned for a role in To Die For (1995) which was eventually given to Joaquin Phoenix. |
| To perfect his Southern accent for his role as Rudy Baylor in The Rainmaker (1997), he tended bar in Knoxville, TN, for free. Later he hired one of the customers to serve as his dialect coach. |
| Dropped out of Harvard 12 credits short of graduating to pursue his acting career. |
| His parents divorced when he was two and he spent part of his childhood in a commune in Boston with his mother. |
| Dropped 47 pounds for his role as a Gulf War vet in Courage Under Fire (1996). |
| Chosen as one of "the 50 Most beautiful people in the world" by People magazine (1998). |
| 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. |