Matt Damon was the founder of H2O Africa Foundation, the charitable arm of the Running the Sahara expedition, which merged with WaterPartners to create Water.org in July 2009.
Matthew Paige “Matt” Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the drama film Good Will Hunting (1997) from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend and actor Ben Affleck.
Matt Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of a stockbroker, and an early childhood education professor. His father is of Scottish and English ancestry, while his mother is of Finnish and Swedish descent. He and his family moved to Newton and lived there for two years. After his parents divorced, Damon and his brother moved with their mother back to Cambridge.
Matt Damon grew up near actor Ben Affleck, a close friend since childhood and collaborator on several films (Damon is Affleck’s tenth cousin, once removed, through a common New England ancestor). Another neighbor of Damon’s was historian and author Howard Zinn.
Hailing from Boston, Damon attended Harvard University and gained his first acting experience with the American Repertory Theatre. He made his feature film debut in Mystic Pizza, followed by roles in School Ties, Walter Hill’s Geronimo: An American Legend, and the cable projects “Rising Son” and Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Good Old Boys.” He first gained attention with his portrayal of a guilt-ridden Gulf War veteran tormented by memories of a battlefield incident in 1996’s Courage Under Fire.
2017 Downsizing 2016 The Great Wall 2016 Untitled Matt Damon/Bourne Sequel 2015 The Martian 2014 Interstellar 2013 The Zero Theorem 2014 The Monuments Men 2013 Elysium 2013 Behind the Candelabra 2012 Promised Land 2011 We Bought a Zoo 2011 Happy Feet Two 2011 Margaret 2011 Contagion 2011 The Adjustment Bureau 2010 True Grit 2010 Hereafter 2010 Green Zone 2009 Invictus 2009 The Informant! 2008 Ponyo (voice: English version) 2008 Che: Part Two 2007 Youth Without Youth 2007 The Bourne Ultimatum 2007 Ocean’s Thirteen 2006 The Good Shepherd 2006 The Departed 2005 Syriana 2005 Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D 2005 The Brothers Grimm 2004 Ocean’s Twelve 2004 The Bourne Supremacy 2004 Jersey Girl 2004 EuroTrip 2003 Stuck on You 2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 2002 The Bourne Identity 2002 The Third Wheel 2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (voice) 2002 Gerry 2001 The Majestic (voice) 2001 Ocean’s Eleven 2000 All the Pretty Horses 2000 Finding Forrester 2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance 2000 Titan A.E. (voice) 1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley 1999 Dogma 1998 Rounders 1998 Saving Private Ryan 1997 Good Will Hunting 1997 The Rainmaker 1997 Chasing Amy 1996 Courage Under Fire 1995 Glory Daze 1995 The Good Old Boys 1993 Geronimo: An American Legend 1992 School Ties 1990 Rising Son 1989 Field of Dreams (uncredited) 1988 The Good Mother (uncredited) 1988 Mystic Pizza