Matt Damon

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 named Kyle who is now a sculptor. His father is 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.

Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and he performed in a number of theater productions during his time there. He attended Harvard University as an English major. While in Harvard, he kept on skipping classes to pursue acting projects, which included the TNT original film, Sol Nascente (1993), and prep-school drama, Laços de Honra (1992). It was until his film, Jerónimo - Uma Lenda Americana (1993), was expected to be a big success that he decided to drop out of university completely. Arriving in Hollywood, Matt managed to get his first break with a part in the romantic comedy, Pizza, Amor e Fantasia (1988). However, the film did not do too well and his film career failed to take off. Not letting failure discourage him from acting, he went for another audition, and managed to get a starring role in Laços de Honra (1992). Up next for Matt was a role as a soldier who had problems with drug-addiction in the movie, Coragem Debaixo de Fogo (1996). Matt had, in fact, lost forty pounds for his role which resulted in health problems. The following year, he garnered accolades for O Bom Rebelde (1997), a screenplay he had originally written for an English class at Harvard University. O Bom Rebelde (1997) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, one of which, Matt won for Best Original Screenplay along with Ben Affleck. In the year 1998, Matt played the title role in Steven Spielberg's film, O Resgate do Soldado Ryan (1998), which was one of the most acclaimed films in that year. Matt had the opportunity of working with Tom Hanks and Vin Diesel while filming that movie. That same year, he starred as an earnest law student and reformed poker player in Rounders - A Vida É Um Jogo (1998), starring opposite Edward Norton and John Malkovich. The next year, Matt rejoined his childhood friend, Ben Affleck and fellow comedian, Chris Rock, in the comedy Dogma (1999).

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