Benjamin Geza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) in Berkeley,
California, is an American actor and Oscar-winning screenwriter.
Affleck is the famous Boston Red Sox fan in Red Sox
Nation.
Early life
Born in Berkeley, California to Tim Affleck (of Protestant
Scottish descent) and Chris (of Irish Catholic ancestry),
he grew up in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area and
attended college in Los Angeles at Occidental College.
He currently lives in Santa Monica, California.
Film career
He was a child actor, having a role on the PBS kids'
series The Voyage of the Mimi and made-for-television
movies when young. He came to national attention when
he and his future best friend Matt Damon (whom he had
met while studying at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School)
wrote the screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997), for
which they won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay
Written Directly for the Screen.
Following Good Will Hunting, Affleck
appeared in many successful movies. Including Armageddon,
Shakespeare in Love, Forces of Nature, Boiler Room,
Changing Lanes, The Sum of All Fears and Daredevil.Yet
Affleck's most recent films, including Gigli and Surviving
Christmas have been critically panned and massive
box office bombs.
After taking a break from the silver
screen in 2005, he plans to return in 2006 with smaller
roles in Truth, Justice, and the American Way playing
George Reeves, Kevin Smith's Clerks 2, and Joe Carnahan's
Narc follow-up Smokin' Aces. He is also appearing
in a lead role in an independent film from Mike Binder,
Man About Town.
His younger brother Casey, is also
an actor. They've appeared together in 200 Cigarettes,
Good Will Hunting, and Chasing Amy.He is also known
for his roles in many of Kevin Smith's films - all
of them, in fact, except for Clerks..
Along with Matt Damon and producer
Chris Moore, Affleck founded the production company
LivePlanet, through which the three friends created
the documentary series Project Greenlight
Romance
Affleck had a brief but high-profile romance
with actress Gwyneth Paltrow following her breakup
with Brad Pitt. He began dating actress/singer Jennifer
Lopez, whom he met on the set of Gigli. In 2002 it
was announced that he was engaged to Lopez, and the
relationship between the two received enormous attention
by the entertainment media. Both subsequently lost
fans and credibility, probably due in part to the
saturation of Affleck/Lopez interviews and projects,
and especially after the notorious failure of Gigli,
which in part was due to the negative publicity which
led to the couple being dubbed "Bennifer".
They broke up in 2004, with both blaming the media
attention. In 2005 he proposed to his Daredevil costar,
Alias star Jennifer Garner after nine months of dating.
In May 2005 it was announced that Garner was pregnant,
and they were married on June 29, 2005. Garner gave
birth to a baby girl named Violet Anne Affleck on
December 1, 2005.
Poker
Affleck is also an avid poker player, regularly
entering local events. He has been tutored by poker
professionals Amir Vahedi and Annie Duke. He won the
California State Poker Championship on June 20, 2004,
taking home the first prize of $356,000, and qualifying
him for the 2004 World Poker Tour final tournament.
Political activism
In the final hectic weeks of Campaign 2000, Affleck
spent his time passionately campaigning for the Democratic
ticket, supporting Al Gore, repeatedly delivering
a get-out-the-vote plea: "It's very important
to vote. The president will appoint three or four
Supreme Court justices."
During the final week of the race,
Affleck stumped for Gore in California, Florida, and
Pennsylvania. During a stop in Pittsburgh, the star—along
with Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner and other
actors—spent an hour at a phone bank calling
registered Democrats. "People in my generation
have a low voter turnout. One of the reasons that
I'm here is to demonstrate that no matter who you
are going to vote for... I think it's important to
get involved and get out and vote," Affleck told
reporters. "But I'm going to tell people to vote
for Gore."
On October 28, 2000, Affleck flew
with the First Lady (Hillary Clinton) to Ithaca, New
York, where he introduced her at a Cornell University
rally. Affleck told the college crowd that Clinton
had been advocating for women and working families
since "Rick Lazio was running around the frat
house in his underwear." Lazio, then a Long Island
congressman, was Clinton's Republican opponent.
On Monday, November 6, the final day
of the campaign, Affleck was one of several A-list
celebrities summoned to Miami Beach by Miramax Films
boss Harvey Weinstein for a late-night Gore rally,
just hours before polls opened nationwide. The Gore
campaign's last event, a final effort to energize
South Beach voters, didn't end until about 1 AM, but
Affleck flew back to New York that morning and made
a surprise live appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell
Show. It was 10:15 when he made his final public pitch
from a Rockefeller Center studio, noting that he was
"a little bit tired...I've been out getting involved,
doing stuff and trying to get people to vote. And
that's why I came by here."
Also, "Today is the get-out-the-vote day and...I
think this is the time to get involved, especially
the young folks who are here ... I'm about to go vote,"
Affleck then said, adding later, "I am personally
gonna vote for Al Gore."As returns came in that
night, Affleck told Salon's Amy Reiter, "I'm
nervous this evening, but one of the things that's
exciting to me is the amount of people who voted.
No matter who wins, I think it's a healthy thing for
our country that so many voters have come out and
participated in the process. Either way, I think the
most important number will be the turnout." Amazingly,
as The Smoking Gun later discovered, Affleck himself
had never bothered to vote.
In the May 2001 issue of GQ, Affleck
says, "My fantasy is that someday I'm independently
wealthy enough that I'm not beholden to anybody, so
I can run for Congress on the grounds that everyday
people—be they singers or poets or bankers or
lawyers or teachers—should be in government."
In the March 2003 issue of Vanity
Fair, Affleck again floats the possibility of a future
run for Congress. "I think there's a real nobility
to public service," he told the magazine. "It
would be fun to run on a platform I really believed
in, without being beholden to the win-at-all-costs
mentality."
In 2004, Affleck actively campaigned
for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. During
the first day of the Democratic Convention, Affleck
was featured on Larry King Live with Tucker Carlson
and Al Sharpton. Larry King asked Affleck if he would
consider running for office, and Affleck admitted
to contemplating the proposition. Specific attention
focused on whether or not he would run for Kerry's
open Senate seat (as Affleck was from Massachusetts).
He noted that the line between politics and entertainment
is becoming increasingly blurry, as Ronald Reagan,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh
all came from the entertainment business, although
all were/are members of the Republican Party.
As of 2005, Affleck was widely being
mentioned as a possible Democratic U.S. Senate candidate
from Virginia for the 2006 United States Senate race
as an opposition for the incumbent, Republican Sen.
George Allen.
Director
In 2006 will begin directing his first feature
Gone, Baby, Gone based on the Dennis Lehane novel
about two Boston area detectives investigating the
kidnapping of a little girl.
In the final hectic weeks of Campaign 2000, Affleck
spent his time passionately campaigning for the Democratic
ticket, supporting Al Gore, repeatedly delivering
a get-out-the-vote plea: "It's very important
to vote. The president will appoint three or four
Supreme Court justices."
During the final week of the race,
Affleck stumped for Gore in California, Florida, and
Pennsylvania. During a stop in Pittsburgh, the star—along
with Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner and other
actors—spent an hour at a phone bank calling
registered Democrats. "People in my generation
have a low voter turnout. One of the reasons that
I'm here is to demonstrate that no matter who you
are going to vote for... I think it's important to
get involved and get out and vote," Affleck told
reporters. "But I'm going to tell people to vote
for Gore."
On October 28, 2000, Affleck flew
with the First Lady (Hillary Clinton) to Ithaca, New
York, where he introduced her at a Cornell University
rally. Affleck told the college crowd that Clinton
had been advocating for women and working families
since "Rick Lazio was running around the frat
house in his underwear." Lazio, then a Long Island
congressman, was Clinton's Republican opponent.
On Monday, November 6, the final day
of the campaign, Affleck was one of several A-list
celebrities summoned to Miami Beach by Miramax Films
boss Harvey Weinstein for a late-night Gore rally,
just hours before polls opened nationwide. The Gore
campaign's last event, a final effort to energize
South Beach voters, didn't end until about 1 AM, but
Affleck flew back to New York that morning and made
a surprise live appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell
Show. It was 10:15 when he made his final public pitch
from a Rockefeller Center studio, noting that he was
"a little bit tired...I've been out getting involved,
doing stuff and trying to get people to vote. And
that's why I came by here." Also, "Today
is the get-out-the-vote day and...I think this is
the time to get involved, especially the young folks
who are here ... I'm about to go vote," Affleck
then said, adding later, "I am personally gonna
vote for Al Gore."
As returns came in that night, Affleck
told Salon's Amy Reiter, "I'm nervous this evening,
but one of the things that's exciting to me is the
amount of people who voted. No matter who wins, I
think it's a healthy thing for our country that so
many voters have come out and participated in the
process. Either way, I think the most important number
will be the turnout." Amazingly, as The Smoking
Gun later discovered, Affleck himself had never bothered
to vote.
In the May 2001 issue of GQ, Affleck
says, "My fantasy is that someday I'm independently
wealthy enough that I'm not beholden to anybody, so
I can run for Congress on the grounds that everyday
people—be they singers or poets or bankers or
lawyers or teachers—should be in government."
In the March 2003 issue of Vanity
Fair, Affleck again floats the possibility of a future
run for Congress. "I think there's a real nobility
to public service," he told the magazine. "It
would be fun to run on a platform I really believed
in, without being beholden to the win-at-all-costs
mentality."
In 2004, Affleck actively campaigned
for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. During
the first day of the Democratic Convention, Affleck
was featured on Larry King Live with Tucker Carlson
and Al Sharpton. Larry King asked Affleck if he would
consider running for office, and Affleck admitted
to contemplating the proposition. Specific attention
focused on whether or not he would run for Kerry's
open Senate seat (as Affleck was from Massachusetts).
He noted that the line between politics and entertainment
is becoming increasingly blurry, as Ronald Reagan,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh
all came from the entertainment business, ough all
were/are members of the Republican Party.As of 2005,
Affleck was widely being mentioned as a possible Democratic
U.S. Senate candidate from Virginia for the 2006 United
States Senate race as an opposition for the incumbent,
Republican Sen. George Allen.
Filmography
The Dark End of the Street (1981)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film) (1992)
School Ties (1992)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Mallrats (1995)
Glory Daze (1996)
Going All the Way (1997)
Chasing Amy (1997)
Office Killer (1997) (scenes deleted)
Good Will Hunting (1997) (also writer)
Phantoms (1998)
Armageddon (1998)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
200 Cigarettes (1999)
Forces of Nature (1999)
Dogma (1999)
Boiler Room (2000)
Reindeer Games (2000)
Bounce (2000)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Daddy and Them (2001)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Changing Lanes (2002)
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
The Third Wheel (2002) (also executive producer)
Daredevil (2003)
Gigli (2003)
Paycheck (2003)
Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party (2004) (documentary)
Jersey Girl (2004)
Surviving Christmas (2004)
Elektra (2005) (scenes deleted)
Man About Town (2005) (completed awaiting release
through Dreamworks)
Truth, Justice, and the American Way (2006) (currently
in post-production)
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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