Trivia

Turned down the role of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight (2008).

Dropped out of Harvard 12 credits short of graduating to pursue his acting career.

Is the real-life best friend of Ben Affleck. Each has starred together or had cameos in each of the other's films.

When he and best friend Ben Affleck were struggling actors, they both shared a Boston bank account.

Learned to play piano for the film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).

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.

He and Ben Affleck lived two blocks away from each other in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when they were children.

Met his wife, Luciana Damon, in Florida, while he was filming Stuck on You (2003) and she was working as a bartender.

Started a bowling league in Berlin while making The Bourne Supremacy (2004).

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.

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.

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'.

Dropped 47 pounds for his role as a Gulf War vet in Courage Under Fire (1996).

Quit smoking after visiting a hypnotist in L.A.

Was considered for the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Daredevil (2003). The role eventually went to his best friend Ben Affleck.

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.

He is close friends with Chris Hemsworth.

Became a father for the 3rd time at age 40 when his wife Luciana Damon gave birth to their daughter Stella Zavala Damon on October 20, 2010.

His parents divorced when he was two and he spent part of his childhood in a commune in Boston with his mother.

Has an older brother named Kyle, who is a sculptor.

Named Hollywood's "best value" by Forbes Magazine, with his films making $29 (US) for each dollar he is paid (2007).

Has stated since The Bourne Identity, when rehearsing fight scenes with stunt men, he has bought each of them a bottle of champagne for every time he struck them by accident.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (26 July 2007).

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).

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).

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.

The character Skylar in Good Will Hunting (1997), played by Minnie Driver, was inspired by Skylar Satenstein, who he used to date in College.

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.

Visited Haiti with Wyclef Jean to deliver food to hurricane victims. (September 2008)

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.

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.

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).

As of 2024, has appeared in seven 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), The Martian (2015), Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Oppenheimer (2023), and produced Best Picture nominee Manchester by the Sea (2016). The Departed (2006) and Oppenheimer (2023) won in the category.

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.

Friends with Casey Affleck, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Wyclef Jean.

When his baby nephew cries, he sings "Afternoon Delight" for him.

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".

Co-founded H20 Africa,an organization that brings clean drinking water to three million people in developing countries.

1998: Formed Pearl Street Productions with Ben Affleck and Chris Moore.

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.

Francis Ford Coppola cast him in The Rainmaker (1997) after seeing him in Courage Under Fire (1996).

Although his characters have used them frequently in films, he has a strong dislike of guns in real life.

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, 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.

Named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine in 2007.

Lost 30 pounds for his role in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).

Like his best friend Ben Affleck, he was an avid fan and collector of Daredevil comics growing up.

Is only 11 years older than Eddie Redmayne who plays his son in The Good Shepherd (2006).

Became a father for the 1st time at age 35 when his wife Luciana Damon gave birth to their daughter Isabella Zavala Damon on June 11, 2006.

Turned down a role in The Quick and the Dead (1995). Leonardo DiCaprio was cast instead.