thumb|right|200px|Ben Affleck
'''Benjamin Geza Affleck''' (born August 15, 1972) is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter and film actor.
Early life
Affleck was born as '''Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt''' http://www.vitalsearch-ca.com/php/sql-a.php3?sql_query=SELECT+Last_Name%2CFirst_Name%2CMiddle_Name%2CB_yr%2CB_mo%2CB_dy%2CMothers_Last_Name%2CSex%2CCounty_of_Birth%2Cidno+from+cabirths_ygenfull+where+1+and+Last_Name+like+%22Affleckbold%22&goto=db_details-a.php3&server=1&db=vitalsearchca&table=cabirths_ygenfull&pos=0 in Berkeley, California, to Tim Affleck, a social worker, and Chris Boldt, a school teacher; his younger brother is actor Casey Affleck. Affleck is of Scottish and English ancestry on his father's side,http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=geolarson2&id=I212385 and has Irish ancestry on his mother's side. At the age of eight Affleck met Matt Damon (aged ten), who lived two blocks away in Cambridge, through the encouragement of their parents. Affleck and Damon would later attend Cambridge Rindge and Latin School together, although they were in different year groups.
Affleck grew up in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area and attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, as well as the University of Vermont.
Career
left|200px|thumb|Affleck (center right) in ''
Dogma''Affleck worked as a child actor, appearing on the PBS kids' series ''The Voyage of the Mimi'' and in several made-for-television movies. Throughout the 1990s, Affleck had a role in LifeStories:Families in Crisis as a steroid abusing athlete as well as several notable films, including 1992's ''
School Ties'' (with Matt Damon), 1993's ''
Dazed and Confused'', 1995's ''
Mallrats'' and 1997's ''
Chasing Amy''; "Mallrats" and "Amy" began his collaboration with writer/director Kevin Smith, in whose films he usually appears. Affleck had a non-speaking role as a high school basketball player in the original ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' movie. Affleck and fellow Boston Red Sox fanatic Matt Damon had roles as extras in the movie Field of Dreams when Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones go to Fenway Park.
Affleck came to national attention when he and best friend Matt Damon wrote the screenplay for and starred in ''
Good Will Hunting'' (1997). Though it is largely rumored that Damon wrote the initial draft and Ben just helped edit, they shared credit and both received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Along with Damon and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, Affleck founded the production company LivePlanet, through which the four created the documentary series ''
Project Greenlight'', as well as the failed mystery-hybrid series ''Push, Nevada'' amongst other projects.
Following ''
Good Will Hunting'', Affleck had starring roles in many successful movies, including ''
Armageddon'', ''
Forces of Nature'', ''
Pearl Harbor'', ''
Changing Lanes'', ''
The Sum of All Fears'' and ''
Daredevil'', establishing himself as a Hollywood leading man throughout the early 2000s. However, after the release of several critically panned, box office flops, including ''
Gigli'' (2003) and
