Ben Affleck filmography

Affleck at the premiere of his film Argo in 2012

American actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck began his career as a child, appearing in several television shows, including the PBS educational program The Voyage of the Mimi (1984).[1] He played an antisemite in the sports film School Ties (1992) and featured as a regular on the television drama Against the Grain (1993).[2][3] He gained attention for playing the supporting part of a high-school senior in Richard Linklater's cult film Dazed and Confused (1993), after which he had his first leading role in Rich Wilkes's comedy Glory Daze (1995).[3][4] In 1997, Affleck played a comics artist in Smith's art-house success Chasing Amy. He co-wrote the script and starred with Matt Damon in Gus Van Sant's drama film Good Will Hunting, for which they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.[5][6]

Affleck emerged a star with Michael Bay's top-grossing science fiction film Armageddon (1998).[7][8] In 2000, Affleck co-formed a production company named LivePlanet, which produced Project Greenlight (2001–05, 2015), a television series that provides training to first-time filmmakers.[9][10][11] Affleck starred in Bay's war film Pearl Harbor (2001), which despite negative reviews was a box office hit.[12][13] His career subsequently went through a period of decline when he starred in a series of critical and commercial failures, including Gigli (2003).[14][15] He made a comeback with the biopic Hollywoodland (2006), in which his portrayal of George Reeves earned him a Golden Globe nomination.[14][16]

In 2007, Affleck made his feature film directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone, a thriller based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, which was critically praised.[17][18] He went on to act in and direct two acclaimed features for Warner Bros.—the crime drama The Town (2010) and the thriller Argo (2012).[19] The latter, about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis in which he played the intelligence agent Tony Mendez, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Affleck won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Director.[a][16][20][21] In 2014, Affleck played a man accused of murdering his wife in David Fincher's thriller Gone Girl.[22] Two years later, he starred as Batman in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), which grossed $873 million to rank as his highest-grossing release; he reprised the role in a few installments set in the DC Extended Universe.[8][23] He subsequently gained praise for playing a recovering alcoholic in the sports drama The Way Back (2020), Peter II, Count of Alençon in the period film The Last Duel (2021), and a caring father-figure in the drama The Tender Bar (2021).[24][25] Affleck returned to direction with the acclaimed sports drama Air (2023), in which he also portrayed Phil Knight.[26]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference tv credits was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Vary, Adam B. (January 14, 2007). "Chasing Ben Affleck". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Riley, Jenelle (December 23, 2010). "Ben Affleck Knows His Way Around the 'Town' | Backstage Actor Interviews | Acting Tips & Career Advice". Backstage. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  4. ^ Alexander, Bryan (March 31, 2016). "'Dazed and Confused' gave early glimpse of Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  5. ^ SPIN Media LLC (April 1998). SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. pp. 106–108. ISSN 0886-3032. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017.
  6. ^ Nanos, Janelle (January 2013). "Good Will Hunting: An Oral History". Boston. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  7. ^ Wheeler W. Dixon (February 24, 2000). Film Genre 2000: New Critical Essays. State University of New York Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7914-4514-3.
  8. ^ a b "Ben Affleck Movie Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  9. ^ Fleming, Michael (January 30, 2008). "LivePlanet film unit takes final bow". Variety. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  10. ^ Ng, Philiana (April 30, 2014). "HBO Reviving 'Project Greenlight' With Ben Affleck, Matt Damon". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  11. ^ "$1m contest for Hollywood big break". BBC. February 28, 2001. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  12. ^ "US critics take aim at Pearl Harbor". BBC. May 25, 2001. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  13. ^ Pomerantz, Dorothy (June 4, 2009). "Michael Bay: Making Movies, Enemies and Money". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  14. ^ a b Mendelson, Scott (July 1, 2015). "Ben Affleck Survived 'Daredevil,' But Jennifer Garner Never Recovered From 'Elektra'". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  15. ^ Masters, Kim (October 27, 2004). "Ben's big fall". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  16. ^ a b "Ben Affleck". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  17. ^ Booth, William (October 21, 2007). "Bond of brothers: Afflecks soak up the praise for "Gone Baby Gone"". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  18. ^ "Gone Baby Gone (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on August 17, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  19. ^ Mendelson, Scott (August 23, 2013). "Ben Affleck As Batman, And The Price Of Artistic Freedom". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  20. ^ a b Horn, John (February 24, 2013). "Oscars 2013: 'Argo' wins best picture". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  21. ^ Clark, Nick (August 11, 2013). "Argo gives Ben Affleck his 'second act' as director picks up Baftas for Best Film and Best Director". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  22. ^ Pierce, Nev (September 27, 2014). "David Fincher on Gone Girl: 'Bad things happen in this movie...'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  23. ^ Truitt, Brian (January 10, 2016). "2016 brings Batman, Superman and the 'Dawn' of a new superhero universe". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  24. ^ "The Way Back (2020)". Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  25. ^ Tyler, Adrienne (January 12, 2022). "Ben Affleck's New Movie Continues His Great Career Transformation". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  26. ^ Willis, Kim (March 19, 2023). "Ben Affleck's Michael Jordan biopic 'Air' gets raves at SXSW: 'Best movie of the year'". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2023.


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