Ben Affleck

Affleck is a talented actor, Oscar-winning screenwriter and promising director who shot to stardom in his twenties after a childhood acting career. In the '80s, the athletic actor appeared in a number of TV movies before making it to the big screen, notably as an anti-Semitic jock in the 1992 teen drama School Ties, costarring his future collaborator, Matt Damon. In 1995, he appeared in Mallrats, his first of many Kevin Smith comedies, but 1997 was Affleck's breakthrough year. First, he won raves as a comic-book artist in love with a lesbian in Smith's Chasing Amy. Then he and Damon cowrote and costarred in the drama Good Will Hunting, which earned the duo an Oscar for best original screenplay. He also began filming the Academy Award-winning Shakespeare in Love with Gwyneth Paltrow, with whom he had a much-publicized off-screen relationship. Over the next several years, Affleck took on leading roles in films of all genres---action (Armageddon), romantic comedy (Forces of Nature) and drama (Pearl Harbor)---but it was another tabloid-grabbing romance, this time with Jennifer Lopez, that gained the most notice. Dubbed "Bennifer," the couple were stalked by the paparazzi until 2004, when they finally called it quits after starring together in two poorly received movies (Gigli and Smith's Jersey Girl). However, Affleck was able to recycle the "Bennifer" moniker when he began dating his Daredevil (2003) costar, Jennifer Garner, that same year. The two married in 2005 and have two children. Affleck successfully branched out into directing with the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone (2007), which starred his younger brother, Casey. Then, after taking a couple years off from acting, Affleck returned full-force in 2009, starring in the romantic comedies He's Just Not That Into You and Extract and the political thriller State of Play. ~ Rovi