Matt Damon teams-up with Oscar winning “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy for the new drama “Stillwater”, which Focus Features is releasing in theaters. Damon won an Academy Award for co-writing “Good Will Hunting” with pal Ben Affleck. He was also nominated for his acting in that film, as well as “Invictus” and “The Martian”. Damon’s most recent nomination came as a producer on “Manchester by the Sea”.
Damon, a seven-time Emmy nominee and recipient of the Critics Choice Joel Siegel Award, is one of the most popular actors in the biz. And it’s not just his four Jason Bourne movies that have solidified his A-list status. It’s because Damon often plays the relatable everyman fighting to make a difference, like his roles in “The Adjustment Bureau”, “Contagion”, “Promised Land” and “Downsizing”.
He earned well-deserved acclaim for his work opposite Michael Douglas in “Behind the Candelabra” and was simply sensational as Carroll Shelby in 2019’s “Ford v. Ferrari”. Damon is a frequent George Clooney collaborator (“Ocean’s” and “The Monuments Men”) and has made a number of surprise cameo appearances, from “Interstellar” and “Thor: Ragnarok” to “Deadpool 2” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Unsane” and “No Sudden Move”.
Damon’s long-running frenemy-ship with Jimmy Kimmel has always been good for some laughs, especially during the Emmys, Oscars and Kimmel’s own talk show. When I asked Damon in 2016 if he and Kimmel are really friends, he replied, “Publicly… definitely not.” Damon is even a constant topic on the ABC comedy series “Home Economics”. (Jimmy Tatro’s character Connor bought Damon’s old house.)
Matt Damon turned 50 in October and shows no signs of slowing down… as an actor, producer and humanitarian. He’s poised to still be dominating our big and small screens long after “Stillwater”.