Inside Matt Damon And Ben Affleck's Hollywood Bromance

The power of a good friend journeying with you through the good, the bad, and the ugly of life cannot be overstated. Few in Hollywood know that better than Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who have been best friends, co-stars, confidants, and creative collaborators for decades. From growing up in Cambridge to setting new benchmarks of cinematic brilliance with "Good Will Hunting" and everything that followed, Damon and Affleck have come a long way together — and seem to have forever to go. 

On the internet, they are said to be each other's better halves, going by their famed closeness. Humorous as it is, the suggestion does carry some truth in the metaphorical sense when one looks at just how long and mutually supportive their partnership has been since the beginning. As Damon told People: "Ben and I bolstered each other when we were young. We were the only people who believed in each other." Here's a deeper look into Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Hollywood bromance. 

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's friendship legendarily goes back to Massachusetts in the 1980s. They lived two blocks apart, their families knew each other, and they attended the same Cambridge Rindge and Latin School — the stars were perfectly aligned for them to become BFFs. "And we were basically best friends since I was ten and he was eight," Damon told Interview magazine, recalling how his family moved into the neighborhood where Affleck lived, and their mothers eventually met. 

"My mother is a professor of early childhood development, and she knew of Ben's mother—who's a teacher of little kids—and sought her out," Damon recalled. "So I was pretty much forced into hanging out with Ben." Forging a friendship that early meant Damon and Affleck saw each other through their goofiest phases, from embarrassing haircuts to competitive sports, and, allegedly, breakdancing pursuits. 

All in all, theirs was a connection rooted in the easy, idyllic stuff — humor, hangouts, shared interests, covering for each other — that makes friendships strong. "We saw each other all the time, we talked on the phone all the time," Affleck said. Time and fame did little to interfere with that slice of simplicity; the besties still hit each other up to celebrate big wins or even just watch a game together. 

Every relationship goes through a milestone that deepens it. For Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, that turning point came when a school fight put their friendship to the test and, for all intents and purposes, transformed it into a brotherhood. It was the mid-'80s and Damon, during a game of tackle football, got into it with a much bigger kid. "He came for me and it was like this mountain of a guy ... Before I knew it, I was on the ground; he was above me," the "Interstellar" star said on "Conan on TBS." 

As it happens in the movies, it was right then that his friend stepped in and proved his undying loyalty. "Little 5'2" Ben Affleck tackled this dude off of me, like out of nowhere ... literally at the risk of his own life," Damon recalled. To others, the moment may have seemed inconsequential in the larger scheme of playground scuffles, but it left a deep imprint on Damon, for whom it was a heartwarming reality check about his friendship with Affleck. "I remember that was like a big moment going like, 'This guy ... he will put himself in a really bad spot for me. Like this is a good friend.'" 

Ben Affleck, who had a creatively stimulating upbringing steeped in the arts and theater, showed early inclinations toward acting. But as he told Parade, it was little more than "a solo activity where I'd just go off and do something ... and no one understood it" — until Matt Damon came along. Damon didn't come from a traditional showbiz background but had big dreams of becoming an actor, perhaps even bigger than Affleck's. He was deeply involved in theater and, as Affleck put it, "gave acting a framework, an integration into the social hierarchy at school." 

Their shared passion for acting formed one of the strongest foundations of their youthful friendship, although their mothers weren't fully on board. "I think our parents were concerned because everybody knows that acting is a difficult career," Affleck told Interview magazine, recalling his mother's repeated attempts to nudge the boys toward becoming doctors. "But Matt and I were very straightforward about wanting to be actors," Affleck told Interview, with the duo recalling the geeky "business lunches" they used to have in school to discuss prospects.

In a nostalgic tale they have repeated often, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon kicked off their acting journeys together as kids, traveling to New York for auditions. "We'd take the train. Or sometimes we'd even take the airplane ... It cost like $20 to fly and you could smoke on the plane," Affleck told Parade of his boyhood shenanigans with Damon. In the late 1980s, their luck finally turned and, though sometimes uncredited, they began landing big screen roles as extras. 

From their shared early filmography, which includes titles like "The Good Mother" and "School Ties," the pair seems to remember their time on the Kevin Costner-starrer "Field of Dreams" most fondly. They were teens when they appeared in the Oscar-nominated film's famous Fenway Park scene as part of a crowd of thousands of extras, and were chuffed when Costner humored them in between takes. 

This first meeting between Costner and the kids who would go on to become two of Hollywood's biggest future stars became part of the film's lore and, besides Affleck and Damon still gushing about it, Costner remembers it, too. The acting veteran recalled on "Jimmy Kimmel Live": "They would both lean in at the same time, lean back at the same time, looked at each other at the same time ... They had this, like, big enthusiasm. They were on fire." 

As up-and-coming actors trying to make it big in Hollywood, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were operating with limited means and, therefore, found themselves in a lot of shared arrangements. A joint bank account they had during their high school years was one such undertaking. "As long as one of us had money we knew the power wasn't going to get shut off," Damon explained on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," recalling that they used their savings only for auditions and video games. "Eventually we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never f—ing worked" (via Today).

They were also roommates for a while but, according to Affleck, it was hardly the dream bunking with your best friend sounds like. "I would not suggest living with him," the "Armageddon" star joked on "The Late Late Show With James Corden," recalling Damon's ability to go days without clearing out the trash. He apparently couldn't even be bothered when Affleck and his brother, Casey Affleck, who lived with the duo, threatened to go on a short-lived cleaning strike, only to return to Damon "surrounded by concentric circles of garbage." 

Matt Damon was attending Harvard University in the '90s when he began working on the script of what would become one of Hollywood's biggest breakout successes. "Good Will Hunting," in its earliest form as a class assignment, was a thrilling story about a whiz kid on the run from the government. Not knowing what to make of his draft, Damon did the only logical thing — he handed it over to his best friend Ben Affleck.

Frustrated with the industry's lack of meaningful roles for them, Affleck hopped on board immediately and thereon, the two began scripting history. Through improvisations, scene rehearsals, rewrites, more than a few beers, production changes, and expert input, "Good Will Hunting" came together as a story about a genius janitor at MIT navigating a complex youth. Damon was in the lead as Will Hunting, while Affleck (unsurprisingly) played his childhood friend Chuckie; Robin Williams was roped in for the role of Dr. Sean, Will's therapist and guide. 

To a great degree, "Good Will Hunting" was about Boston kids with big dreams — a story close to home for both Damon and Affleck. And nowhere did that full-circle symbolism manifest better than at the 1998 Oscars, where the film raked in nine nominations and two wins, including an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. It was also a record-making feat for Affleck, the youngest recipient of the award.

After "Good Will Hunting," the golden gates of Hollywood opened wide for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, whose careers unrecognizably changed after 1997. Putting their lean years behind them, the two best friends set off for greener pastures as lead stars of their own stories. "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" bumped Damon's stardom up even higher, while Affleck marked his turn as a serious actor with "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor." 

Notwithstanding the fork in the road, Affleck and Damon always managed to find their way back to each other. With over a dozen collaborations between them — as either actors, producers, or writers — the celebrity BFFs came to constitute one of Hollywood's most successful creative duos. They were notable faces in director Kevin Smith's cinematic universe, appearing in several of his films like "Dogma" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." Damon also made cameos in Affleck's films "The Third Wheel" and "Jersey Girl." 

Their drive to team up grew even stronger after Damon's father's death in 2017 raised some existential questions. On "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" Damon recalled calling Affleck at the time, telling him, "It's been 25 years or something since 'Good Will Hunting' ... we both kind of hit the lottery. Why aren't we working together more often?" 

It's hardly a surprise that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's all-encompassing relationship also came to include their wives and children when they began building their families. As Affleck once joked to The Washington Post: "My plan is for us to be best friends and our wives to be best friends and our kids to be best friends and that just be like a rule for the family." Like most things in their lives, they crossed these milestones around the same time as each other, with Affleck marrying Jennifer Garner in 2005 and Damon getting hitched to Luciana Barroso later that same year. 

Their timelines further aligned when they became fathers to similarly aged children soon after. Damon welcomed daughters Isabella, Gia, and Stella with Barroso, while also adopting Alexia from her first marriage. Affleck, meanwhile, had three children with his famous ex-wife: Violet, Fin, and Samuel. After the kids came along, Affleck and Damon's double dates with their partners turned into full-fledged family vacations and big holiday gatherings. In fact, Affleck's children were even "psyched" to visit their uncle on the sets of "The Odyssey" – a concession they hadn't ever cared to make for their own dad's films, Affleck joked on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

When the world was worried about Ben Affleck during his darker periods, his friend Matt Damon was right there beside him, steadily seeing him through all the lows. Addiction, for instance, is an obstacle the "Gone Girl" star has been trying to overcome for decades. Damon has been dutifully backing his friend since long before his rehab stints and relapse episodes became tabloid fodder. 

"When Matt and Ben were young, they loved to party together and have fun, but as soon as Matt realized Ben had issues with substance abuse, he made sure he wouldn't enable him," a source told ET, claiming that Affleck's family was also grateful for Damon's support. "Matt stopped drinking with Ben because in no way does he want to support another downward spiral." 

Damon has also shown up as a spokesperson of sorts for Affleck during his tougher times, reassuring the world that all was well with his friend. Glimpses of this were visible following news of Affleck's explosive divorce from Jennifer Garner in 2015, through which Damon supported him both publicly and privately. A source told People at the time: "Few people know Ben better than Matt, and that is really invaluable." 

While the world was divided over whether Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez should reignite their legendary 20-year-old romance from the 2000s, the one external opinion that probably mattered was that Bennifer might actually be a good idea. In 2021, when speculation around a budding relationship between former lovers Affleck and Lopez was gaining momentum, Damon joined the chorus to offer his two cents on "Today". "There's not enough liquor in the world for you to get me to say something about that," he joked before adding, "I love them both. I hope it's true. That would be awesome." 

Everyone knows how that ill-fated story went. Affleck and Lopez did get back together, taking their relationship even a step further than the engagement they had left in the aughts, and finally tied the knot in 2022. Unfortunately, their marriage didn't last, and two years in, Lopez filed for divorce. Though Damon didn't weigh in on the relentless public chatter surrounding the end of Bennifer 2.0, he shared some notes with his friend privately. According to a source's claims to the Daily Mail, Damon told Affleck to "jump in and focus on his work" and even kept him away from the bottle. 

In a dog-eat-dog industry like Hollywood, friendship can be a huge preserver of sanity. And when the friendship goes all the way back to childhood, as it does for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, one can count on it to be a grounding force like no other. The two stars have often spoken about finding solace in each other along their long and often intense journeys in showbiz. 

Affleck said it best when he told GQ: "My own kind of sanity and mental health really benefited from having someone who I grew up with and knew as a child who was also going through something similar — this 20-year-plus journey of being in the public eye." Damon has also echoed the sentiment elsewhere, expressing gratitude for having Affleck by his side through the best and worst of stardom. 

A rock-solid stability has defined their decades-long brotherhood, the most profound parts of which are hidden from view and cherished by Affleck and Damon privately. Through turbulent personal arcs, the grind of adulthood, professional successes and letdowns, their friendship has remained intact at its core. As Damon told People: "Who we are as people was kind of established together a long time ago in our adolescence and teens and those things have been pretty consistent."

In 2022, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck took their already deeply collaborative friendship to the next level by launching a production company together. Artists Equity, as they named their project, sprung from the two actors' "longtime passion for the art of storytelling and [their] shared desire to help creators deliver on their vision," Affleck said in a statement (via Variety). Their first venture with Artists Equity was the 2023 film "Air," which was directed by Affleck and followed the story of Nike's iconic partnership with basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Affleck and Damon have since produced several films under their banner, including the 2026 Netflix cop thriller "The Rip," in which they also starred as leads. Artists Equity has seen rapid growth since its inception, not least because it is backed by multi-hyphenate Oscar-winning talents who are revered as much for their acting as they are for their direction, production, and screenwriting capabilities. "Both of us, this is what we love to do more than anything. The only thing better is doing it together," Damon told Deadline. 

It's been a long-running joke on the internet that the romance in Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's bromance is so strong that the two might as well be husbands. But it's hardly just a virtual punchline for their fans to chuckle at. Their bond is something even their better halves have never been able to contend with — and the women in their lives seem to know it. 

As Jennifer Garner, when she was still married to Affleck, said at the American Cinematheque Award honoring Damon in 2010 (via YouTube): "Ben is half of one of the greatest love stories ever told. Not with me. Here's proof that love is alive and well in Hollywood. At least for my darling husband and my husband's darling husband." Little has changed over the years, with the two best friends openly acknowledging the importance they hold in each other's lives. 

Damon put Affleck at par with his wife Luciana Barroso, counting them among "the three most significant partnerships in [his] life," the third being his philanthropic collaborator Gary White (via Today). And while he said that Barroso "obviously" topped his priority list, that pecking order came into question when he famously told Affleck before his wife about landing the lead role in "The Odyssey."