Ben Affleck (born Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt, August 15, 1972) is an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He became known in the mid 1990s, after his involvement in the film Mallrats (1995) and later played the lead role in Chasing Amy in 1997. Affleck has since become an Academy Award winner for his screenplay in Good Will Hunting in 1997. He has established himself as a Hollywood leading man, having starred in several big budget films, such as Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002) and Daredevil (2003). After a high profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998, his relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez attracted worldwide media attention in which Affleck and Lopez were dubbed as "Bennifer." Following their breakup in 2004, he began dating Jennifer Garner. The two married in June 2005 and have two daughters, Violet, born December 2005 and Seraphina, born January 2009. Affleck has been actively involved in politics, along with a non-profit organization called the A-T Children's Project. Along with childhood friend, Matt Damon, they founded the production company LivePlanet.
Affleck was born in Berkeley, California, the son of Christine Ann "Chris", a school district employee and teacher, and Timothy Affleck, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, and former actor with the Theater Company of Boston. Affleck's mother attended Harvard University and currently teaches in Cambridge Public Schools. His younger brother is actor Casey Affleck. Affleck has Irish and Scottish ancestry. His family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts when he was very young and his parents divorced in 1984. At the age of eight, Affleck met ten-year-old Matt Damon, who lived two blocks away. The two would later attend Cambridge Rindge and Latin School together, although they were in different year groups. Affleck attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, as well as the University of Vermont. Affleck worked as a child actor, appearing on the PBS kids' series The Voyage of the Mimi as well as in several made-for-television movies.
He came to national attention working with Damon in Good Will Hunting in 1997, for which they shared credit and 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. Project Greenlight was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Following Good Will Hunting, Affleck starred in Armageddon (1998) as A.J. Frost., opposite Bruce Willis. The film generated mostly critical reviews, but was a box office success earning $553 million worldwide. In 1999, he starred in the leading role of the romantic comedy Forces of Nature. In 2001, Affleck collaborated with Armageddon director Michael Bay in the war film Pearl Harbor. The film generated mixed reception, but was a box office success, earning $449 million worldwide.
Ben Affleck recently revealed to People magazine that he covered an old tattoo of his high school sweetheart's name with a dolphin. What he didn't tell People was that he also got a large shamrock to cover up his Matt Damon ass tattoo.
Below is a list of some of Ben's tattoo collection that he now regrets:
Barb wire across his right bicep.
A dolphin located somewhere on his body covering up the name of his High School Sweetheart.
A huge cross on his left arm.
A fish intertwined with a skull and crossbones on his right arm.
The initials "OV" on his shoulder blade with MOH NON TE written above it and TA OR underneath it.
Ben regrets all of his tattoos and does not have a problem admitting it. He is even interested in getting his tattoos removed by a laser. "I was young. It was fun and cool. I'm sorry now, but it is a good lesson in decisions that have important and long repercussions."
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