Closer USA – September 02, 2019

MY LIFE IN

10

Pictures

BENAFFLECK

BEFORE PLAYING superheroes on screen, Benjamin Géza Aff leck-Boldt

was just another insecure kid in Cambridge, Mass. “I grew up in a

home environment where I wasn’t getting esteem for anything I

did,” Ben says. “There was alcoholism at home because of my father.

I changed schools and felt alone.” But with the support of childhood

friend Matt Damon, he carved out an acting career and channeled

those underdog feelings into their Oscar-winning Good Will

Hunting screenplay, leading him on the road to directing an Oscar-

winning film himself. And while Ben, who turned 47 on Aug. 15,

still battles the same demons his father did, parenting his children,

Violet, Seraphina and Samuel, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner gives

him a sense of purpose: “It’s the focus of my life. It’s what I love

doing. It’s what makes me happy, and the rest of the stuff follows.”

2

1993 IN A

DAZE After

getting the

part of the bully

O’Bannion in Dazed

and Confused, “I

thought, This is

going to be great!

We were all really

excited about it.

Then the movie

came out, and it was

great for every other

actor in the movie

except for me. I was

the least appealing

character in that

movie — I was the

jerk who got his

comeuppance.”

1

1984 MAIDEN VOYAGE Including a role

on the PBS science series The Voyage

of the Mimi, Ben did a lot of acting as

a child. “But not in the sense that I had a mom

that wanted to take me to Hollywood.... She

was worried that I wouldn’t become a normal

person. She wanted me to be a history teacher.”

“It doesn’t

matter how you

get knocked

down in life,

because that’s

gonna happen.

All that matters

is that you gotta

get up.”

— Ben

58 September 2, 2019 CLOSER