American actor Matt Damon made his film debut with a small role in Mystic Pizza (1988), after which he played several supporting roles. His first leading role was in the legal drama film The Rainmaker (1997). His breakthrough came later that year when he played the title role of an unrecognized genius in Good Will Hunting, which he also co-wrote with Ben Affleck. They won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Damon was nominated for Best Actor. He followed it by playing the title roles of a soldier in Steven Spielberg's war drama Saving Private Ryan (1998) and of the criminal Tom Ripley in the thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), both of which gained critical and commercial success. Damon and Sean Bailey worked on the television series Project Greenlight since 2000, helping newcomers make their first film.

Damon's profile continued to expand in the 2000s, as he took on starring roles in two lucrative film franchises. He played a con man in Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Trilogy (2001–2007) and played the titular spy Jason Bourne in four films of the Bourne series (2002–2016). Damon played an energy analyst in the thriller film Syriana (2005) and starred in Martin Scorsese's acclaimed crime film The Departed (2006). He played the rugby player Francois Pienaar in the sports film Invictus (2009), gaining a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Damon continued to gain praise for his collaborations with Soderbergh on the crime film The Informant! (2009) and the drama Behind the Candelabra (2013). His portrayal of Scott Thorson in the latter earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Damon's biggest commercial successes in the 2010s came with the western True Grit (2010), and the science fiction films Elysium (2013) and The Martian (2015). In the latter, which earned over $630 million to become his highest-grossing release, he played a botanist stranded on Mars, for which he received an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Interstellar (2014) earned over $670 million, with Damon in a minor role. Following a series of poorly received films, Damon had a success in the sports drama Ford v Ferrari (2019), in which he portrayed Carroll Shelby. He co-wrote, produced, and starred as Jean de Carrouges in the period drama The Last Duel (2021), which despite positive reviews was not financially profitable. In 2023, Damon portrayed Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro in Affleck's acclaimed sports drama Air, as well as Leslie Groves in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.

Film

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Table featuring feature films with Matt Damon

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1988	Mystic Pizza	Steamer Windsor
	The Good Mother	Extra
1989	Field of Dreams	Extra	Uncredited
1992	School Ties	Charlie Dillon
1993	Geronimo: An American Legend	Lt. Britton Davis
1995	Glory Daze	Edgar Pudwhacker
1996	Courage Under Fire	Specialist Ilario
1997	Chasing Amy	Shawn Oran
	The Rainmaker	Rudy Baylor
	Good Will Hunting	Will Hunting	Also screenwriter
1998	Saving Private Ryan	Private James Francis Ryan
	Rounders	Mike McDermott
1999	Dogma	Loki
	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Tom Ripley
2000	Titan A.E.	Cale	Voice role
	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Rannulph Junuh
	Finding Forrester	Steven Sanderson	Cameo
	All the Pretty Horses	John Grady Cole
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Himself	Cameo
	Ocean's Eleven	Linus Caldwell
	The Majestic	Luke Trimble	Voice role
2002	Gerry	Gerry	Also screenwriter and editor
	Stolen Summer	—	Producer
	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron	Spirit	Voice role
	The Third Wheel	Kevin	Cameo; also executive producer
	The Bourne Identity	Jason Bourne
	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	Bachelor Matt	Cameo
	Speakeasy	—	Executive producer
2003	The Battle of Shaker Heights	—	Executive producer
	Stuck on You	Bob Tenor
2004	EuroTrip	Donny	Cameo
	Jersey Girl	PR Exec #2	Cameo
	The Bourne Supremacy	Jason Bourne
	Ocean's Twelve	Linus Caldwell
	Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train	Narrator	Documentary
2005	Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D	Alan Shepard	Documentary
	The Brothers Grimm	Wilhelm Grimm
	Syriana	Bryan Woodman
	Feast	—	Executive producer
2006	The Departed	Sergeant Colin Sullivan
	The Good Shepherd	Edward Wilson
2007	Ocean's Thirteen	Linus Caldwell
	The Bourne Ultimatum	Jason Bourne
	Youth Without Youth	Ted Jones	Uncredited
	Running the Sahara	Narrator	Documentary; also executive producer
2008	Che: Part Two	Father Schwarz
	Ponyo	Kōichi	Voice role
2009	The Informant!	Mark Whitacre
	Invictus	Francois Pienaar
2010	Green Zone	Roy Miller
	Hereafter	George Lonegan
	True Grit	LaBoeuf
	Inside Job	Narrator	Documentary
2011	The Adjustment Bureau	David Norris
	Contagion	Mitch Emhoff
	Margaret	Mr. Aaron
	Happy Feet Two	Bill the Krill	Voice role
	We Bought a Zoo	Benjamin Mee
2012	Promised Land	Steve Butler	Also screenwriter and producer
2013	Behind the Candelabra	Scott Thorson
	Elysium	Max Da Costa
	The Zero Theorem	Management
2014	The Monuments Men	James Granger
	The Man Who Saved the World	Himself	Documentary
	Interstellar	Dr. Mann
2015	The Martian	Mark Watney
2016	Manchester by the Sea	—	Producer
	Jason Bourne	Jason Bourne	Also producer
	The Great Wall	William Garin
2017	Bending the Arc	—	Documentary; executive producer
	Downsizing	Paul Safranek
	Suburbicon	Gardner Lodge
	Thor: Ragnarok	Loki Actor	Uncredited cameo
2018	Unsane	Detective Ferguson	Cameo
	Deadpool 2	Redneck #1	Cameo; credited as "Dickie Greenleaf"
	Ocean's 8	Linus Caldwell	Cameo in deleted scene
2019	Ford v Ferrari	Carroll Shelby
	Jay and Silent Bob Reboot	Loki	Cameo
2021	No Sudden Move	Mike Lowen/Mr. Big	Uncredited cameo
	Stillwater	Bill Baker
	The Last Duel	Jean de Carrouges	Also screenwriter and producer
2022	Thor: Love and Thunder	Loki Actor	Cameo
2023	Air	Sonny Vaccaro	Also producer
	Oppenheimer	Leslie Groves
2024	Drive-Away Dolls	Senator Gary Channel
	IF	Sunny	Voice role
	Small Things like These	—	Executive producer
	The Instigators †	Rory	Filming; also producer
TBA	Unstoppable †	—	Post-production; producer
	The Accountant 2 †	—	Filming; producer
	Kiss of the Spider Woman †	—	Filming; producer

Television

Key

†	Denotes shows that have not yet been aired

Table featuring television programs with Matt Damon

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1990	Rising Son	Charlie Robinson	Television film
1995	The Good Old Boys	Cotton Calloway	Television film
2001–2005, 2015	Project Greenlight	Himself	Executive producer
2002	Push, Nevada	—	Executive producer
2002	The Bernie Mac Show	Himself	Episode: "Keep It on the Short Grass"
2002	Will & Grace	Owen	Episode: "A Chorus Lie"
2002, 2018	Saturday Night Live	Himself / host, Brett Kavanaugh	3 episodes
2003–2014	Journey to Planet Earth	Narrator	Documentary; 9 episodes
2006–present	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Himself	Talk show; 26 episodes
2007	Arthur	Himself (voice)	Episode: "The Making of Arthur/Dancing Fools"
2009	Entourage	Himself	Episode: "Give a Little Bit"
2009	The People Speak	Narrator	Documentary; executive producer
2010	Cubed	Himself	Episode: "Welcome Matt Damon"
2010–2011	30 Rock	Carol Burnett	4 episodes
2013	House of Lies	Himself	Episode: "Damonschildren.org"
2014	Years of Living Dangerously	Himself	Documentary; episode: "A Dangerous Future"
2015	The Leisure Class	—	Television movie; executive producer
2016	The Runner	—	Executive producer
2016	Incorporated	—	Executive producer
2019–2022	City on a Hill	—	Executive producer
2024	We Were the Lucky Ones	—	Executive producer

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Matt Damon

Footnotes