16 Photos Of BFFs Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Through The Years

One of the most iconic friendships in Hollywood is one shared by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The pals met growing up in Boston before they graduated from the same high school.

When starting out in Hollywood in the late 1980s, they shared a bank account while saving money for auditions. “As long as one of us had money, we knew that the power wasn't going to get shut off,” Damon said.

They also had the same first film role in 1989: uncredited extras in Field of Dreams at Fenway Park. “I bet there were probably 3,000 extras in a big crowd scene when Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones are at the baseball game,” Damon recalled in 2021.

They became household names in 1997 thanks to Good Will Hunting, a movie that they co-wrote and starred in alongside Minnie Driver, Affleck’s brother Casey, and the late Robin Williams.

Good Will Hunting took home two Academy Awards in 1998: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Williams, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Affleck’s mom Chris Boldt and Damon’s mom Nancy Carlsson-Paige joined them at the 1998 Academy Awards — and got a special shoutout in their acceptance speech. Affleck called them “the most beautiful women here.”

Good Will Hunting marked the first of many collaborations. They appeared in Dogma together in 1999. In the early aughts, they starred in Project Greenlight, which focused on helping first-time filmmakers get their debut movies made. Affleck made a cameo in Damon’s The Third Wheel.

One could argue that their friendship is award-winning. In 2016, they took home the Guys of the Decade award at Spike TV’s Guys’ Choice Award.

“I think it goes without saying that this is an award Matt and I have been dreaming about since we were little boys,” Affleck said in his acceptance speech.

The friends have supported each other through thick and thin — and tattoos. “I support him in all of his artistic expression,” Damon said when asked about Affleck’s infamous phoenix back tattoo.

Even Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner joked about their bromance. “Ben is half of one of the greatest love stories ever told. Not with me,” she said at the 2010 American Cinematheque Awards. “The actual prototype for the great Hollywood Bromance.”

“Here's proof that love is alive and well in Hollywood. At least for my darling husband and my husband’s darling husband.”

In 2022, Affleck was interviewed by Damon for Entertainment Weekly, and Affleck reflected on how important their friendship was through the ups and downs of their professional and personal lives.

“I don’t know that that would’ve been possible for me alone, doing this job in this world without somebody I grew up with who I loved, who I knew loved me and had my back, who believed in me, and whom the popularity of my movies or what people said about me wasn’t going to change what they thought about me,” Affleck said.

You can catch Damon and Affleck in their latest film collaboration Air, which tells the story of how the Nike Air Jordan shoes came to be. Air premiered April 5. Air will stream on Amazon Prime at a later date.