Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt[1] was born on August 12, 1975, inFalmouth, Massachusetts, to Christine Anne "Chris" Boldt and Timothy Byers Affleck.[2][3][4] The surname "Affleck" is of Scottish origin.[5] He also has Irish,[6][7] German,[8] English, and Swedish ancestry.[9][full citation needed] Affleck's maternal great-great-grandfather,Heinrich Boldt, known for the discovery of theCurmsun Disc, emigrated fromPrussia in the late 1840s.[10][11] His mother was aRadcliffe College- andHarvard-educated elementary school teacher. His father worked sporadically as an auto mechanic,[12][13] a carpenter,[14] abookie,[15][16] an electrician,[17] a bartender,[18] and a janitor at Harvard University.[19] In the mid-1960s, he had been a stage manager, director, writer and actor with theTheater Company of Boston.[20][21][22] During Affleck's childhood, his father was "a disaster of a drinker".[23] Affleck first started acting by "reenacting what was happening at home" during role play exercises atAlateen meetings.[24]
After his parents divorced when he was nine, Affleck and his older brother,Ben, lived with their mother and visited their father weekly.[23] He learned to speak Spanish during a year spent traveling around Mexico with his mother and brother when he was ten.[25] At the time, his brother Ben was filmingThe Second Voyage of the Mimi, which was set in Mexico. The two brothers spent "all of our time together, pretty much. Obviously at school we were in different grades, but we had the same friends."[25] When Affleck was fourteen, his father moved toIndio, California, to enter a rehabilitation facility, and later worked there as an addiction counselor.[17][26][27][28] He reconnected with his father during visits to California as a teenager: "I got to know him, really, because he was sober for the first time ... The man I knew before that was just completely different."[23][29]
Growing up in a politically active, liberal household inCentral Square, Cambridge,[15][30] Affleck and his brother were surrounded by people who worked in the arts,[31] were regularly taken to the theater by their mother,[32] and were encouraged to make their own home movies.[33] The brothers sometimes appeared in local weather commercials and as film extras because of their mother's friendship with a local casting director.[18][29][34] Affleck acted in numerous high school theater productions while a student atCambridge Rindge and Latin School.[29][35] He has said he "wouldn't be an actor" if not for his high school theater teacher Gerry Speca: "He kind of turned me on to acting, why it can be fun, how it can be rewarding."[35]
At age eighteen, Affleck moved to Los Angeles for a year to pursue an acting career, and lived with his brother and their childhood friendMatt Damon.[36] Despite having "the best possible first experience" while filmingTo Die For,[37] he spent much of the year working as a busboy at a restaurant inPasadena. He decided to move toWashington, D.C., to study politics atGeorge Washington University.[18] He soon transferred toColumbia University inNew York City, where he followed theCore Curriculum for a total of two years.[38][39][40] However, he did not graduate: "I would do a semester of school, go do a movie ... Opportunities kept presenting themselves that were hard for me to turn down ... By then, I didn't really have roots at the school or a group of friends."[37]
Affleck acted professionally during his childhood due to his mother's friendship with a Cambridge-area casting director, Patty Collinge.[37] In addition to local weather commercials and filmextra work,[41] he appeared asKevin Bacon's brother in thePBS television filmLemon Sky (1988), directed by Collinge's husband Jan Egleson,[37] and as a youngRobert F. Kennedy in theABC miniseriesThe Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990).[42] These early acting experiences "meant nothing more than a day off from school" to Affleck, and he only began to consider a career as an actor when in high school.[41] When he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in earnest, his first film role was as asociopathic teenager inGus Van Sant's 1995 satirical comedyTo Die For. During filming inToronto, Affleck shared an apartment with co-starJoaquin Phoenix and they became close friends.[33]Peter Travers ofRolling Stone praised Affleck's performance, saying he "skillfully capture[s] the pang of adolescence among no-hopers."[43][44] However, Affleck then had a "disappointing" experience while making the 1996 dramaRace the Sun and, "as soon as the film finished, I went to school."[39]
While studying at Columbia, Affleck had a supporting role in Van Sant'sGood Will Hunting (1997), written by his brother and their childhood friendMatt Damon.[18][37] Despite arranging a first meeting between Van Sant and his brother to discuss the project, Affleck was reluctant to leave college temporarily to act in the film.[39] He was eventually persuaded to play one of four friends living inSouth Boston – a role written specifically for him[36] – and improvised many of his lines.[45][46] Jay Carr ofThe Boston Globe praised the "emotional subtleties and variety" of the performances, and singled out "Casey Affleck's junior member of the quartet, dying to be taken as seriously as the others."[47] Following the film's success, Affleck's career opportunities did not significantly improve. At the same time, his life became exposed to the public and parts of his life became "part of pop culture and public life."[18] Also in 1997, he had a small role inKevin Smith'sChasing Amy, starring his brother. He returned to university for a semester before quitting to focus on his acting career.[39]
Affleck's career entered a "dark" period, with a series of supporting roles in critical and commercial failures.[36][33] He later remarked: "It dawned on me late that I should be selective about what I do."[37] In the independent comedyDesert Blue (1998), he starred oppositeKate Hudson as a small-town jock.[48] Peter Stack of theSan Francisco Chronicle felt that, while "interesting", his character was "entirely underdeveloped".[49] In 1999, he made an uncredited appearance in the teen comedyAmerican Pie[50] and appeared as a punk rocker romantically involved with bothGaby Hoffmann andChristina Ricci's characters in the New Year's Eve ensemble comedy200 Cigarettes.[51][52] In the comedyDrowning Mona (2000), starringDanny DeVito, Affleck played a shy gardener suspected of murder.[53]Elvis Mitchell ofThe New York Times acknowledged, in an otherwise negative review, that his role was "well played".[54] Also in 2000, Affleck had a small role in the comedyAttention Shoppers and playedFortinbras inEthan Hawke'sHamlet.[55] He appeared as the brother ofHeather Graham's character in the romantic comedyCommitted (2000), with Emanuel Levy ofVariety praising a "terrific" performance.[56] Also in 2001, he had a small role inAmerican Pie 2 and appeared in the teenslasher filmSoul Survivors. Robert Koehler ofVariety found him "bland"[57] while Carla Meyer of theSan Francisco Chronicle said that he did not make "much of an impression, [but may] have been too depressed to really act."[58] One positive experience Affleck had during this period was working with Van Sant and cinematographerHarris Savides onFinding Forrester (2000) as Van Sant's assistant and technical consultant: "Can you imagine a better film school than that? Gus is not only somebody who I love a lot but is also who has taught me, maybe more than anybody else in film."[33][59]
Affleck found a degree of commercial success when he was cast inSteven Soderbergh's heist comedyOcean's Eleven (2001), starringGeorge Clooney,Brad Pitt and Damon. In roles Soderbergh originally intended forLuke Wilson andOwen Wilson,[60] Affleck andScott Caan playedMormon brothers and wisecracking mechanics who help to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.[61] While it was a "great, fun social experience", Affleck spent much of his time on set "being, like, 100 feet away from the camera in the background."[36] He would later reprise his role inOcean's Twelve (2004) andOcean's Thirteen (2007).
In 2002, Affleck and Damon starred in Van Sant's experimental dramaGerry, playing two men who get lost while hiking in the desert.[62][63] Affleck, Damon, and Van Sant conceived of the idea and wrote the screenplay together while living in neighboring New York apartments.[45] The film, which had minimal dialogue, received mixed reviews.[64][65] Affleck, who rarely watches his own films,[61] said ofGerry in 2016: "That was an incredible experience. I saw one scene recently out of context at theTelluride Film Festival and I can't believe anyone ever sat through the whole thing. It probably works better as a whole but one scene lifted out – I thought, 'This is unbearable!'"[37] Also in 2002, Affleck starred with Damon and then-girlfriendSummer Phoenix in aWest End stage production ofKenneth Lonergan'sThis Is Our Youth.[18][66][67] Lonergan and Affleck became friends during rehearsals,[68] and Affleck later acted inworkshop productions of Lonergan's plays in New York.[69][70]
Affleck in 2006
Affleck's first leading role was in 2006's little-seen independent comedy-dramaLonesome Jim, directed bySteve Buscemi. He played a depressed writer who returns from New York to live with his parents in Indiana, and begins a relationship withLiv Tyler's character.[71] Buscemi has said he knew Affleck would be able to carry the film after watching his performance inGerry.[72][73] Stephen Hunter ofThe Washington Post remarked: "Affleck's interesting .. He probably can't be a star in big movies because his drawback is a voice that sounds like a snivel drawn through a wet nasal passage into a whine ... And yet in certain kinds of films – this kind – he's 100 percent authentic."[74] Ty Burr ofThe Boston Globe said Affleck "gets so far under the skin of this semi-charming jerk that the performance becomes both brave and aggravating."[75] However, Stephen Holden ofThe New York Times felt it "would be a stronger movie if Mr. Affleck had the wherewithal to bare more of the passive-aggressive rage inside ... a more resourceful actor would have used this blank slate to scrawl a thousand telling details."[76] Also in 2006, he had a supporting role in the romantic comedyThe Last Kiss as a friend ofZach Braff's character.[77]
Affleck had a breakthrough year in 2007, with the release of two films featuring critically acclaimed performances.[78] The first of these performances was in the Western dramaThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, in which he playedRobert Ford toBrad Pitt'sJesse James.[79] Affleck auditioned repeatedly for the role.[80] While the directorAndrew Dominik had seen Affleck inGerry,[81][82] he cast him partly because of his "beautiful-sounding voice. The voice is the thing that really gets you."[83][84] Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Times described Affleck's performance as a "revelation" which "manages to make the character seem dumb and the actor wily and smart."[85] Similarly, Claudia Puig ofUSA Today declared him a "real revelation [who] perfectly inhabits the role"[86] while Todd McCarthy ofVariety said Affleck made "an indelible impression as the insecure, physically unprepossessing weakling."[87] Dana Stevens ofSlate said "the movie belongs to Affleck [who] goes for broke in a wonderfully brave and weird performance as the craven naif Bob. Somehow he makes us want to flee this creep at top speed, even as we pray no harm will come to him." For his performance, Affleck was nominated for theGolden Globe Award,Screen Actors Guild Award andAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
While he was filmingThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford inCalgary, Affleck was visited by his brother, who offered him the leading role in his directorial project, the Boston crime thrillerGone Baby Gone (2007).[37] While his brother was a first-time director and in the midst of a career downturn, Affleck had confidence in the project: "I felt like I knew him better than anyone else did."[37][88] His performance, as an inexperienced private investigator tasked with finding a missing child, earned Affleck further plaudits for his acting.[89] Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Times said: "I'm not sure exactly when Casey Affleck became such a good actor ... Most actors want you to love them, but [he] doesn't seem to know that, or maybe he doesn't care."[90] Jim Ridley ofThe Village Voice described him as "a major talent coming into his own"[91] while Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle remarked that "the revelation is Casey Affleck, who heretofore has been a rather wormy, uncharismatic screen presence."[92] Ty Burr ofThe Boston Globe commented: "I'd never stopped to consider Casey Affleck as a movie star before, but under his big brother's tutelage, he blooms as a leading man of richly watchable savvy and intelligence."[93]
WhileThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford andGone Baby Gone were, respectively, a financial failure and a modest box office success,[83][94] Affleck's acting career was widely believed to be at a turning point.[33] However, he lost career momentum while directingI'm Still Here (2010), a divisive mockumentary about the musical career of his friend and then brother-in-lawJoaquin Phoenix.[33] While Affleck later clarified that it was "a planned, staged and scripted work of fiction",[95] there was much media speculation during filming about whether Phoenix's public behavior was performance art or a genuine breakdown.[96] Claudia Puig ofUSA Today remarked that, "whether truth or folly, it's not particularly well made. Even in the midst of Phoenix's most oddball and obsessive torment, it's boring ... What, exactly, is the point of a joke that nobody really gets?"[97] Ty Burr ofThe Boston Globe described it as "an interesting but half-baked exercise in persona deconstruction, celebrity politics, and meta-meta-entertainment ... Parts of it are close to genius; most of it is actively torturous to watch."[98] Kenneth Turan of theLos Angeles Times said the film "turns out to be much more interesting to speculate about than to actually watch."[99] Reflecting on the experience in 2016, Affleck said: "We never thought people would actually think it was real ... In hindsight, we should have had a press junket and done talk shows and said how it was a mockumentary."[70]
Affleck used his own money to fundI'm Still Here and, after running out of cash,[95] filming was paused for a month to allow him to play a Texanserial killer inMichael Winterbottom's crime dramaThe Killer Inside Me (2010).[100] Affleck later expressed regret over the film's graphic violence.[70] Philip French ofThe Guardian found him "disturbingly brilliant"[101] while Peter Travers ofRolling Stone praised "a mesmeric, implosively powerful performance."[102] Mark Olsen of theLos Angeles Times said Affleck "showcases his uncanny ability to project a person holding two thoughts in his head at once, as he often gives away nothing in his face to convey the firestorm obviously raging in his soul."[103] Affleck then had a supporting role in the heist comedyTower Heist (2011)[104] and voiced a character in the 2012 animationParaNorman.[105]
After spending "a big chunk of time" directingI'm Still Here and dealing with the subsequent backlash,[106] Affleck returned to regular acting work in 2013. "It was ugly for a minute ... I sort of remembered why I liked acting and I missed it."[59] InDavid Lowery'sAin't Them Bodies Saints (2013), Affleck andRooney Mara starred as outlaw lovers in 1970s-era Texas.[107] Affleck was drawn to the opportunity to play a character who "was a much better person than anyone thought", after a string of roles as "assassins or murderers or just creeps".[107] Shannon M. Houston ofPaste described him as the film's "standout actor": "Down to his very jawline, Affleck captures the physicality and feeling of a sincerely romantic outlaw."[108] Betsy Sharkey of theLos Angeles Times remarked: "Affleck plays conflicted souls so very well ... Here you wish for a criminal's redemption."[109] Matt Pais of theChicago Tribune said: "He has great instincts when it comes to morally compromised anti-heroes, and without trolling for our sympathy, Affleck's Bob is more than just a collection of behaviors; it's a smartly considered performance."[110] Sebastian Doggart ofThe Guardian said he "shows himself again to be a master of the criminal outsider"[111] while Chuck Wilson ofThe Village Voice found him "flat-out heartbreaking".[112]
The opportunity to act oppositeChristian Bale in the dramaOut of the Furnace "reinvigorated" Affleck and reminded him why he enjoyed acting.[113] Claudia Puig ofUSA Today found his performance as anIraq War veteran dealing withposttraumatic stress disorder "completely captivating ... The chemistry between Bale and Affleck is powerful, intensifying the credibility of their brotherly bond."[114] Matt Pais of theChicago Tribune said Affleck "finds something fierce and noble in uneven material and in his character's rage. He's not like any other actor in American movies."[110] Ann Hornaday ofThe Washington Post described the performance as "a searing portrayal of a young man who pushes himself to the punishing physical limit in search of both money and catharsis."[115] Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Times remarked that Affleck "can come across as intensely vulnerable on screen, which nicely works for a broken man like Rodney."[116] In 2014, Affleck andJessica Chastain had supporting roles inChristopher Nolan's science fiction filmInterstellar as the grown-up children ofMatthew McConaughey's character,[117] with Todd McCarthy ofThe Hollywood Reporter describing his character as "thinly developed".[118] Also in 2014, Affleck and producerJohn Powers Middleton launched the production company, The Affleck/Middleton Project.[119]
Affleck starred in three films in 2016, the first two of which underperformed financially.[120][121] InJohn Hillcoat's crime thrillerTriple 9, Affleck played an uncorruptible detective. Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle said he "arrests our attention. I wonder if any other screen actor has ever seemed so focused and so distracted at the same time. He thinks more than he says, and so we listen, trying to get the part he's leaving out."[122] Justin Chang ofVariety described him as "one of the most persuasive leading men of his generation"[123] while Brogan Morris ofPaste declared him "maybe Hollywood's best offbeat leading man ... Few actors can suggest so much with such quiet precision, and even here Affleck is compulsively watchable despite his undercooked character."[124] In Disney's disaster dramaThe Finest Hours, Affleck played a taciturn engineer on board a sinking ship.David Sims ofThe Atlantic said he "gives the kind of measured, thought-out performance he's so eminently capable of, even if the film isn't complex enough to rise to his level ... He animates an introverted character with subtle mental busywork whenever he's on the screen."[125] Sheri Linden ofThe Hollywood Reporter noted that he "manages to turn his man of few words into the movie's most compelling figure."[126]
In his final role of 2016, Affleck starred as Lee Chandler, a grief-stricken loner, inKenneth Lonergan's dramaManchester by the Sea. One of the film's producers, Matt Damon, initially intended to star in the film. When scheduling conflicts made this unfeasible, Damon agreed to step aside on the condition that he be replaced with Affleck.[127] Lonergan readily agreed,[128] remarking that Affleck was "the natural person to go to."[129] Affleck had close relationships with both men and had previously offered notes on early drafts of the script.[61] The film was a box office success,[130] and Affleck's performance received widespread critical praise. A.O. Scott ofThe New York Times described it as "one of the most fiercely disciplined screen performances in recent memory. [He] conveys both Lee's inner avalanche of feeling and the numb decorum that holds it back."[131]
Kenneth Turan of theLos Angeles Times praised his "quietly ferocious performance, his willingness to submerge himself into this character to an almost frightening extent."[132] Ann Hornaday ofThe Washington Post said the film was "anchored by a quietly volcanic central performance by Casey Affleck, in a breathtaking breakout role he's long deserved."[133] David Fear ofRolling Stone stated: "He's given impressive turns before [but] the way Affleck gradually shows you the man's bone-deep grief and emotional damage makes you believe that one of this generation's finest actors has simply been waiting to be coaxed out."[134] Affleck won theNational Board of Review,Critics' Choice,Golden Globe,BAFTA, andAcademy Award for his performance.
After dropping out of Lowery'sPete's Dragon in order to star inManchester by the Sea,[61] Affleck reteamed with the director to star oppositeRooney Mara in the experimental dramaA Ghost Story, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2017.[135] Affleck's character dies suddenly at the outset and he spends much of the film covered by a white sheet with two eye-holes, haunting his former home. David Rooney ofThe Hollywood Reporter said Affleck's performance managed to resonate despite limited time onscreen.[136] Peter Debruge ofVariety said Affleck "has never been an easy actor to read. He's a low-charisma mumbler who tends to keep his characters' emotions bottled up, making him the rare performer who can convey as much with a sheet over his head as he does without."[137] Jordan Hoffman ofThe Guardian described him as "cinema's finest mumbler ... I can't even tell if he's speaking or just emitting high-pitched vibrations anymore."[138] In 2018, Affleck starred oppositeRobert Redford in the outlaw dramaThe Old Man & the Gun, his third collaboration with Lowery.[139]
Affleck was introduced to actressSummer Phoenix by her brother,Joaquin, in the late 1990s.[18][148] They began dating in 2000,[149] and acted together in both the 2000 filmCommitted[150] and a 2002 stage production ofThis Is Our Youth.[151] The couple became engaged in January 2004[148] and married on June 3, 2006, in Savannah, Georgia.[152] They have two sons born in 2004 and 2007.[153] On August 1, 2017, Phoenix officially filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences",[154] and it was finalized later that year.[155] Affleck has said it was an amicable divorce and that they remain friends.[23]
He has been in a relationship with actressCaylee Cowan since January 2021.[156]
In a 2016 interview, Affleck said that he had been sober for "almost three years ... My father was a disaster of a drinker, my grandmother was an alcoholic, my brother spent some time in rehab – it's in our genes."[23]
In 2008, Affleck filmed an episode of documentary series4Real, in which he visited thePawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and remarked upon the progress they had made due largely to "their own resourcefulness and determination and their character, and not because of the goodness of our collective heart."[157] During the2016 presidential campaign, Affleck supportedHillary Clinton[33][158] and characterizedDonald Trump as "a dangerous fool".[61][159] In 2017, multiple financial contributions to Trump were made by Affleck's production company, which he co-founded withJohn Powers Middleton. In a statement, Affleck denied involvement: "I had no knowledge of it, was never asked, and never would have authorized it ... The policies of the Trump administration, and the values they represent, are antithetical to everything I believe in."[160]
Affleck has settled two sexual harassment lawsuits out of court for an undisclosed amount.[161]
In 2010, two of his former co-workers fromI'm Still Here filed civil lawsuits against Affleck.Amanda White, one of the film's producers, sued Affleck for $2 million with multiple complaints includingsexual harassment and breach of oral contract.[162] She detailed numerous "uninvited and unwelcome sexual advances" in the workplace. White alleged that Affleck refused to honor the terms of the production agreement, including her fee, in retaliation.[162]
The film's cinematographer, Magdalena Gorka, sued Affleck for $2.25 million with multiple complaints including intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of oral contract.[163][164] Gorka alleged that she had been subjected to "routine instances" of sexual harassment by crew members includingAntony Langdon, "within the presence and with the active encouragement of Affleck."[163]
Initially, Affleck denied the allegations and threatened to countersue.[165] No countersuits were filed.[161] His lawyer claimed, "Both women left the film in April 2009 and both were refused when they wanted to return", and "there was no mention of sexual harassment before June [2010]."[166] The film's associate producer Nicole Acacio and an unnamed female editor both defended Affleck's conduct on set.[167] The lawsuits were later settled out of court.[168] Both women received credit for their work on the project; no details of any financial settlement were released.[169]
Casey Affleck in 2018
Affleck addressed the allegations in a 2016 interview withThe New York Times, stating: "It was settled to the satisfaction of all. I was hurt and upset — I am sure all were — but I am over it. It was an unfortunate situation — mostly for the innocent bystanders of the families of those involved."[170] The allegations and lawsuits attracted scrutiny during the2016–17 film awards season, when Affleck was recognized for his performance inManchester by the Sea, which culminated in further controversy following his Best Actor win at the89th Academy Awards.[171][172][173] The following year, amidst theMe Too movement, Affleck withdrew from presenting the award forBest Actress at the90th Academy Awards.[174]
In a 2018 interview with the Associated Press, Affleck discussed the lawsuits and allegations in light of the Me Too movement.[175] He characterized his behavior at the time of the lawsuits as defensive and said he has since worked to understand his own culpability.[175] He remorsefully acknowledged that the set ofI'm Still Here was "an unprofessional environment" and that "I contributed to that unprofessional environment and I tolerated that kind of behavior from other people and I wish that I hadn't. And I regret a lot of that ... I behaved in a way and allowed others to behave in a way that was really unprofessional. And I'm sorry."[175]
In June 2020, Affleck, with his mother Christine, founded a fundraising effort, Stories from Tomorrow. The initiative was co-sponsored byRoom to Read,WriteGirl and New Earth, an organization where Affleck is a board member. 'Stories from Tomorrow' matches original writing by children ages 5–18 with celebrities who read their work, which is then presented in video form. The money raised will be used to ensure that children around the world have access to education and food.[183][184][185]
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