Every Time Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Acted Together

12 Times Matt Damon And Ben Affleck Appeared In Movies Together

Back in 2010, Ben Affleck’s ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, took the stage at the American Cinematheque Awards and described Affleck’s and Matt Damon’s longtime friendship. “Ben is half of one of the greatest love stories ever told. Not with me,” Garner joked. “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.” Their personal and professional relationship goes back a long way.

Ben Affleck met Matt Damon when Affleck was eight and Damon was 10. The duo lived two blocks from each other in a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and formed a fast friendship when they discovered a mutual interest in acting and baseball. Since that time, it has been a partnership and bond that has not wavered through the ups and downs that have been their respective Hollywood careers.

In their 30+ years in the moviemaking business, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have partnered up numerous times as producers, writers, and actors. They have shared the screen a dozen times, some significantly and others as quick cameos.

These are the 12 times that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have shared the big screen and worked together. We’ll look at them from their very first appearance on screen together to the most recent.

Field of Dreams (1989)

Right now you are probably thinking to yourself, wait, wasn’t Fields of Dreams a Kevin Costner movie? And the answer to that question is yes, it was a Kevin Costner film. It was also a film that starred Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan, and James Earl Jones. “If you build it, he will come.” So, where then do Ben Affleck and Matt Damon come in?

In the film, there is a scene at the famous Fenway Park in Boston. There was a call for extras to film the scene and amongst those 3,000 or so needed to represent a full stadium, Affleck and Damon were part of that group.

School Ties (1992)

It wouldn’t be for another three years until Ben Affleck and Matt Damon would get another shot to be on film together. Both young men were slowly building their resumes, so School Ties came at an opportune time for them. The film starred Brendan Fraser as David Green, a Jewish high school quarterback in 1959 who dealt with much antisemitism after receiving a scholarship as a senior to an elite preparatory school.

While Affleck’s role was not as big, Damon took on the meaty role of Charlie Dillon, the leader of the hate thrown Greene’s way. The film also starred a young Chris O’Donnell and Cole Hauser.

Glory Daze (1995)

In an if-you-blink-you-might-miss-him role, Matt Damon (barely) joined Ben Affleck in Glory Daze, a film about a college student who is close to graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He and four other college roommates, who are also preparing to graduate, decide they like the carefree ways college life has allowed them to live, so they try to hold onto it for as long as possible.

Sam Rockwell, French Stewart, and Vinnie DeRamus co-star as Affleck’s roommates. Damon makes a non-speaking cameo as Edgar Pudwhacker, a former housemate. This would not be the last time Damon would make a cameo in one of Ben Affleck’s films.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Speaking of Matt Damon making cameos, here is another example of that. Ben Affleck stars as Holden McNeil, a comic artist who falls in love with a lesbian, Alyssa Jones (played by Joey Lauren Adams). A friendship between the two quickly develops, leading to the pair sleeping together. As you can imagine, things get quite complicated.

Damon shows up briefly as an executive. Chasing Amy, which turns out to be a comic book, was written and directed by Kevin Smith, and the characters he created in Clerks (and Mallrats), Jay and Silent Bob played by Jason Mewes and Smith, are back for a third time as well.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s careers went from middling to massive in 1997 with Good Will Hunting. The boys, who had major roles in the film, also co-wrote the script, which ended up being nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning two, one for Best Supporting Actor for Robin Williams, and the second for Affleck and Damon for Best Original Screenplay.

Both Williams and Damon are remarkable in this film about a genius, Will Hunting (Damon) who can’t get out of his own way. Affleck is on board as Will’s best friend, Chuckie, but the entire movie revolves around the relationship forged by Will and Dr. Sean Maguire (Williams).

Dogma (1999)

The acting careers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon took off and two years after Good Will Hunting, when the pair reunited in another Kevin Smith film, Dogma. In this one, Smith cast the boys as leads and they played fallen angels, Bartleby (Affleck) and Loki (Damon).

The story follows the two fallen angels as they have found a loophole that would allow them to return to Heaven. The problem they run into is that if they used this loophole, it would then prove God wrong, which would undo creation. This comedy also sees the return of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith).

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Well, we’ve talked about Jay and Silent Bob enough, you had to figure we’d eventually get to their own film. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, just about every character Kevin Smith created makes an appearance. This would include both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

In this film, which follows the title characters getting themselves in and out of trouble, Affleck and Damon appear as themselves, while Affleck also appears as his Chasing Amy character (Holden McNeil). And the two finally appear as their Good Will Hunting characters, Will Hunting (Damon) and Chuckie (Affleck). You probably need to see the film (if you already haven’t) to understand what Smith is doing here.

The Third Wheel (2002)

Film number eight for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and one more quick cameo for Damon. In The Third Wheel, Stanley (Luke Wilson) has been pining over one of his co-workers, Diana (Denise Richards) for over a year, finally working up the courage to ask her out. After accepting, Stanley and Diana are out when Stanley accidentally runs into a homeless man, Phil (Jay Lacopo), who also wrote the film. He becomes their “third wheel.”

Ben Affleck is on board as Stanley’s co-worker, who is leading an office pool to see how far Stanley will get with Diana. Matt Damon arrives in an uncredited role as Kevin.

Jersey Girl (2004)

There was a lot of “tough love” during the filming of Jersey Girl, a film written and directed by Kevin Smith and the first not to feature any of his previous characters from his View Askewniverse. The film stars Ben Affleck as a father who must raise his growing daughter after her mother dies while giving birth.

The “tough love” shown on set was a script rewrite to pare back Jennifer Lopez’s scenes with Ben Affleck as the two had split during filming. There were also some concerns about the two of them being on screen together after the poor performance of Gigli.

The second instance of “tough love” came from Smith again, when he was going to allow Jason Mewes (his Jay and Silent Bob partner) to appear in the film, but since Mewes refused to acknowledge and quit using heroin, Smith instead gave his part to another actor.

Matt Damon once again appeared briefly, this time as a PR executive.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are just a small part of an ensemble cast that Kevin Smith put together to welcome back Jay (a clean and sober Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob in a film that is part reboot and remake. The film, which is the eighth in Smith’s View Askewniverse, requires one to have a fairly good working knowledge of said View Askewniverse, as Smith references, and has many characters appear from previous roles.

Affleck is back as Holden McNeil (from Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) while Damon is on board as Loki (from Dogma). This would be the tenth time Affleck and Damon were on the big screen together, although their last four appearances have been marked by cameos. This, finally, was about to change.

The Last Duel (2021)

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were back together in more ways than one in this historical drama directed by Ridley Scott. Not only did the two star in the film, but they co-wrote the script alongside scribe Nicole Holofcener.

The Last Duel was based on Eric Jager’s book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France. The film, set in medieval France, tells the story of Jean de Carrogues (Damon) who challenges his former friend, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) to a duel after Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Cormer), accuses Jacques of raping her while Jean was away fighting in the war.

Affleck joins Damon in the film as Count Pierre d’Alençon.

Air (2023)

This 2023 sports biography film would mark a change between Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as it was the very first movie Affleck would be in the director’s chair to direct his best friend. The result turned out to be Air, one of the better films of 2023, to date.

Not only did Affleck direct the film, but he stars as Phil Knight, the Nike founder, who had to make the tough call in creating a shoe line around NBA rookie basketball sensation, Michael Jordan. Damon had the main role of Sonny Vaccaro, whose job it was to not only reel in the “big fish” but to also convince Knight that Michael Jordan was the one to push Nike to the next level in the competitive sports shoe world.