“In our culture, we get very much into shorthanding people. And I got shorthanded as That Guy: Jennifer Lopez, movies bombed, therefore he must be a sort of thoughtless dilettante, solipsistic consumer blahblahblah. It's hard to shake those sort of narratives.”

American actor and filmmaker

Ben Affleck is an American actor and filmmaker. Born in 1972, he began working as a child and has built a career in film that spans acting and directing. He has won two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globes. Affleck first appeared in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi, then went on to roles in Dazed and Confused and several Kevin Smith comedies, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. He is known for work that moves between mainstream Hollywood films and independent comedy, with a public profile shaped by both acting and filmmaking.