Casey Affleck (born August 12, 1975) is an Academy Award-, SAG Award - and Golden Globe-nominated American actor who has acted in films such as Good Will Hunting, Ocean's Thirteen, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Gone Baby Gone. He is the younger brother of Ben Affleck.
Biography
Early life
Affleck was born Caleb Casey Affleck-Boldt in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the son of Chris Ann (née Boldt), a school district employee and teacher, and Timothy Affleck, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, and former actor with the Theater Company of Boston.1 As a child he had numerous pets, including cats, snakes, guinea pigs and turtles.2 Affleck went to George Washington University, later transferring to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in physics, astronomy, and Western philosophy.3
Career
Affleck's first movie role was as a sociopathic teenager in Gus Van Sant's 1995 dark comedy To Die For, alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Nicole Kidman.4 After starring the following year in the box office flop Race the Sun (co-starring Halle Berry), he appeared in two films featuring older brother Ben: Chasing Amy and Good Will Hunting. The latter was a major hit and jump-started the careers of Matt Damon and the Affleck brothers. Both Ben and Damon went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Affleck then starred in the underground movie Desert Blue, a film which met with limited success, but also featured rising star Kate Hudson.5 He took time off from acting before playing another role.
He next starred in the black comedy Drowning Mona with Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Campbell, and Danny DeVito. The movie performed poorly at the box office and with critics. He then starred in the 2001 horror movie Soul Survivors, co-starring Luke Wilson, Wes Bentley, and Eliza Dushku. Affleck later admitted in an interview to Nylon Magazine that he was ashamed to have been involved with both films.citation needed Affleck followed them up with a re-make of the Rat Pack movie Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh. The 2001 release had a star-studded cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts. Affleck played Virgil Malloy, one of the pair of mormon brothers hired to drive the getaway vehicle. Affleck would return to this character in Ocean's Twelve in 2004, and Ocean's Thirteen, released in June 2007. In the latter film, several scenes take place in Mexico, where Affleck lived as a child, and in which he has extended dialogue in Spanish, which he speaks.6
After establishing his movie career, Affleck turned to screenwriting, teaming up with Matt Damon to write the 2002 film Gerry about two friends who get lost while hiking in the desert, directed by Van Sant. Affleck also starred in the film The Last Kiss as a friend of Zach Braff's character and made a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix-directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside.
In 2007, he starred in the Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, playing Robert Ford to Brad Pitt's Jesse James. For this role he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture at the 65th Golden Globe Awards, a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture and an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role at the 80th Academy Awards. He also starred in the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone in which he appeared as the main protagonist, Patrick Kenzie. The movie was directed by his brother, Ben Affleck, who later stated that as an actor, Casey is "the better Affleck."
In April 2008, director Ridley Scott had announced his new project The Kind One, a period noir drama set for release in 2010. Affleck has been cast in the lead role.7 Also in 2010, Affleck will be teaming up with Jessica Alba in The Killer Inside Me, a film adaptation of the 1952 novel of the same name.8
Personal life
Affleck married Summer Phoenix, his girlfriend of six years, on June 3, 20069. The couple were introduced by her brother. The couple have two sons, Indiana August, who was born on May 31, 2004 in Amsterdam10 and Atticus,11 who was born in November, 2007.12
Affleck is involved with many animal rights movements and campaigns for PETA and Farm Sanctuary.13 He is a vegan.14
Affleck speaks fluent Spanish and resides in Los Angeles, California and Winter Park, Florida with his family.
Filmography
Other awards and nominations
Won
Nominations
References
External links