Ben Affleck: The Man, the Myth, the Pro-Gambler?

Which Hollywood star has a knack for gambling?

He’s famously taken on the role of one of our favourite billionaire vigilantes ‘the Batman’ and has also routinely captured the attention of paparazzi and the world with his high-profile dating life. But there are many parts of Ben’s life that are not as known and talked about.

His Early Years

Ben was born in 1972 in Berkeley, California, although he actually grew up in Massachusetts. His upbringing was definitely more average than his later life turned out to be. His mom, Chris Anne Boldt, who was a public school teacher, and his Dad, Timothy Affleck, who worked many blue-collared jobs such as a janitor and auto mechanic, divorced when Ben was aged eleven.

Chris Anne Boldt led quite the life before having Ben and his brother Casey Affleck. In the 1960s she was one of the original freedom fighters campaigning and battling for equal rights for all with the civil rights movement in the south of the US at the time. Later on she received a masters at Harvard, one of the most prestigious colleges in the US. Out of his two parents Chris definitely seems to have remained closer to her superstar son, being pictured with his mom out and about somewhat regularly.

His Dad, Timothy, although on good terms with his son, reportedly suffers from vertigo which flying affects, therefore he is unable to visit Ben so often, but the two have talked about their communication via email in a number of interviews. It’s possible that due to his fathers trouble with alcoholism in his late teens, this strained the relationship leading Ben to feel closer to his mother. His father at one point worked as a janitor at Harvard, and we can’t help but wonder - was this some of the inspiration behind one of Ben’s most successful early films, Good Will Hunting?

Ben actually started his career pretty young, appearing in a couple of commercials. But it wasn’t until first big break swooped in during the early 90’s when he grabbed a role in ‘School ties’, with his then almost unknown friend Matt Damon, that he started gathering attention.

Poker Prodigy

Aside from his incredibly successful career in film, Ben has been an active video poker casino player for many years, even competing in several high-stakes tournaments, and pulling off some impressive feats, winning a few of the major ones. In 2004, he won the California State Poker Championship, in which he took home a huge cash prize of over $300,000 - can you imagine!

Movies and Matt Damon

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have a long standing friendship to be envious of. From being pretty young they supported each other as they navigated the acting and entertainment industry. The two young friends bonded over their love of baseball and acting when they lived just a couple of streets over from each other at the ages of 8 and 10. By the ages of 14 and 16, they were going to New York together for auditions.

The two started writing their own projects and acting together pretty early on, their first project they co-starred in of note being ‘School Ties’ in 1992. When they were struggling to get their careers off the ground, the pair would support each other by getting one another couch surf in difficult financial times - they even shared a bank account at one point!

In 1994 though was when the magic happened. The duo wrote their breakout film which went on to earn them best screenplay Oscars, ‘Good Will Hunting’. To this day, Ben Affleck is the youngest writer to win that particular academy award at just 25 years old.

The pair's friendship and their work together is still continuing, having collaborated on more than nine projects together.

Dating Dramas

As we mentioned, Ben’s dating life has been very public, and was featured at the forefront of the infamous tabloid golden era of the 2000’s. Much less consistent than his friendship with Matt, Ben has dated a number of fellow stars before reuniting with Jennifer Lopez, to whom he married last year. Recognise any from the list?

Gwyneth Paltrow

Ben and Gwyneth dated very publicly on and off until they split in 2000. Talking about the reason they broke up, Gwyneth said he was “not in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend”.

Jennifer Garner

In his longest public relationship to date, Ben and Jennifer Garner started their romance after meeting on the set of their movie ‘Daredevil’, in 2004. Following a decade together, the couple officially divorced in 2018.

Ana de Armas

Their time together was captured a lot by paparazzi following them around, although they still seemed to enjoy themselves, their relationship came to an end in early 2021, just 10 months after it started.

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