Ben Affleck Trivia | 100 facts about the actor

Ben Affleck is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards.

Let’s find out more about him!

1. Fined $135 for driving in Massachusetts with a suspended license.
2. Friend of and frequent collaborator with actor Matt Damon.
3. Owns vintage Ms. Pac-Man and Millipede video-arcade games.
4. He was accidently knocked unconscious by football player Dana Stubblefield during the filming of Reindeer Games (2000). Stubblefield slipped, and Affleck was knocked down. He was taken to the hospital, but fully recovered.
5. When he was little, he asked his mom for a dog, and she tested him by making him walk an imaginary dog for a week. Ben only lasted for 5 days and didn’t get the dog.
6. Graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in 1990.
7. Dropped out of the University of Vermont after 1 semester, where he studied Spanish.
8. Dropped out of Occidental College after 1 year, where he had studied Middle Eastern studies.
9. He and Matt Damon sold their Good Will Hunting (1997) script for $600,000.
10. Owns 5 motorcycles.
11. Chosen as one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in the World [2000]
12. Chosen as one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People in the World [1999]
13. Was an extra with friend Matt Damon in Field of Dreams (1989).
14. Charlie Sheen drove him to Promises Rehabilitation Center in August, 2001
15. Ranked #77 in Premiere’s 2002 annual Power 100 List.
16. Is known for being a very good impressionist. He usually picks one of his costars while filming a movie and studies them. He displays his impressions on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) almost every time he is a guest. While filming The Sum of All Fears (2002), he chose to study co-star Morgan Freeman. When he showed Morgan his impression on set, it was so accurate Freeman told him, “You ever do that again, I’ll kill you”.
17. Engaged to Jennifer Lopez from November 10, 2002 to January 22, 2004. In April 2021, Affleck and Lopez reunited and in April 2022 they got engaged again.
18. His ancestry is mostly English, Irish, German, Scottish, and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and distant/remote Swiss-German, Swedish, French, and Welsh. His maternal great-grandfather, Joseph Raymond Boldt, was born in Rhode Island, to German immigrants, and his maternal great-grandmother, Anne Rita Lenihan, was Irish, born in County Down.
19. Named People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” (2002).
20. Voluntarily entered Promises Rehabilitation Center in Malibu, California for alcohol abuse. [July 2001]
21. He was inspired to contribute to the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund, which supports cancer research at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, after meeting Molly Hanna, who died of cancer in 2002. She was a student in his mother’s fifth-grade class.
22. Growing up, the Marvel Comic book character Daredevil was his hero. He got to play the character in the 2003 movie.
23. Ranked #41 in Premiere’s 2003 annual Power 100 List.
24. Was paid $1.5 million for doing commercials for L’Oreal Shampoo. (2003).
25. Has a Boston Celtics logo painted on the basketball court at his house.
26. In the fall of 2003, he volunteered to spend several days with children with disabilities.
27. Jennifer Lopez wrote the song “Dear Ben” about him and how much she loved him.
28. He won $356,000 by winning the California State Poker Championships in June 2004 – defeating some of the best poker players in the world in the process.
29. Is a first-time uncle to younger brother Casey Affleck’s son, Indiana Affleck, born on May 31, 2004 in Amsterdam, to Casey and his fiancée, actress Summer Phoenix.
30. Appeared in a prop photo used in the movie Mermaids (1990).
31. In 2001, was filming four movies simultaneously: Pearl Harbor (2001), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Changing Lanes (2002), and The Sum of All Fears (2002).
32. When he was dating Jennifer Lopez, hated the paparazzi referring to them as “Bennifer.”
33. Is a staunch Democrat and has supported Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
34. In 1999, he was nominated for the Razzie Award, Worst Screen Couple in the movie Armageddon (1998), with actress Liv Tyler. In 2004, he was again nominated for, and subsequently “won”, the Worst Screen Couple Award with co-star Jennifer Lopez in the movie Gigli (2003). One year later (2005), he was nominated, once again, for Worst Screen Couple, this time with both of the actresses (Jennifer Lopez or Liv Tyler) in the film Jersey Girl (2004).
35. As of 2005, has a total of seven Razzie Nominations (including three for Worst Actor) and two “wins”.
36. Prior to achieving leading man status, he was often cast as a bully.
37. Had four different stunt men for Daredevil (2003), each one with a different specialty (fighting, wire works, etc.). He tried to do as much of his own stunts as he possibly could, feeling that it would add more credibility to the film.
38. Appeared with ex-wife Jennifer Garner in two movies Daredevil (2003) and Pearl Harbor (2001). It would have been three, but Affleck’s small scene in Elektra (2005), was cut from the final film.
39. Quit smoking when Violet was born.
40. Tom Clancy wrote a script for a new Jack Ryan film entitled “Red Rabbit”, with him in mind. “Red Rabbit” is set in the early 1980s, (when Clancy’s novel version of Ryan was about Affleck’s age) and chronicles a Soviet plot to kill Pope John Paul II only a few years into his reign.
41. At one point after Good Will Hunting (1997) was released, Affleck was writing a script with Matt Damon and his brother Casey Affleck. The plot concerned teenagers in a half way house. It is not clear if this script will ever be completed.
42. Was to have cameos in two Kevin Smith produced movies but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts. The two movies were Vulgar (2000) and Big Helium Dog (1999).
43. Is an avid fan of Robert Englund.
44. Besides being known as the title character in the Daredevil franchise, is also known as Superman in the George Reeves bio-pic “Hollywoodland”.
45. Winner of the 2006 Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in “Hollywoodland”.
46. His father was at one time a janitor at Harvard University, the inspiration for Will Hunting’s job at MIT in Good Will Hunting (1997).
47. Turned down the part of Bobby Mercer in Four Brothers (2005), as he found the script to be “ultra-violent”. The part eventually went to Mark Wahlberg.
48. He and his wife (now ex-wife), Jennifer Garner, both had movies open on January 26 2007: his was Smokin’ Aces (2006) and hers was Catch and Release (2006).
49. 2002: Voted Most Eligible Bachelor by People Magazine.
50. Dec. 2007 – Ranked 50 in EW’s The 50 Smartest People In Hollywood.
51. Since late 2007 he has made four separate trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo to bring attention to the plight of that country. [November 2008]
52. He has an entry in Jean Tulard’s “Dictionnaire du Cinéma/Les Acteurs”, published in Paris in 2007 (pgs. 15/16).
53. Majored in Middle Eastern affairs in college.
54. Claims that his hero is Harrison Ford.
55. As a teenager, he lived in México where he learned to speak Spanish.
56. Has directed 3 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Amy Ryan, Jeremy Renner, and Alan Arkin.
57. Ben and Jennifer Garner are expecting their third child [August 22, 2011].
58. At age 25, he was the youngest person ever to win an Oscar for ‘Best Original Screenplay’. He went 15 years without another nomination until 2013, and won ‘Best Picture’ for Argo (2012).
59. When he and best friend Matt Damon were struggling actors, they both shared a Boston bank account.
60. The first director ever to win all the precursor awards (Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics Choice and the Directors Guild awards) for Best Director after failing to earn an Oscar nomination for the same work, for Argo (2012). In fact, this is only time such an anomaly has ever occurred in any Oscar category (whether it’d be for directing, writing, acting etc.).
61. Since the Directors Guild started awarding its DGA award for Best Director in 1948, Affleck is only the third director to ever win this award while also failing to even be nominated for an Oscar as Best Director. The two other directors likewise snubbed by Academy voters were Ron Howard for Apollo 13 (1995) and Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple (1985).
62. At forty years old, he is the oldest actor to be cast in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
63. He is the tallest actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman and is in fact an inch and half taller than the version seen in the comics who stands at six-feet two inches tall.
64. He has played two comic book characters whose most famous story lines were written by Frank Miller: Batman and Daredevil.
65. He is the third Academy-award winner to play the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman after George Clooney and Christian Bale. He and Clooney are both two-time Oscar winners, and won their second Oscar together as producers of Argo (2012). He is the first to have won before playing Batman.
66. Has 3 children: daughters, Violet Affleck (b. December 1, 2005) & Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck (b. January 6, 2009) and son, Samuel Garner Affleck (b. February 27, 2012) with ex-wife, Jennifer Garner.
67. Began an intense two-hour a day workout regime the day after he was cast as Batman.
68. He has the distinction of being the only actor to wear both a Batman suit and Superman suit in two different films.
69. Starred alongside Alec Baldwin in ”Pearl Harbor (2001)” and once played him in a skit on ”Saturday Night Live”. In addition to both playing the part of Tom Clancy’s character Jack Ryan, both men share the distinction of playing iconic golden age comic book characters who used fear and intimidation: Baldwin played the title role in ”The Shadow (1994)” and Affleck plays Bruce Wayne/Batman.
70. As of 2014, he has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Field of Dreams (1989), Good Will Hunting (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Argo (2012), with the two latter winning in the category.
71. He is one year and five months older than Christian Bale, making him the second actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman older than his predecessor, the first being Robert Lowery.
72. With his casting in the new Batman vs. Superman movie, Affleck has portrayed 3 superheroes (Daredevil, Hollywoodland, and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice).
73. In his film Jersey Girl (2004), Affleck refers to his transportation as “the Batmobile.” Ironically, he was cast as Batman for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
74. Of the first three actors to play Jack Ryan, he was Tom Clancy’s favourite.
75. Was only five-foot one when entering high school and describes himself as having been ”An awkward theater geek”.
76. Received a lifetime ban from playing blackjack at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Casino due to his card counting skills.
77. He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Argo (2012). He also directed the latter.
78. He and to-be-ex wife Jennifer Garner announced their divorce on June 30, 2015, which is exactly 10 years and one day after their wedding occurred.
79. With his casting in Suicide Squad (2016), he is the first actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in two different films released in the same year.
80. He is the first actor to be cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman by two different directors.
81. As of 2022, he has appeared in eight films directed by Kevin Smith: Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Jersey Girl (2004), Clerks II (2006), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) and Clerks III (2022).
82. He is a member of the Five-Timers club, a nickname for performers who have hosted Saturday Night Live (1975 – ) at least five times.
83. Tenth cousin once removed of Matt Damon. They are both descendants of William Knowlton Jr., a bricklayer who came to the United States from England in the 1630s.
84. He is distantly related to sixteen U.S. presidents including Barack Obama. He is also distantly related to the late Princess Diana.
85. Close friends with George Clooney, who has also played the role of Batman.
86. The May 4, 1988, edition of Variety, announced the film “Atuk” began filming February 16, 1988, but production halted after one day. Director was Alan Metter. The cast included Christopher Walken and Ben Affleck.
87. His great-great-grandfather Heinrich/Henry Boldt, as a twelve year-old, discovered the 10th century concave gold disc, the Curmsun Disc, at the Groß- Weckow village in Pomerania. He was playing with friends and found the door to the cellar crypt where the disc was located.
88. In a relationship with actress Ana de Armas [2020].
89. Was considered to direct Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015).
90. Was attached to write, direct, produce and star in The Batman (2022), but ultimately dropped out and was replaced by Matt Reeves, who reworked the film as a reboot that focused on a younger Bruce Wayne/Batman, who will be played by Robert Pattinson.
91. Was attached to direct an adaptation of The Stand (2020) describing it as “‘Lord of the Rings’ set in America”. However, after several failed attempts at adapting the book to film, the project was ultimately re-purposed as a miniseries developed by Josh Boone and Benjamin Cavell.
92. Has appeared in 2 movies with wife Jennifer Lopez: Gigli (2003) and Jersey Girl (2004). So far, they have appeared together in 2 music videos: the now iconic music video Jennifer Lopez: Jenny from the Block (2002) and Jennifer Lopez & Maluma: Marry Me (Ballad) (2022).
93. Both Ben and wife Jennifer Lopez had their breakthrough in movies in 1997. Ben with Good Will Hunting (1997) and Jennifer with Selena (1997). Both attended and were nominated for a Golden Globe for these two movies. Jennifer was also in the audience when Ben won his first Oscar, though they didn’t get properly introduced until they did the movie, Gigli (2003) together.
94. Legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy has stated that he considers Ben Affleck the best at playing Batman/Bruce Wayne in live-action movies: “I think some of them get Bruce Wayne more than they get Batman, and some of them get Batman more than they get Bruce Wayne. I think Ben Affleck has probably gotten the best balance of the two. He’s a really good Bruce Wayne and a really good Batman.”.
95. Ben Affleck is the record holder for most live-action Batman appearances to date [2022].
96. Has played a detective character multiple times: in the DC movies as Batman and in Hypnotic (2023).
97. Has co-starred with two actresses who are famous for playing the role of Wonder Woman: with Lynda Carter in Daddy (1991), and, with Gal Gadot in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
98. Affleck remains the youngest person ever to win a Best Screenplay Oscar in 1998 for Good Will Hunting (1997), at 25 years old. [2022].
99. Has 2 stepchildren: stepdaughter, Emme Muñiz & stepson, Max Muñiz (b. February 22, 2008) with wife Jennifer Lopez.
100. Affleck has appeared in 3 sports films in his career: School Ties (1992), The Way Back (2020) and Air (2023).