By Shane Rivers
Benjamin Géza Affleck (aka Ben Affleck) is a prominent American actor, director and screenwriter. He’s best known for films such as Armageddon, Argo, Gone Girl and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In this article, we’ll look at his career and personal life, as well as his height, weight, age and net worth.
Career
Ben Affleck embarked on his acting career at the age of seven. His first role was in 1981’s The Dark End of the Street, an independent film made by a friend of the family.
Over the next decade, he appeared in an ABC Afterschool Special, a Burger King commercial, and 25 episodes of a PBS children’s series. After high school, he moved to New York and then Los Angeles in search of work.
After bit parts in film and television, he landed his first leading role in 1995’s Glory Daze. This was followed by a pair of Kevin Smith projects, Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997). The second of these gave Affleck an opportunity to show off his skills as a leading man, and it served as his breakthrough role.
Also in 1997, Affleck appeared in Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with childhood friend Matt Damon. The film enjoyed critical and commercial success, as well as earning the duo an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
He then enjoyed a multi-year stint as a successful leading man, although he suffered through several critical and/or box-office failures starting in 2003. This, coupled with intense tabloid scrutiny into his private life, resulted in Affleck taking a break from the acting business.
Affleck staged a comeback in 2006, earning rave reviews for his role as Superman actor George Reeves in Hollywoodland. He made his directorial debut the following year with Gone Baby Gone, which starred his younger brother, Casey.
Subsequent directorial efforts have included The Town, Live by Night, Air and Argo (with the latter earning him a second Oscar, this time as a producer). He also continues to act, with the most notable example being the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in multiple films set within the DC Extended Universe.
Personal Life
Affleck was born in Berkeley, California in 1972 before moving to Massachusetts at the age of three and growing up in the city of Cambridge. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was an aspiring playwright. He has one sibling, actor Casey Affleck (born 1975).
He has known actor Matt Damon since the age of eight, and the two became close friends in high school. The pair would later travel together to acting auditions, even keeping a joint bank account to cover expenses. They’ve participated in several business ventures over the years, with the latest being the Artists Equity production company.
Both Affleck brothers are recovering alcoholics, and their family has a long history of mental illness and addiction. Their own father struggled with alcoholism, spending two years on the streets before turning his life around. Ben first decided to get sober in 1997, but he’s suffered through several relapses and multiple stints in rehab.
Affleck’s high-profile romantic partners over the years include Gwyneth Paltrow, Ana de Armas, Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez. He was married to Garner from 2005 to 2018, and they have three children together. After dating Lopez from 2002 to 2004, the pair became involved again in 2021 and married the following year.
Hobbies
In his spare time, Affleck enjoys various forms of gambling. He won the California State Poker Championship in 2004, and he was a regular at high-stakes games in the mid-2000s (once reportedly losing $400,000 on a single hand). He was also rumored to be one of the celebrities who played in Molly Bloom’s poker games featured in the 2017 movie Molly’s Game.
Poker isn’t Affleck’s only love when it comes to games of chance. The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas barred him from playing blackjack in 2014 due to possible (legal) card counting.
The Hard Rock is just one of many casinos in Las Vegas, but Affleck doesn’t have to be in Sin City to play 21 or other popular table games. Software companies like Playtech that can be bound on trustworthy sites like https://www.maplecasino.ca/Playtech-casinos/ have created remote live dealer environments for folks looking to play a few hands from the comfort of their homes.
Net Worth
It’s estimated that Ben Affleck’s current net worth is $150 million. He’s made great financial strides over the last few years, as his 2018 worth was “just” $50 million.
Some of his acting paydays include the following: Reindeer Games ($6 million), Gigli ($12.5 million), Justice League (around $15 million), Triple Frontier ($8 million), Daredevil ($12.5 million), and Paycheck ($15 million). In 2020 alone he raked in $55 million for working on projects such as Hypnotic and The Last Duel.
As his fame has increased, Affleck has been able to negotiate more lucrative deals for himself. With 2014’s Gone Girl, for example, he received a percentage of the box-office gross in addition to his $10 million base salary.
In addition to his acting fees, Affleck gets paid as a director, writer and producer. He even parlayed his well-known affinity for Dunkin’ Donuts into a multimillion-dollar endorsement deal. The latter is especially fitting, as his first-ever paycheck was $130 for washing dishes at a Boston doughnut shop.
Age
Since he was born on August 15th, 1972, Ben Affleck is currently 51 years old. This makes him the same age as first wife Jennifer Garner and three years younger than second wife Jennifer Lopez. He’s also one year younger than longtime friend and business partner Matt Damon.
Height & Weight
Ben Affleck is 6’2” tall, which allows him to stand several inches above the average Hollywood actor (5’10”). When compared to two of his Justice League co-stars, he slots in between Henry Cavill (6’1”) and Jason Momoa (6’4”).
According to multiple sources, Ben Affleck’s normal weight is 210 pounds. When compared to the weight of Rami Malek or Charlie Sheen, he’s quite a bit larger. However, he still falls short when stacked up against the impressive frames of musclebound thespians such as Vin Diesel (225 lbs) and Dwayne Johnson (260 lbs).
As part of the dedication to his craft, Affleck has gained or lost weight for several movie roles. In 2010, he slimmed down to 198 pounds for The Town. Then, in 2016, he worked with a personal trainer for over a year to bulk up to 231 pounds (7% body fat) for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. A few years later, he increased his size to 245 pounds to play an alcoholic construction worker in 2020’s The Way Back.
