Matthew Paige Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award from five nominations, and two Golden Globe Awards. He also received three BAFTA Award nominations, seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and six Screen Actors Guild Awards. Damon began his acting career by appearing in high school theater productions. He made his professional acting debut in the film Mystic Pizza (1988). He came to prominence in 1997 when he and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, which won them the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Screenplay. He continued to garner praise from critics for his roles as the title character in Saving Private Ryan (1998), the antihero in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), an energy analyst in Syriana (2005), a corrupt Irish-American policeman in The Departed (2006), rugby player Francois Pienaar in Invictus (2009), Scott Thorson in Behind The Candelabra (2013), an astronaut stranded on Mars in The Martian (2015), and race car designer Carroll Shelby in Ford v Ferrari (2019). Damon is also known for his starring roles as Jason Bourne in the Bourne franchise (2002–2016), and as con man Linus Caldwell in the Ocean's trilogy (2001–2007). He produced the reality series Project Greenlight (2001–2015) as well as the film Manchester by the Sea (2016).