Casey Affleck | Biography, Movies, & Facts | Britannica (2025)

American actor and director

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Also known as: Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt

Written by

Pat Bauer Pat Bauer graduated from Ripon College in 1977 with a double major in Spanish and Theatre. She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. She retired...

Pat Bauer

Fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

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Article History

Quick Facts

In full:
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt
Born:
August 12, 1975, Falmouth, Massachusetts, U.S. (age 49)
Awards And Honors:
BAFTA (2017)
Golden Globe Award (2017)
Academy Award (2017)
Academy Award (2017): Actor in a Leading Role
Golden Globe Award (2017): Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Notable Works:
“Light of My Life”
Notable Family Members:
brother Ben Affleck
Married To:
Summer Phoenix (2006–2017)
Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):
"Every Breath You Take" (2021)
"The World to Come" (2020)
"Our Friend" (2019)
"Light of My Life" (2019)
"The Old Man & the Gun" (2018)
"A Ghost Story" (2017)
"Triple 9" (2016)
"The Finest Hours" (2016)
"Manchester by the Sea" (2016)
"Interstellar" (2014)
"Out of the Furnace" (2013)
"Ain't Them Bodies Saints" (2013)
"ParaNorman" (2012)
"Tower Heist" (2011)
"I'm Still Here" (2010)
"The Killer Inside Me" (2010)
"Gone Baby Gone" (2007)
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007)
"Ocean's Thirteen" (2007)
"The Last Kiss" (2006)
"Lonesome Jim" (2005)
"Ocean's Twelve" (2004)
"Gerry" (2002)
"Ocean's Eleven" (2001)
"Soul Survivors" (2001)
"American Pie 2" (2001)
"Attention Shoppers" (2000)
"Hamlet" (2000)
"Committed" (2000)
"Drowning Mona" (2000)
"200 Cigarettes" (1999)
"Desert Blue" (1998)
"Good Will Hunting" (1997)
"Floating" (1997)
"Chasing Amy" (1997)
"Race the Sun" (1996)
"To Die For" (1995)
"The Kennedys of Massachusetts" (1990)
"Lemon Sky" (1988)
Movies/Tv Shows (Directed):
"Light of My Life" (2019)
"I'm Still Here" (2010)
Movies/Tv Shows (Cinematography):
"I'm Still Here" (2010)
Movies/Tv Shows (Film Editor):
"I'm Still Here" (2010)
"Gerry" (2002)
Movies/Tv Shows (Writing/Creator):
"Light of My Life" (2019)
"I'm Still Here" (2010)
"Gerry" (2002)

See all related content

Casey Affleck (born August 12, 1975, Falmouth, Massachusetts, U.S.) is an American actor who gained respect for his ability to convey internal conflict. His performance as Lee Chandler, a surly and emotionally shut-down handyman who after the death of his brother is named guardian of his teenage nephew, in Manchester by the Sea (2016), earned him critical accolades as well as a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award for best actor.

Affleck grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though he appeared in the 1988 television production of the Lanford Wilson play Lemon Sky and portrayed a young Robert Kennedy in the 1990 TV miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts, it was theatre classes in high school that ultimately persuaded Affleck that he wanted to be an actor. He made his big-screen debut in Gus Van Sant’s satire To Die For (1995). He later appeared in Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting, which was cowritten by his older brother, Ben Affleck. Casey Affleck turned in character performances in such small films as Desert Blue (1998), 200 Cigarettes (1999), and Michael Almereyda’s modern-day adaptation of Hamlet (2000) before being cast as a member of the crew in the commercially successful caper comedy Ocean’s Eleven (2001), a role he repeated in Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007). Affleck drew favorable reviews for his performance as the depressed title character in Steve Buscemi’s Lonesome Jim (2005).

Affleck was nominated for both the Golden Globe and Oscar for best supporting actor for his portrayal of Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), and he starred in his brother’s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone (2007). He later played a psychopathic killer in Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me (2010). He also cowrote, directed, and acted in the much-reviled mockumentary I’m Still Here (2010), starring Joaquin Phoenix. Affleck’s subsequent films included the action comedy Tower Heist (2011), the period romance Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013), and the science fiction film Interstellar (2014).

Britannica QuizOscar-Worthy Movie Trivia

Following his acclaimed performance in Manchester by the Sea, Affleck appeared in the action films The Finest Hours and Triple 9 (both 2016) and played one of the lead roles (opposite Rooney Mara) in A Ghost Story (2017). He then portrayed a detective on the trail of a charming bank robber (played by Robert Redford) in (2018). Affleck wrote, directed, and starred in his next feature, Light of My Life (2019), playing a father in a dystopian world where females have been all but wiped out by a plague. After appearing in the 19th-century historical drama The World to Come (2020), he was cast as a psychiatrist in the thriller Every Breath You Take (2021). In 2023 he appeared in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a historical epic about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the race to create the atomic bomb during World War II.

Pat Bauer The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Casey Affleck | Biography, Movies, & Facts | Britannica (2025)

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