Ben Affleck

Benjamin Géza Affleck started as a child actor on PBS's The Voyage of the Mimi in 1984, drifted through Kevin Smith indies in the mid-90s, then vaulted into the spotlight when he and Matt Damon took the 1997 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. He parlayed that into a run of studio tentpoles—Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Sum of All Fears—but the momentum stalled until a 2006 turn as George Reeves in Hollywoodland won him the Volpi Cup and cracked open a second act. He stepped behind the camera with Gone Baby Gone in 2007, followed by The Town, then Argo, which swep…