Happy Birthday, Matt Damon! Snakkle Looks Back at His Brilliant Career

Matt Damon high school yearbook photo young Senior Year Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School Cambridge MA 1988 before famous

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Matt Damon, Senior Year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988

Matt Damon still had such a baby face his senior year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. (And we're loving that '80s bushy hair!)

Matt Damon School Ties movie photo still 1992

School Ties (1992)

Damon’s first major role came as Charlie Dillon in this boarding school drama that also starred Brendan Fraser. If you look closely, you’ll see Damon’s BFF Ben Affleck in some of the scenes.

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Matt Damon, Senior Year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, 1988

Someone's been watching Rebel Without a Cause! The hair. The arched eyebrows. The jacket-and-white-T-shirt combo. It all adds up to some serious star power in the raw.

Matt Damon Good Will Hunting movie photo still 1997

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Damon cowrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay for this drama about a brilliant Harvard janitor named Will Hunting whose life problems are not as easy for him to solve as complex math equations. The film also starred Minnie Driver as Damon’s love interest, script coauthor Ben Affleck as his best friend, Stellan Skarsgard as the professor who discovers Will, and Robin Williams in his Oscar-winning role as the therapist who breaks through to the troubled Will.

Matt Damon Courage Under Fire Movie photo still 1997

Courage Under Fire (1997)

Damon lost almost 50 pounds to play a drug addict in this Gulf War drama in which he starred alongside fellow Oscar winner Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, and Lou Diamond Phillips. Although he regrets the drastic weight loss, acknowledging that it caused health problems, he concedes that it did help his performance.

Matt Damon Rounders movie photo still 1998

Rounders (1998)

Damon plays a retired poker player and law student who returns to the game to settle a debt for a friend (played by Ed Norton) who was recently released from prison. Bonus points if you remember Teddy K.G.B.’s (John Malkovich) “tell.”

matt damon ocean's 11 movie photo still 2001

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Joining superstars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts (among many others), Damon starred as con man Linus Caldwell in this fun, fast-paced heist comedy. He reprised his role in Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

Matt Damon bourne identity movie photo still 2002

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Damon proved he had the acting chops (and physique) to carry an entire action franchise on his own. As Jason Bourne, Damon plays a CIA assassin who is being targeted for failing to complete his last mission. This film was the first in the franchise that included The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Other stars that appeared in the trilogy included Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Chris Copper, Clive Owen, Joan Allen, and Edward Norton.

Matt Damon Will and Grace tv series show photo still 2002

Will and Grace (2002)

Damon proved his comedic, as well as musical, skills as Owen, a straight man pretending to be gay so he can secure a spot in the Gay Men’s Chorus in the episode “A Chorus Lie.” Who can forget the verbal “are you trippin’?” banter between Owen and Jack?

matt damon stuck on you movie photo still 2003

Stuck on You (2003)

This Farrelly brothers film centers on conjoined twins from Martha’s Vineyard (Damon and Greg Kinnear) who move to Los Angeles so one can pursue an acting career. And Cher is in the movie! Need we say more?

matt damon the departed movie photo still 2006

The Departed (2006)

In this Martin Scorsese-directed film, Damon plays Colin, a young man who is actually a member of Boston’s Irish mafia who has infiltrated the special investigations unit of the Massachusetts police. Scorsese won the Academy Award for directing the star-studded cast that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Alec Baldwin. The movie also picked up Oscars for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

Matt Damon Entourage TV series show photo still 2009

Entourage (2009)

Damon is hilarious playing himself, as he proved in a very well known (and award winning) video with Sarah Silverman, as well a guest spot on Entourage. We hope that Damon’s intensity on Entourage was just for comic effect, or else he might be the scariest charity fundraiser around.

Matt Damon True Grit movie photo still 2010

True Grit (2010)

Damon claims that he based his character LaBoeuf on actor Tommy Lee Jones in this western directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. No word on who inspired the impressive facial hair he sported in his role as the “nincompoop.”

Matt Damon 30 rock tv series show photo still 2010 2011

Ali Goldstein/NBC

30 Rock (2010-2011)

In a multi-episode arc, Damon guest-starred as Carol, Liz Lemon’s pilot boyfriend. The two seem like a perfect match until Liz challenges Carol’s authority as a pilot when she and fellow passengers are stuck at the gate. In addition to some fabulous airline humor, Damon’s comedic delivery is fantastic as the straitlaced Carol. Even though the episode ended with their breakup, we wished Damon came back into Liz’s life somehow (He didn't).

Promised Land Facebook

Promised Land (2012)

Damon plays Steve Butler, a salesman for a natural gas company, who heads to a small town where his life is forever impacted when he tries to buy drilling rights from the local residents (including John Krasinski). Damon and Krasinski also wrote the script!

Elysium Facebook

Elysium (2013)

In Elysium, Damon plays Max De Costa, a former thief, who is determined to get to Elysium where Earth's formerly upper crust reside. His motivation to get there is to try to save himself before he dies of poisoning.