Casey Affleck
Birthdate: Aug 12, 1975
Birthplace: Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA
Casey Affleck (birthname: Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt) has carved a distinct identity as an actor and a filmmaker from his movie-star brother Ben, taking on a roster of roles portraying troubled and morally torn American men, under the direction of several of his generation’s leading filmmakers, including Gus Van Sant, Steven Soderbergh, Andrew Dominik, Scott Cooper, Michael Winterbottom, David Lowery, Michael Almereyda, Kenneth Lonergan, and Christopher Nolan.
Affleck had his first big-screen role in a Van Sant drama, To Die For (1995), starring Nicole Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Matt Dillon; Affleck reunited with director Van Sant in very different movies, first the highly acclaimed, nine-Oscar-nominated Good Will Hunting (1997), co-written and co-starring (with Oscar-winning Robin Williams) Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who shared the Oscar for best original screenplay; then in Van Sant’s most radical project, the strange adventure drama, Gerry (2002), in which Casey Affleck was co-star with Damon, and co-writer and co-editor with Damon and Van Sant, and which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Affleck appeared as Fortinbras in Michael Almereyda’s creative rendering of Hamlet (2000), starring Ethan Hawke (as the Prince of Denmark), Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Bill Murray, and Sam Shepard, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Affleck then joined Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s movies crew in a supporting spot for the highly successful trilogy of Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), co-starring George Clooney and Matt Damon, with regulars Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts, grossing a cumulative global box office exceeding $1.1 billion.
Casey Affleck delivered one of his first truly impressive starring performances as the title character (based on author Jim Strouse, who wrote the script) in the drama-comedy Lonesome Jim (2006), directed by Steve Buscemi and with Liv Tyler, Kevin Corrigan, Mary Kay Place, and Seymour Cassel, and which was unveiled at the Sundance Film Festival. Affleck’s breakthrough arrived with his exquisite performance as Robert Ford in filmmaker Andrew Dominik’s brilliant Western for Warner Bros., The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), co-starring Brad Pitt, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeremy Renner, Sam Rockwell, and Zooey Deschanel, earning Affleck his first Oscar nomination as best supporting actor.
Affleck, as lead, joined brother Ben Affleck, who was debuting director as well as co-writer of the Dennis Lehane adaptation, Gone Baby Gone (2007), with Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan, and Titus Welliver, returning a solid $34 million gross for distributor The Ladd Company. Affleck starred in the darkest role of his career as a sociopathic Texas deputy sheriff in director Michael Winterbottom’s controversial adaptation of Jim Thompson’s 1952 crime novel, The Killer Inside Me (2010), with Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas, and Bill Pullman, launched at the Sundance Film Festival before a money-losing release by IFC Films.
Casey Affleck debuted as director/writer/producer/cinematographer/editor/co-star of the bizarre mock documentary, I’m Still Here (2010), centered on Joaquin Phoenix portraying a parody version of himself as a retired actor-turned-hip hop artist, with a roster of celebrities playing versions of themselves (including Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, Mos Def, Ben Stiller, Edward James Olmos, Jamie Foxx, Billy Crystal, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Bruce Willis, Robin Wright, High Grant, Natalie Portman, and Sean Penn), and which was released by Magnolia Pictures. Affleck co-starred in (for him) a rare mainstream Hollywood entertainment (bombing with a poor $153 million return on an $85 million budget) with the heist comedy, Tower Heist (2011), co-starring Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Tea Leoni, Michael Pena, and Gabourey Sidibe, under Brett Ratner’s direction.
Affleck did his first voice performance in the animated movie ParaNorman (2012), by writer and co-director Chris Butler and co-director Sam Fell, with the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, and John Goodman, and released by Universal/Focus Features. Affleck has starred in several highly distinctive and striking films by talented indie filmmaker
David Lowery, first in the crime drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013), with Affleck playing opposite Rooney Mara, with Ben Foster, Rami Malek, and Keith Carradine, and launching at both Sundance and the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics Week before an IFC Film release; and then co-starring with Mara in Lowery’s atmospheric A Ghost Story (2017), with Will Oldham, and released by A24 after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival; and Affleck joined star Robert Redford for director-writer Lowery’s amiable crime comedy-drama, The Old Man & the Gun (2018), based on David Grann’s 2003 New Yorker article about a prison escape artist, featuring Danny Glover, Tom Waits, and Sissy Spacek, and which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival.
Casey Affleck co-starred with Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson in the intense revenge drama, Out of the Furnace (2013), directed and co-written by Scott Cooper, with a vivid supporting cast including Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Zoe Saldana, and Sam Shepard. Affleck became a favorite casting choice for filmmaker Christopher Nolan, in both the sci-fi drama Interstellar (2014), starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway; and then in Nolan’s spectacularly successful biopic drama, Oppenheimer (2023), starring Cillian Murphy, and Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, and Benny Safdie, grossing a titanic $977 million for Universal and nabbing seven Oscars including picture, director, actor, and supporting actor.
Affleck achieved great acclaim for his unforgettable lead performance (winning him the Oscar) in director-writer Kenneth Lonergan’s superb drama, Manchester by the Sea (2016), with Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, Tate Donovan, and Matthew Broderick Oscar for best actor, grossing $79 million for Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions and earning six Oscar nominations and two wins (including for Lonergan’s screenplay).
Affleck co-starred with Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Eric Bana in the Disney-produced and released true-life adventure, The Finest Hours (2016), directed by Craig Gillespie to poor returns ($52 million against $80 million costs) and middling reviews, and then Affleck returned to the heist genre for his starring role in the John Hillcoat-directed Triple 9 (2016), with the eclectic ensemble of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Clifton Collins Jr., Norman Reedus, Teresa Palmer, Gal Gadot, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet, and Michael K. Williams.
Casey Affleck did his second filmmaking turn as director/writer/producer as well as lead in the post-apocalyptic drama, Light of My Life (2019), co-starring Anna Pniowsky and Elisabeth Moss, and premiering at the Berlin Film Festival before a release by Saban Films. Affleck then joined the brilliant ensemble of director Mona Fastvold’s remarkable feminist pioneer-era drama, The World to Come (2020), starring Katherine Waterston, Vanessa Kirby, and Christopher Abbott, winning the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival and released to great reviews by Bleecker Street.
Affleck paired with Walton Goggins as real-life singer-musician brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson in the musical biopic, Dreamin’ Wild (2022), directed and written by Bill Pohlad and with Noah Jupe, Zooey Deschanel, and Beau Bridges, and released by Roadside Attractions. Affleck then co-starred with Laurence Fishburne in his first sci-fi movie, Slingshot (2024), directed by Mikael Håfström, with Emily Beecham and David Morrissey and distributed by Bleecker Street.
Personal Details
Casey Affleck was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and was raised in Massachusetts and Mexico by parents, father Timothy (former stage playwright/actor/director/stage manager, and auto mechanic, carpenter, bookie, electrician, bartender, and janitor) and mother Chris (elementary school teacher). Affleck has one brother, actor-filmmaker Ben Affleck. Affleck’s parents divorced when he was nine years old; Affleck and his brother Ben lived with their mother since their father was an alcoholic (who later found a sober life).
Affleck attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Affleck had been acting in commercials and as a film extra since he was a child but was somewhat reluctant to take on acting as a full-time career. Affleck subsequently majored in political science at George Washington University, and then transferred to Columbia University, but didn’t graduate because he kept getting cast in movies and had to suspend his studies. Affleck was married to Summer Phoenix from 2006 to 2017; the couple has two children, Atticus and Indiana. Affleck’s height is 5’ 9”. Affleck’s estimated net worth is $25 million.
Known For
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(2007)
Awards
Winner, Best Actor, Academy Awards (2017); Nominee, Best Supporting Actor, Academy Awards (2008); Winner, Best Actor, BAFTA Awards (2017); Winner, Best Actor-Drama, Golden Globe Awards (2017); Winner, Best Actor, Gotham Independent Film Awards (2016); Winner, Best Male Lead, Independent Spirit Awards (2017); Winner, President’s Award, Karlovy Vary Film Festival Awards (2017); Nominee, Best On-Screen Team, MTV Movie + TV Awards (2002); Two-time Winner, Best Supporting Actor/Best Actor, National Board of Review Awards (2007, 2016); Winner, Best Actor, New York Film Critics Circle Awards (2016); Winner, Desert Palm Achievement Award, Palm Springs Film Festival Awards (2017); Two-time Winner, Virtuoso Award/Cinema Vanguard Award, Santa Barbara Film Festival Awards (2008, 2017); Winner, Best Motion Picture Cast, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2024); Winner, Silver Medallion Award, Telluride Film Festival Awards (2016); Winner, Best Documentary Biografilm Award, Venice Film Festival Awards (2010).
Critics Choice Award
Critics Choice Awards
Critics Choice Award
Critics Choice Awards
Filmography
actor
Upcoming (3)
- 2025 | I’m Still HereasCasey Affleck
I’m Still Here
Brazil, 1971: a country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.
- 2024 | The Instigators
- 2024 | The Instigatorsas Cobby
Previous (35)
- 2024 |
- 2023 | Dreamin’ WildasDonnie
Dreamin’ Wild
Musical duo Donnie and Joe Emerson spend everything they have to produce a record in the 1970s.
- 2021 | Every Breath You TakeasPhilip
Every Breath You Take
A psychiatrist, whose client commits suicide, finds his family life disrupted after introducing her surviving brother to his wife and daughter.
- 2021 | The World to ComeasDyer
The World to Come
Somewhere along the mid-19th century American East Coast frontier, two neighboring couples battle hardship and isolation, witnessed by a splendid yet testing landscape, challenging them both physically and psychologically.
- 2021 | Our FriendasMatt Teague
Our Friend
After receiving life-altering news, a couple finds unexpected support from their best friend, who puts his own life on hold and moves into their family home, bringing an impact much greater and more profound than anyone could have...
- 2019 | Light of My LifeasDad
Light of My Life
A father and his child journey through the outskirts of society a decade after a pandemic has wiped out half the world's population. As the father struggles to protect his child from, their bond and the character of humanity are t...
- 2018 | The Old Man & the GunasJohn Hunt
The Old Man & the Gun
Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.
- 2017 | A Ghost StoryasC
A Ghost Story
In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.
- 2016 |
- 2016 |
- 2016 | The Finest HoursasRay Sybert
The Finest Hours
The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.
- 2014 | InterstellarasTom
Interstellar
When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.
- 2013 | Out of the FurnaceasRodney Baze Jr.
Out of the Furnace
When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn't follow through fast enough, his older brother, Russell, takes matters into his own hands to find justice.
- 2013 | Ain't Them Bodies Saintsas Bob Muldoon
- 2012 | ParaNormanasMitch
ParaNorman
A misunderstood boy takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.
- 2011 | Tower HeistasCharlie
Tower Heist
When a group of hard-working guys find out they've fallen victim to their wealthy employer's Ponzi scheme, they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.
- 2010 | The Killer Inside Meas Lou Ford
- 2007 | Gone Baby Goneas Patrick Kenzie
- 2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordas Robert Ford
- 2006 | The Last Kissas Chris
- 2005 | Lonesome Jimas Jim
- 2002 | Gerry
- 2002 | Gerry
- 2002 | Gerryas Gerry
- 2001 | Soul Survivorsas Sean
- 2000 | Attention Shoppersas Jed
- 2000 | Committedas Jay
- 2000 | Drowning Monaas Bobby
- 1998 | Desert Blueas Pete Kepler
- 1999 | 200 Cigarettesas Tom
- 1997 | Good Will Huntingas Morgan
- 1997 | Chasing Amyas Little Kid
- 1996 | Race the Sunas Daniel Webster
- 1995 | To Die Foras Russel Hines
- 1988 | Lemon Skyas Jerry
Some Facts About Casey Affleck
Addiction: Casey Affleck became sober in 2013 from his addiction to alcohol. Affleck has noted that addiction runs in his family, including his brother Ben and his grandmother, as well as his father.
Sexual Harassment Controversies: Affleck has been the subject of two lawsuits regarding sexual harassment during the production of I’m Not There, both of which he settled out of court for undisclosed amounts in 2010; the controversy surrounding the lawsuits resurfaced during Affleck’s best actor Oscar nomination in 2016-2017, leading Affleck to withdraw from presenting the best actress Oscar presentation the following year in 2018 during the height of the “Me Too” movement. Affleck has since expressed regret for having “contributed to an unprofessional environment” on the I’m Not There set.
Causes: Casey Affleck has supported several causes, including animal rights via PETA; support for disabled veterans via Paralyzed Veterans of America; and children’s writing and reading initiatives via the non-profit organizations Room to Read, WriteGirl, and New Earth.
