Matt Damon was just 18 when he made his movie debut with a small role in 1988's "Mystic Pizza," which was also the second feature of Julia Roberts.
In 1992's "School Ties," Damon played a prep school bully who antagonized a Jewish student played by Brendan Fraser.
Damon grew a peculiar, Ethan Hawke-like goatee for his role as Lt. Britton Davis in 1993's "Geronimo: An American Legend."
Damon famously dropped 40 pounds off his already thin frame to play a drug-addled Gulf War veteran opposite Meg Ryan in 1996's "Courage Under Fire."
For the role, he famously dropped 40 pounds off his already thin frame — and without a doctor's supervision.
Damon was back in fitter, hotter form in the 1997 John Grisham adaptation "The Rainmaker."
Matt Damon and his childhood buddy Ben Affleck co-wrote the script for 1997's "Good Will Hunting," and the two starred opposite Robin Williams.
Affleck and Damon won the Academy Award for Best Screen play for "Good Will Hunting," delivering a memorably enthusiastic speech at the podium.
Damon played the title character in Steven Spielberg's 1998 WWII epic "Saving Private Ryan."
In 1998's "Rounders," he had an unfortunate bottle-blond dye job to play a law student struggling with a poker addiction opposite Edward Norton.
In 1999's "The Talented Mr. Ripley," Damon was a creepily seductive sociopath who pined for Jude Law's trust fund lifestyle (and his body). His wasn't so shabby either.
Matt Damon teamed with George Clooney and Brad Pitt for the first time in the star-studded 2000 caper "Ocean's Eleven."
In 2001, Damon reteamed with Ben Affleck to executive produce "Project Greenlight," a reality series that aired on HBO and chronicled the making of an indie film.
In 2002, Damon showed surprisingly action-hero moves as a trained government agent with amnesia in 2002's "The Bourne Identity."
Damon has an uncharacteristic punkish look (including a bald head) in a cameo in 2004's "EuroTrip," playing the lead singer of a band whose main song, "Scotty Doesn't Know" reveals that Damon's been banging the longtime girlfriend of the movie's high school grad lead.
On December 9, 2005, Damon married Luciana Barroso, an Argentine-born woman he met while she was bartending in a Miami nightclub. (Two days later, they were together at the New York City premiere of "The Good Shepherd.")
In Martin Scorsese's 2006 thriller "The Departed," he goes mano a mano with Leonardo DiCaprio.
He was back in fighting form in 2007's "The Bourne Ultimatum" — which looked like it might be the final installment in the franchise.
In 2007, People Magazine named the self-described "aging suburban dad" the Sexiest Man Alive.
Matt Damon has long been the affectionate target of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who ended his show with apologies for running out of time for the actor. But Damon turned the tables in 2008 when Kimmel's then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman introduced a videotaped song declaring, "I'm F—ing Matt Damon."
Damon packed on 20 to 30 extra pounds to plays a schlubby corporate whistleblower in Steven Soderbergh's 2009 comedy "The Informant!"
Damon earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor as the captain of South Africa's championship 1995 rugby team in 2009's "Invictus."
Starting in 2010, Damon had a recurring role on "30 Rock" as an airline pilot named Carol who tried to woo Tina Fey's TV exec Liz Lemon.
Damon got buff (and tatted) to play a paroled car thief fighting to survive in a dystopian future in Neill Blomkamp's 2013 sci-fi movie "Elysium."
MATT Damon earned an Emmy nomination for the 2013 HBO movie "Behind the Candelabra," camping it up as the much-younger boyfriend of the flamboyant pianist Liberace (Michael Douglas).
Damon earned his third acting Oscar nomination for Ridley Scott's 2015 space drama "The Martian" — playing solo for much of the film as a stranded astronaut.
After nine years, Damon returned as "Jason Bourne" in his fourth installment in the action franchise. The movie opens July 29.
