| Casey Affleck |
Casey Affleck, June 2006 |
| Born |
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt
August 12, 1975 (1975-08-12) (age 34)
Falmouth, Massachusetts,
United States |
| Occupation |
Actor |
| Years active |
1988–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Summer Phoenix (2006-present) |
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck (born August 12, 1975), known professionally as Casey Affleck, is an American actor. During the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting (1997) and Ocean's Eleven (2001) as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as Chasing Amy (1997). In 2007, his breakout year,12 Affleck gained recognition and critical acclaim for his work in Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is the younger brother of actor and director Ben Affleck.
Early life
Affleck was born Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the second son of Christopher Anne "Chris" (née Boldt), a school district employee and teacher, and Timothy Byers Affleck, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, and former actor with the Theater Company of Boston.3 He is three years younger than his brother Ben Affleck.4 As a child he had numerous pets, including cats, snakes, guinea pigs and turtles.5 Affleck went to The George Washington University and later transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in physics, astronomy, and Western philosophy.6
Career
Affleck worked sporadically on television while finishing high school and attending college during the early 1990s. In 1993, he appeared in a short film made by his older brother, Ben Affleck, called I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney.7
Affleck's first movie role was as a sociopathic teenager in Gus Van Sant's 1995 dark comedy To Die For, alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Nicole Kidman.8 After co-starring with Halle Berry in the 1997 box office flop Race the Sun, later that year, he appeared in two films featuring his brother Ben: Chasing Amy and Good Will Hunting. The latter was co-written by Ben and his best friend Matt Damon, both of whom went on to win the Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay.
Affleck's next few films, the underground movie Desert Blue (1998) with Kate Hudson, the black comedy Drowning Mona (1999) with Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Campbell, and Danny DeVito, and the 2001 horror movie Soul Survivors (co-starring Luke Wilson) were all critical as well as commercial failures.9
In 2001, Affleck became part of an ensemble cast in the re-make of the Rat Pack movie Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Supporting the star leads, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, Affleck played Virgil Malloy, one of the pair of mormon brothers hired to drive the getaway vehicle. Affleck reprised this character in two sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). In the third installment of the trilogy, several scenes are set in Mexico, where Affleck lived as a child, and in which he has extended dialogue in Spanish, which he speaks.10
Affleck co-wrote the screenplay for the 2002 film Gerry with Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon. The film, about two guys who get lost while hiking in the desert, received mixed reviews and, after premiering at the Sundance film festival, got only a limited release in the United States in 2003.11 In 2006, Affleck featured in Lonesome Jim and The Last Kiss, where he plays a friend of Zach Braff's character. He then made a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix-directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside.
In 2007, Affleck starred in the Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, playing Robert Ford opposite Brad Pitt's Jesse James. For his unanimously praised performance,7 he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture, and an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Entertainment Weekly observed that "a revelatory Casey Affleck brings Ford to life with a mature sense of an underling's craven, fawning petulance."12 Other reviewers praised Affleck for being "terrific"13 and a "real revelation"14 while making "an indelible impression as the insecure, physically unprepossessing weakling."15 The film's director, Andrew Dominik, said that Affleck was so good in the role partly because, like Ford, he “knows what it’s like to live in somebody’s shadow,” referring to Affleck's more famous brother, Ben.2
Affleck also played his first leading man in a mainstream production in 2007. He starred in the Boston crime thriller Gone Baby Gone as the protagonist, Patrick Kenzie. Directed, produced, and co-written by Ben Affleck, the film was critically acclaimed and earned Casey further plaudits for his acting.16 The Boston Globe commented, "I'd never stopped to consider Casey Affleck as a movie star before, but under his big brother's tutelage, he blooms as a leading man of richly watchable savvy and intelligence."17 The New York magazine similarly praised Affleck's portrayal of the tough private detective and concluded, "Casey Affleck has never had a pedestal like the one his brother provides him, and he earns it. His Patrick is pale and raspy ... He’s not physically imposing, but he reels off four-letter words so fast that it leaves his bigger and more dangerous opponents staring in disbelief."18
In April 2008, director Ridley Scott announced his new project The Kind One, a period noir drama set for release in 2010, starring Affleck in the lead role.19 Also in 2010, Affleck teams up with Jessica Alba in The Killer Inside Me, a film adaptation of the 1952 novel of the same name.20
Since 2009, Affleck has been directing a documentary about the musical career of his friend and brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix.2122
Personal life
Affleck married Summer Phoenix, his girlfriend of six years, on June 3, 2006 in Savannah, Georgia.23 The couple were introduced by her brother, Joaquin. The couple have two sons, Indiana August, who was born on May 31, 2004 in Amsterdam24 and Atticus,25 who was born in November 2007.26
Affleck is involved with many animal rights movements and campaigns for PETA and Farm Sanctuary.27 He is a vegan, and thus, does not eat "meat or any other animal products."28 Affleck is fluent in Spanish and resides in Los Angeles, California and Winter Park, Florida with his family.10
Filmography
References
- ^ GQ Men of the year 2007
- ^ a b Casey at the Bat
- ^ Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1975, 40:305
- ^ Casey Affleck Biography (1975-). Film Reference.com.
- ^ Out There: Casey Affleck. Peta2.net.
- ^ Casey Affleck Biography. Biography.com.
- ^ a b Harrison, Eric (2007-10-18). "Affleck's star is on the rise". Houston Chronicle.
- ^ Schaefer, Stephen. Casey Affleck - Breakthrough Actor. Variety.com. 19 October 2007.
- ^ Roberts, Sheila. Casey Affleck Interview, Gone Baby Gone. MoviesOnline.ca.
- ^ a b Carroll, Larry. Casey Affleck says 'Thirteen' is better than 'Twelve'. MTV.com. 24 August 2006.
- ^ Release dates for Gerry
- ^ The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)
- ^ Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Rolling Stone
- ^ 'Jesse James' is just a great, gorgeous Western
- ^ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Variety
- ^ Gone Baby Gone - RT
- ^ Gone Baby Gone
- ^ Ways of making you talk
- ^ "Paste Magazine :: News :: Ridley Scott, Casey Affleck take on The Kind One". Paste. 2008-04-17. http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/7175/news/film/ridley_scott_taking_on_the_kind_one. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ "BD Horror News - 'Killer Inside Me' Finds New Director and Cast". BloodyDisgusting. 2008-11-17. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/14372. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
- ^ Casey Affleck to Direct a Documentary on Joaquim Phoenix Yahoo News, January 17, 2009
- ^ Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Documentary. joaqdoc.com
- ^ Biography for Casey Affleck - IMDB
- ^ Casey Affleck - Profile. E! Online.com.
- ^ Affleck brothers strike gold on the silver screen
- ^ "Casey Affleck Welcomes a Second Child." People.com. 15 November 2007.
- ^ Alicia Silverstone naked PETA advert banned. My Park magazine. 21 September 2007.
- ^ PETA profile
- ^ "Casey Affleck Joins The Kind One Cast". FirstShowing.net. 2008-02-06. http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/02/06/casey-affleck-joins-the-kind-one-cast/. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
External links
![Chasing Amy [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512CXXEG2QL._SL160_.jpg)
![Clip 10 16 07 Casey talks of old times at Fenway. A dangerous stunt for "Gone Baby Gone". Also mentions "The Assassination of Jesse ... Video](/viewVideo.html?title=LETTERMAN Casey Affleck Gone Baby Gone & Jesse James&videoType=YouTube&summary=10 16 07 Casey talks of old times at Fenway. A dangerous stunt for "Gone Baby Gone". Also mentions "The Assassination of Jesse ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/RpQ1MBIyRn8&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://3.gvt0.com/vi/RpQ1MBIyRn8/default.jpg&celebrity=Casey Affleck)
![Clip Entertainment reporter Tim Estiloz chats with Casey Affleck on his breakthrough roles in "Jesse James" and "Gone Baby Gone" ... Video](/viewVideo.html?title=Casey Affleck on Changing Diapers, Ben Affleck & Jesse James&videoType=YouTube&summary=Entertainment reporter Tim Estiloz chats with Casey Affleck on his breakthrough roles in "Jesse James" and "Gone Baby Gone" ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/gb85rPeOMBE&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://1.gvt0.com/vi/gb85rPeOMBE/default.jpg&celebrity=Casey Affleck)
