Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Shared Bank Accounts as Struggling Young Actors

When one thinks of A-lister celebrities, it is hard to imagine them as struggling artists. But everyone has to start somewhere. Especially if they do not come from parents who are already famous. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were besties before their names were in the spotlight. They helped each other survive as struggling and up-and-coming actors by opening a sharing a bank account.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Matt Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His parents were not actors, as you might have imagined. Rather, he grew up in a family of educators. His father was a professor at Lesley University, and his mother was a professor at Boston University. Matt was the youngest of four children and attended Cambridge Alternative School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. In school, he dedicated his time to the basketball team and acting in school plays.

Ben Affleck was born on August 15, 1972, in Berkeley, California. His parents divorced when he was young, and he moved to Massachusetts with his mother and brother. He attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Just like Matt, he was also an avid basketball player. However, the two became fast friends and loved performing in school plays together.

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They Opened a Shared Bank Account

When they were eight years old, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck met for the first time. The two became fast friends. Their connection has lasted all the way through their rise to fame, and is still going strong. While in high school, they opened up a bank account which they shared as struggling actors after they graduated. The purpose of it was to ensure they could pay their bills while trying to score acting gigs. Matt Damon was a guest on the “The Bill Simmons Podcast” where he said, “As long as one of us had money, we knew the power wasn’t going to get shut off.”

In 1993, Matt Doman got a small role in a movie which he was paid a small fee for. That sum of money allowed them the freedom to search for acting work without worrying about how they would pay the bills. “I remember after doing ‘Geronimo,’ fuck, I probably had 35 grand in my checking account and I was like we’re good,” he said. “We’re good for a year.”

Initially, the money in their shared bank account was meant to pay for trips to New York for auditions and castings. However, as they grew older, it started going toward other things. “You were allowed to go to New York with the money,” said Matt. “You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to the arcade and play video games. Eventually, we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never fucking worked.”

Matt Damon Though it Strange in Hindsight

As he thinks back to those difficult times before they were both Oscar winners, Matt Damon thought their shared bank account was strange. However, without it, Damon suggests they would never have made it. They were good friends who wanted to support each other. So, they did. “We were going to help each other and be there for each other,” said Matt Damon.

As they became more and more known within the acting industry, they no longer needed the shared bank account. They have both gone on to win oscars, and they ended up writing a movie together. However, Ben Fleck revealed something remarkable. He told Matt that he still has the checkbook they used for the account. “I still have the checkbook,” said Affleck. “I wonder if it would work?”

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