Profile: Matt Damon

There aren't many stars in the world bigger than Matt Damon. For that matter, there aren't many cooler people in the world, period. The face of smash-hit films like Saving Private Ryan, Invictus, and the Bourne and Ocean's series, Damon is more than just a movie star. He's also an active philanthropist, a big sports fan, and by all accounts, a heckuva nice guy.

But there's one other thing that you need to know about Matt Damon: he's a big brain, and not ashamed of it.

Damon grew up in the Boston area, where he was a good student with an interest in acting. Still, he experienced the same uncertainties and insecurities that all kids deal with, telling one reporter that he "felt such pain at wanting to belong somewhere and not belonging." He's also said that he struggled to fit in because he was much smaller than all the other boys his age.

Hard to imagine People's Sexiest Man Alive feeling like an outcast, isn't it? Well, it just goes to show that you never know how things might turn out. It's always a good idea to do like young Matt did and keep working at being the best version of yourself, no matter what others think.

Anyway, we digress. Eventually Matt ended up at Harvard, where he spent four years but did not graduate. He dropped out to pursue his movie career when he began landing movie roles in Hollywood. Still, his time at Harvard would prove to be important for several reasons. One, it helped him cultivate a love of learning that stays with him to this day. Far from being some dimwitted actor, this is one very smart guy. Listen to him in interviews, listen to the way his friends and co-stars talk about him, and it becomes pretty clear just how bright and engaged he is.

The other thing to come out of his time at college was a little movie called Good Will Hunting. The script for that film, co-written with his longtime friend Ben Affleck, began as a school project at Harvard. Even after moving to California, Matt felt like he was on to something and enlisted Affleck to help him finish the script. That turned out to be a good idea, because it was not only the movie that put both Damon and Affleck on the map, but to this day it is the only Oscar that either man has won.

Did you know that? Did you know that Matt Damon's only Academy Award is one that he earned for his writing and not his acting?

To put it simply: Matt Damon is a big brain. If ever you needed proof that being smart and being cool are not mutually exclusive, look no further. He's one of the most successful movie stars of all time, he's known and loved all over the world, he's the Sexiest Man Alive... and yet he will also always be the short kid from Boston who got good grades but didn't always fit in at school. Keep that in mind, will you?

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