Matt Damon Net Worth

What Is Matt Damon's Net Worth and Salary?

Matt Damon is an American actor, writer, producer, and philanthropist who has a net worth of $170 million.

Matt Damon is one of the most successful and versatile actors of his generation, combining blockbuster stardom with critical acclaim and long-term financial staying power. He broke through in the late 1990s with "Good Will Hunting," which he co-wrote and starred in alongside Ben Affleck. The film earned Damon an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and instantly established him as both a leading man and a serious creative force. Rather than locking himself into a single genre, Damon followed that success with a series of carefully chosen roles that balanced prestige projects with commercial hits.

In the early 2000s, Damon became a global box office draw through franchises like "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy," and "The Bourne Ultimatum," redefining the modern action thriller with a grounded, physical style that contrasted sharply with earlier spy archetypes. At the same time, he worked with elite directors in films such as "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Ocean's Eleven," "Syriana," and "The Departed," the latter winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. His willingness to alternate between ensemble casts and starring vehicles allowed him to remain both relevant and bankable.

Later in his career, Damon earned renewed critical praise for performances in "The Martian," which showcased his ability to carry a large-scale studio film almost single-handedly, and "Ford v Ferrari," where he anchored a character-driven drama within a commercial racing film. He has also maintained a strong producing career, frequently collaborating with Affleck through their joint production ventures.

Across more than two decades, Damon's career has been defined by range, discipline, and longevity. Few actors have managed to sustain comparable success as a writer, actor, and producer while remaining a consistent presence at the top of both the box office and Hollywood's prestige tier.

As we detail later in this article, Matt passed up the opportunity to be the highest-paid actor in history when he turned down an extremely lucrative film… but he's still managed to do quite well for himself.

Here are some of Damon's biggest box office successes:

• "Good Will Hunting" (1997): $225 million worldwide
• "Saving Private Ryan" (1998): $481 million worldwide
• "The Bourne Identity" (2002): $214 million worldwide
• "The Departed" (2006): $292 million worldwide
• "The Martian" (2015): $630 million worldwide

$250 Million "Avatar" Mistake

The most staggering figure in Matt Damon's financial history is one he never actually cashed. During the casting of "Avatar" (2009), director James Cameron offered Damon the lead role of Jake Sully. To sweeten the deal, Cameron offered Damon 10% of the film's box office profits.

Damon turned it down to honor his commitment to "The Bourne Ultimatum," citing a "moral" loyalty to director Paul Greengrass and the existing crew. Since "Avatar" went on to gross nearly $2.8 billion, Damon's 10% stake would have been worth more than $250 million—the largest potential payday ever left on the table by an actor. James Cameron later joked that Damon should stop "beating himself up," noting that while he'd love a Damon cameo in a sequel to bring the world into "equilibrium," the actor definitely "doesn't get ten percent" this time.

The "Bourne" Peak and Franchise Power

While he missed the "Avatar" windfall, Damon's work as Jason Bourne established him as a premier action star with immense leverage.

• He earned $10 million for "The Bourne Identity" (2002), but his value skyrocketed for the sequels, commanding roughly $26 million each for "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) and "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007).
• When he returned for "Jason Bourne" (2016), he earned $25 million despite only having about 25 lines of dialogue—effectively earning $1 million per line.
• His lead role in "The Martian" (2015) earned him a flat $25 million, which remains one of his most successful solo-starring paydays.

Artists Equity and the New Bonus Model

In the 2020s, Damon shifted his focus to Artists Equity, the production company he co-founded with Ben Affleck to disrupt traditional streaming pay models.

• "Air" (2023): Amazon famously bought this project for $160 million based on a pitch alone. As both lead actor and producer, Damon banked an estimated $30 million to $40 million, which industry insiders claim is his largest payday outside of the "Bourne" sequels.
• "Oppenheimer" (2023): Demonstrating his habit of "acting for the director," he took a significant pay cut to $4 million to join Christopher Nolan's ensemble.
• "The Instigators" (2024): Damon earned a substantial $10 million for this Apple TV+ heist comedy, once again serving as both lead actor and producer.
• "The Rip" (2026): For this Netflix thriller, Damon and Affleck negotiated a landmark "crew-first" deal. For the first time in Netflix's history, all 1,200 cast and crew members are eligible for a one-time performance bonus if the film meets specific 90-day viewership targets—marking a massive shift from the standard fixed-fee streaming model.

Notable Salaries and Career Earnings

• "Good Will Hunting" (1997): $600,000 (Screenplay) + $350,000 (Acting)
• "Saving Private Ryan" (1998): $1.7 million
• "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999): $2.25 million
• "Ocean's Eleven" (2001): $5 million
• "The Bourne Identity" (2002): $10 million
• "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004): $26 million
• "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007): $26 million
• "The Martian" (2015): $25 million
• "Jason Bourne" (2016): $25 million
• "Air" (2023): $30 million – $40 million (Acting/Producing package)
• "Oppenheimer" (2023): $4 million
• "The Instigators" (2024): $10 million
• "The Rip" (2026): Base salary + viewership-based bonus potential

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Early Life

Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His parents, stockbroker Kent Damon and professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige, divorced when Matt was two. He and his brother, Kyle, were raised in Cambridge by their mother in a six-family communal house. One of Matt's childhood best friends is fellow A-lister Ben Affleck. Both boys wanted to be actors from a very early age. Damon attended Harvard University from 1988 to 1992 but dropped out 12 credits shy of a B.A. in English.

Early Career

In the late '80s and early '90s, Matt landed a few roles in movies like "Mystic Pizza," "Courage Under Fire," and "School Ties." When he left school in 1992, it was to film "Geronimo: An American Legend," mistakenly thinking that it would be his first major box office success.

His big break came a few years later when he and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in "Good Will Hunting." The script began as Damon's school project, which the friends later expanded into a screenplay while living together in Los Angeles. Damon and Affleck won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, and Damon was nominated for Best Actor for the film. The duo went from obscurity to fame practically overnight, which created a bit of culture shock for both.

Other important film roles quickly followed in blockbusters, such as "The Rainmaker," "Saving Private Ryan," and "The Talented Mr. Ripley." Although some of the films he made in the late '90s and early 2000s were flops at the box office, Damon's performances were generally well-received.

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Film Franchises

Matt Damon struck serious pay dirt when he was cast in George Clooney's "Ocean's" trilogy. He appeared in all three installments as conman Linus Caldwell. The cast featured some of the biggest names in the industry. The A-List cast all famously took a serious pay cut from their regular salaries to make the movie.

The actor found another cash cow when he landed the starring role in the Jason Bourne franchise. "The Bourne Identity," which was released in 2002, earned him critical acclaim as well as a reputation as an up-and-coming action hero. He reprised his role in two more Bourne films but opted not to appear in the fourth, "The Bourne Legacy," which was released in 2012. Damon came back for the fifth movie of the series, 2016's "Jason Bourne." He earned a collective $87 million for all four Bourne films.

Awards and Honors

Matt Damon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 and has had his handprints and footprints immortalized at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Throughout his career, he has earned five Academy Award nominations (winning one for Best Original Screenplay for "Good Will Hunting") and seven Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations. In 2024, he won his first SAG Award as part of the ensemble cast for "Oppenheimer." His Golden Globe tally has grown to nine nominations and two wins, with his most recent nod coming in 2024 for his lead performance in "Air." Beyond film accolades, Damon has received seven Primetime Emmy nominations, largely for his work as a producer on "Project Greenlight." In 2007, People magazine named him the "Sexiest Man Alive," and in 2010, he was awarded the American Cinematheque Award for his extraordinary contribution to the art of the moving picture.

Producing

Along with Ben Affleck and others, Damon produced the reality series "Project Greenlight," in which first-time filmmakers were given the opportunity to develop their own film projects. Damon, Affleck, and Chris Moore founded the production company LivePlanet to produce the show. Later, Damon and Affleck went on to found another production company, Pearl Street Films.

Matt famously gave up the lead acting role in "Manchester by the Sea" and instead opted to act as a producer. His replacement, Casey Affleck (Ben's little brother), went on to win an Oscar for the role. In 2023, he starred in "Air," co-starring and directed by Ben Affleck, and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," playing the role of Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project.

(Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

Philanthropy

Matt is extremely passionate about philanthropy and supports 37 charitable organizations. He is an ambassador for ONEXONE, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the lives of children in North America, and a spokesperson for Feeding America, a foundation that fights hunger. He founded the H2O Africa Foundation and co-founded the Not On Our Watch Project, which aims to prevent mass genocide such as that in Darfur. Other organizations include the One Campaign and Water.org.

Personal Life

In 2003, Matt was in Miami filming the comedy "Stuck On You." One night in a local club, he met Luciana Barroso, then a bartender and single mom, and knew right away that he wanted to marry her. They got married in 2005 and have had three more children together.

Jimmy Kimmel "Feud"

Damon and Jimmy Kimmel have had a longstanding public "feud" stretching back to the early days of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" It originated with a simple, off-the-cuff joke: Kimmel wrapped up a rather disappointing show filming with the one-liner, "I want to apologize to Matt Damon. We ran out of time," suggesting that A-lister Damon was bumped from the show. Since then, the two have taken numerous public swipes at one another, but it's all in good fun; Damon and Kimmel are actually friends.

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Real Estate

• In 2012, Matt and Luciana paid $15 million for an impressive mansion in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. They listed the 13,500-square-foot home for sale in January 2021 for $21 million. They lowered the price to $17.9 million in August 2021 and found a buyer a month later.
• In 2017, they paid $16.8 million for a penthouse in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City. At the time, it was the highest price ever paid for a home in Brooklyn.
• In 2022, Damon purchased a Westchester County retreat in Bedford, New York, for $8.5 million.
• In April 2024, Matt paid $9 million for a condo in Los Angeles.

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