Casey Affleck 'Still Felt Like an Outsider' While Living with Brother Ben and Matt Damon After Moving to L.A.

Mar. 15, 2025

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck.Photo: Todd Williamson/Getty Images

Casey Affleckis remembering his early days living with brotherBen AffleckandMatt Damon.

In an interview withTheWall Street Journalpublished on Tuesday, July 30, theOppenheimeractor, 48, reflected on the start career and rooming with Ben, 51, and Damon, 53, in Los Angeles.

“Acting just happened,” he said of his career path. “As soon as I graduated from high school, my best friend and I drove to California and saw everything in between.”

Casey Affleck.Monica Schipper/Getty

Monica Schipper/Getty

Casey continued to say that he and his friend “lived with a bunch of people from Cambridge, including Ben and Matt Damon, but I still felt like an outsider.”

Ben and Damon have afriendship that dates back to their childhoodwhen they bonded over their shared love for acting and baseball. The two began acting in movies in the late 1980s and won an Oscar for writing their 1997 filmGood Will Hunting, which they costarred in — along with Casey.

Meanwhile, the younger Affleck brother had a later start to his career and only starred in a small number of movies prior to 2000.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.Todd Williamson/Getty

In the interview, Casey also recalled life after his stint in L.A. with his brother when he decided to go to college because he wasn’t finding success in the acting world. He enrolled at Columbia University in New York City where he studied for two years, but was still auditioning for acting jobs to pay his college tuition. “But as acting work picked up, I faded on college. Now I wish I hadn’t,” he said.

In 2023, Ben remembered living with Casey and Damon while appearing onThe Late Night Show with James Cordon, noting that Damon was the worst roommate of the two.

“Matt’s never paid a bill to this day, that I know of. We’re like, ‘Why are the lights not working?’, and that’s because the utility company needs money to continue to fund our electricity,” Ben joked.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The actor continued, “And then I hit Lucy up and she was like, ‘I read it. It’s great. I think Matt should do it.’ I said, ‘How do we get it done?’ She was like, ‘I’ll work on him,’ and that was it.

source: people.com