The Cast of 'Good Will Hunting': Then and Now
It’s Been 26 Year's Since Good Will Hunting Hit Theaters and Catapulted Writers and Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck into Stardom. Damon Originally Wrote the...
It’s been 26 years since Good Will Hunting hit theaters and catapulted writers and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck into stardom.
Damon originally wrote the script in a playwriting class while he was a student at Harvard University; he later turned to longtime friend Affleck to help him develop the screenplay.
Directed by Gus Van Sant, the film was released in December 1997 to critical acclaim, leading to nine nominations at the 70th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Director. Damon and Affleck won for Best Original Screenplay, and Robin Williams took home the award for Best Supporting Actor.
Damon stars as Will Hunting, a math whiz who was recently paroled from jail and works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He impresses professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård) when he solves a complicated math problem, but he is arrested again for attacking a police officer. Lambeau arranges for Will to avoid jail time if he studies mathematics under his supervision and attends psychotherapy sessions with Lambeau’s college roommate, Dr. Sean Maguire (Williams).
Damon and Affleck have maintained a close friendship and working relationship over the years, appearing on-screen together in movies like Chasing Amy (1997), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), The Last Duel (2021) and Air (2023), the first film from their production company Artists Equity.
The first-time screenwriters also developed a tight bond with Williams while filming the movie. "He did so much for us by believing in us and doing that movie, and also by how warm and lovely and kind he was and collaborative," Affleck said of Williams, who died in 2014 at age 63, in a 2021 interview with Jake's Takes.
To mark the movie's latest anniversary on December 5, here’s a look at the cast of Good Will Hunting, then and now.
Matt Damon as Will Hunting
Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting, a self-taught genius freshly paroled from jail.
Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Damon got his start in Mystic Pizza in 1988. He enrolled at Harvard that same year but left before completing his degree to pursue an acting career. He had several film roles, including in Courage Under Fire (1996), through the early to mid-1990s.
For Good Will Hunting, Damon and Affleck won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for their screenplay. Affleck was 25 at the time and holds the record for the youngest-ever winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; Damon was the second-youngest winner at 27. Damon also received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his performance.
"Sometimes those moments sneak up on you," he told GQ in 2021, recalling how he cried during their first day on set. "And that was another one of those moments we never thought was going to arrive. To see not only actors, but those actors, saying the stuff that we wrote, was like ... f---."
While filming Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams introduced Damon to Steven Spielberg, who cast him in the titular role in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Through the 2000s, he appeared in the Ocean’s film trilogy and starred as Jason Bourne in four Bourne films. He has since received three Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actor for Invictus (2009), Best Actor for The Martian (2015) and, as a producer, Best Picture for Manchester by the Sea (2016).
In April 2003, Damon met bartender Luciana Barroso in Miami while filming Stuck on You. The couple tied the knot in 2005 and welcomed three daughters together: Isabella, Gia and Stella. (Barroso has one daughter, Alexia, from a previous marriage.)
Damon told PEOPLE in 2019 that he had been unsuccessful in getting his girls to watch his films, including Good Will Hunting. “I am kind of trying to force them, it’s not working,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to see Good Will Hunting? You know your dad and Uncle Ben wrote it, right?’ ‘Yeah, Dad, I know.’ It’s like, ‘Nope.’ ”
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Robin Williams as Dr. Sean Maguire
Robin Williams stars as Dr. Sean Maguire, a psychology teacher at Bunker Hill Community College.
Born in Chicago, Williams got his start performing stand-up comedy before finding fame as the alien Mork in Mork & Mindy from 1978 until 1982. His first starring film role was in Popeye in 1980.
Eight years later, Williams won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting after previous nominations for his roles in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989) and The Fisher King (1991).
“This might be the one time I'm speechless. Thank you so much for this incredible honor. Thank you for putting me in a category with these four extraordinary men,” Williams said in his acceptance speech.
His impressive career also earned him multiple nominations and wins at the Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, Grammy Awards and more.
In addition to his acclaimed dramatic performances, he starred in comedy and family films, including Hook (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and Jumanji (1995). Williams also had a prolific career in animations, having voiced the Genie in Aladdin (1992) and several characters in Happy Feet (2006), among others.
He married Valerie Velardi in 1978 and became a father in 1983 when their son, Zachary Pym “Zak” Williams, was born. The couple divorced in 1988, and he married Marsha Garces the following year. Williams and Garces welcomed a daughter, Zelda Rae, that same year and a son, Cody Alan, in 1991. They divorced in 2010, and he married Susan Schneider in 2011.
On Aug. 11, 2014, Williams died by suicide in his California home at the age of 63. After his death, his representative shared that "he had been battling severe depression of late." An autopsy revealed that the actor had Lewy body dementia, the second-most common type of progressive dementia.
Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.
