He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. His father is of Scottish, Welsh and English ancestry, while his mother is of Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. His brother Kyle is an accomplished sculptor and artist. He and his family moved to Newton and lived there for two years. After his parents divorced, Damon and his brother moved with their mother back to Cambridge, where they lived in a six-family communal house. Damon grew up near actor Ben Affleck, a close friend since childhood and collaborator on several films (Damon is Affleck's tenth cousin, once removed, through a common New England ancestor).