Damon began his acting career by appearing in high school theater productions. He made his professional acting debut in the film "Mystic Pizza" (1988). He came to prominence in 1997 when he and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in "Good Will Hunting", which won them the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Screenplay. He continued to garner praise from critics for his roles as the title character in "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), the antihero in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999), a fallen angel in "Dogma" (1999), an energy analyst in "Syriana" (2005), a corrupt Irish-American policeman in "The Departed" (2006), and race car driver Carroll Shelby in "Ford v Ferrari" (2019).