Ben Affleck (Actor)

"All of a sudden, you're confronted with a roomful of people who've seen your movies. For me there isn't a roomful of people who've seen my movies in the world. The extent of my fame is limited to record-store clerks with nose rings and tattoos." - Affleck commenting on having a film play at the Sundance Film Festival to GQ, February 1998

"As an actor, you want to do more than the job. You want to be good because you care about the work and you want to get other jobs." - Ben Affleck to Chicago Tribune, Dec. 19, 1997

"Ben's really loyal and really, really smart and really funny. He's got more going for him than just about anyone I've ever met." - Matt Damon People Dec. 2, 2002

"Ben's the real thing. He's got that square jaw, that real Americana look, without being pretty. Women want to be with him and men want to be like him, which is what movie stars are made of." - producer Jerry Bruckheimer to Details, July 1998

"He's totally normal. He's grounded. There's no ego-tripping allowed." - Miramax chief, Harvey Weinstein People June 28, 2004

"I'm just happy not to be holding up convenience stores." - Affleck to Vanity Fair, March 1997

"My fantasy is that someday I'm independently wealthy enough that I'm not beholden to anybody, so I can run for Congress on the grounds that everyday people, be they singers or poets or bankers or lawyers or teachers, should be in government. The government shouldn't be controlled by a professional class of politicians." - Affleck quoted in GQ, May 2001

"Several things become apparent while spending a night drinking and gambling with Ben Affleck. The first is that he's more shrewd businessman than self-absorbed actor. He's a strategist who believes he's figured out a way to beat impossible odds. Whether he's playing blackjack, carving out a Hollywood career, or trying to ensure that a magazine cover story furthers his agenda, Affleck conveys a distinctly American optimism, a conviction that he will succeed by sheer force of his persistence, desire to win, and smarts. For an actor who is not a member of the Church of Scientology, he's strangely free of self-doubt." - from "Going All the Way" by Christine Spines in Premiere, August 1998

"We got into this conversation on the set of 'Armageddon'. I asked everyone 'How much would you charge to give some guy a blow job? What's your price?' Their initial reaction is 'Oh no, no way!' Then after a while, it's like, 'Do I have to swallow?'

'We're talking a briefcase full of cash. So where do you draw your line? Would you do it for $12 million? Fuck, yes! You're kidding, I'd do it for less. And yet $12 million is probably what Keanu [Reeves] passed up to do 'Speed 2'. So people scoff at the roles actors take. But who am I to judge? I've just admitted I'll suck dick for cash in front of a roomful of people." - Affleck quoted in GQ, February 1998

"We're on the same page because we share a lot of the same life experiences. It's nice to have someone who understands where you're coming from." - Affleck on Matt Damon to Biography, July 2002

"What's going to mean the most to me is being a father, being a husband, being a person of whom I can really be proud." - Affleck on marriage and family People, June 24, 2002

Depsite making appearances during the 2000 US Presidential campaign and the US Senate campaign of Hilary Rodham Clinton, Affleck did not vote in the election as reported by the Internet site The Smoking Gun. (www.thesmokinggun.com)

In early August 2001, Affleck voluntarily entered the Promises rehabilitation facility in Malibu for treatment of alcohol abuse.