CASEY AFFLECK
Birth Name: Caleb Casey Affleck
Date of Birth: August 12, 1975
The problem with coming second is, people remember you for your older sibling's merits. For Casey Affleck, this was the case for a while, but he is slowly getting out from under his brother's wing.
The younger Affleck, who remarkably bears very little resemblance to his older brother Ben, was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Soon after graduating from Columbia University with a major in physics, Affleck was ready to follow in his brother's footsteps.
Like his older brother, Affleck began acting on PBS and made his television debut in the 1987 American Playhouse special Lemon Sky, and three years later played the young Robert Kennedy in the TV mini-series The Kennedy's of Massachusetts.
The Affleck brothers have always been close, and even sport identical tatoos of a Native American Fraternity symbol on their upper arm.
Casey's feature film debut came in 1995 with To Die For, in which he had a supporting role as one of Joaquin Phoenix's slacker friends. The next year he appeared in the largely unseen Race the Sun, and in 1997, benefited from the Power of Ben with roles in two of his brother's films, Chasing Amy and Good Will Hunting (both 1997). In the latter, he had a more sizable part as one of Matt Damon's South Boston homeboys.
Following the Oscar-winning success of Hunting, Casey landed substantial roles in two films with casts featuring Hollywood's finest up-and-coming stars. In 1998's Desert Blue, he starred with the likes of Christina Ricci, Kate Hudson and Brendan Sexton III; and in 200 Cigarettes (1999), he appeared as a soft-hearted punk alongside Desert Blue co-stars Ricci and Hudson, along with Paul Rudd, Courtney Love, Janeane Garofalo, and brother Ben.
Although the film basically flopped, it did little to hurt the actor's career, and he went on to land roles in Soul Survivors and Ocean's Eleven.
He made his writing debut with the indie film Gerry, co-writing and co-starring with Matt Damon. The film, about two men who get lost in the desert, received mixed reviews. Most critics agreed that the film was long and drawn out, with endless shots of the two men wandering through the desert, but some claimed that the beautiful cinematography made up for the lack of a plot.
In 2010, his directorial debut, I'm Still Here was released. It was a mockumentary starring Joaquin Phoenix as himself on a downward spiral. Unfortunately, no one really understood it and it bombed both with critics and the movie-going public, and basically derailed Joaquin's career. Casey returned to acting in films such as The Killer Inside Me (2010) opposite Kate Hudson and Tower Heist (2011), starring Ben Stiller.