With every leading role and directorial credit he takes on, Ben Affleck’s net worth just keeps getting bigger—and it looks like that’s not stopping any time soon.
Born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt in 1972, Ben Affleck has had his toes dipped in the entertainment industry from a very early age. His mother was a schoolteacher, while his father was an aspiring playwright who worked a variety of odd jobs as an electrician, carpenter, janitor and bookie. With the support of his family, Affleck’s acting career began when he was just 7 years old after he appeared in a 1979 independent film called Dark End of the Street. He then appeared in the educational series The Voyage of the Mimi and its sequel when he was 9 years old. From PBS children’s shows to films like 1992’s School Ties and 1993’s Dazed and Confused, Affleck began a journey in the spotlight that would span the course of the last three decades.
During his early years in the film industry, the actor befriended fellow actor Matt Damon. After taking acting classes together for years, they came up with the script for Good Will Hunting, which they ended up selling to Miramax and starring in upon its release in 1997. The film became an instant hit, winning both of them Golden Globes and Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and making Affleck the youngest star to ever win the award when he accepted it at the age of 25—a record he still holds to this day.
Following the success of Good Will Hunting, Affleck went on to make a name for himself with films like 1998’s Armageddon and Shakespeare in Love, 2000’s Reindeer Games and 2001’s Pearl Harbor. Yet the actor wasn’t immune to the occasional flop: Gigli, which premiered in 2003 and starred Affleck as a low-level mobster opposite his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, was critically panned. But Affleck never let these moments derail him. Within years, the actor leveled up and made his emergence as a director on films like 2007’s Gone Baby Gone and 2010’s The Town.
His most successful directorial run—and one of his best performances to date—came with the historical drama Argo, which premiered in 2012. The film, which is based on the true story of a CIA operative who goes undercover in Iran to rescue six U.S. hostages, went on to win the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Picture. As for Affleck, the actor-turned-director won the Golden Globe Award, Directors Guild of America Award and BAFTA Award for Best Director for his work on the film.
How much is Ben Affleck’s net worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ben Affleck’s net worth is $150 million as of 2023. Ben Affleck’s net worth is thanks to his work not only as an actor, but also as a director, screenwriter and producer throughout his decades-spanning career. By comparison, Affleck’s wife Jennifer Lopez’s net worth is over $400 million, earning an average of $40 million per year.
What was Ben Affleck’s salary for Good Will Hunting?
Image: Miramax / Courtesy of Everett Collection.
In 2000, Affleck co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed film Good Will Hunting with his friend Matt Damon. The script originally began as an assignment for Damon’s Harvard University playwriting class. Frustrated with the small supporting and background roles they’d both been given up to that point, the pair ventured to work on a project of their own and decided to expand the 40-page script into a screenplay.
Once it was complete, their agent shopped the script around to several studios—but the road to success wasn’t instant. While one studio, Castle Rock, accepted the script in 1994, they refused to give Affleck and Damon the creative control that they sought. So they took their script to Miramax, where they were finally given greater freedom over the project.
After the movie’s release in 1997, Good Will Hunting was met with immense critical acclaim for its performances and script. Its creators quickly rose to stardom thanks to their stand-out performances in the film, landing bigger and better roles as a result. But how much did it earn them? According to Celebrity Net Worth, both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s salary for Good Will Hunting was $300,000 upon the sale of the screenplay.
While it’s unclear how much the pair made from box office earnings and residuals, it’s clear that Good Will Hunting set the groundwork for much of what was to come. Years later, Affleck was earning an estimated $250,000 for 2001’s Pearl Harbor and a whopping $6 million payday for 2000’s Reindeer Games. In 2002, both Changing Lanes and The Sum of All Fears brought home another $10 million each for the actor. And while films such as Daredevil and Gigli—both released in 2003—weren’t critically well-received, they still netted $11.5 million and $12.5 million for Affleck, respectively.
What is Ben Affleck’s salary as Batman?
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection.
Years after starring in Good Will Hunting, Affleck landed the role of the caped crusader himself. The actor first portrayed Batman in Zack Snyder‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. When it was released in 2016, the film had the eighth-biggest opening weekend on record. Affleck went on to reprise the character in 2016’s Suicide Squad, 2017’s Justice League directed by Joss Whedon, 2021’s remake Zack Snyder’s Justice League and 2022’s The Flash.
Reflecting on his time as Batman in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in January 2021, Affleck joked that he only took on the role to impress his children: “I did Batman because I wanted to do it for my kids. I wanted to do something that my son would dig. I mean, my kids didn’t see Argo,” he said.
“Zack [Snyder] wanted to do a version of the Frank Miller Dark Knight graphic novel series, which is a really good version of that,” he continued. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons why things go the way they do in the movie business, and just because your face is on the poster doesn’t mean that you’re dictating all of those things — and even if you were, that they would go well.” He added, “I wore the suit to my son’s birthday party, which was worth every moment of suffering on Justice League,” referring to the backlash surrounding director Whedon’s treatment of his cast and crew on the first Justice League film.
As it turns out, all of that “suffering” was also worth a pretty penny. In 2017, Deadline estimated that Affleck was compensated anywhere between $10 million and $20 million to play Gotham’s hero, as the actor came into the role with a base eight-figure salary.
How much did Ben Affleck earn from his Dunkin’ deal?
How much did Ben Affleck earn from his Dunkin’ deal? The father of all Dunkin’ donut memes, the Air actor participated in a Super Bowl ad where he served customers at a Dunkin’ location in Massachusetts. A source told Entertainment Tonight that his deal with them was worth”several million dollars.” In addition to the paycheck, Affleck’s partnership with Dunkin’ includes a donation to his non-profit, the Eastern Congo Initiative.
In fact, donuts have sentimental value to Affleck as it helped him earn his first paycheck. “My very first paycheck I got — got a job as a dishwasher, in high school. Croissant du Jour, which is no longer in business in Boston. It was basically like a doughnut shop. They were trying to act cool,” Affleck told ET in 2003 . “A hundred thirty bucks. Never forgot it.”
