Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt[1] was born on August 12, 1975, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, to Christine Anne "Chris" Boldt and Timothy Byers Affleck.

"[23][29] Growing up in a politically active, liberal household in Central Square, Cambridge,[15][30] Affleck and his brother were surrounded by people who worked in the arts,[31] were regularly taken to the theater by their mother,[32] and were encouraged to make their own home movies.

"[35] At age eighteen, Affleck moved to Los Angeles for a year to pursue an acting career, and lived with his brother and their childhood friend Matt Damon.

[41] When he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in earnest, his first film role was as a sociopathic teenager in Gus Van Sant's 1995 satirical comedy To Die For.

"[39] While studying at Columbia, Affleck had a supporting role in Van Sant's Good Will Hunting (1997), written by his brother and their childhood friend Matt Damon.

[18][37] Despite arranging a first meeting between Van Sant and his brother to discuss the project, Affleck was reluctant to leave college temporarily to act in the film.

[45][46] Jay Carr of The Boston Globe praised the "emotional subtleties and variety" of the performances, and singled out "Casey Affleck's junior member of the quartet, dying to be taken as seriously as the others.

"[33][59] Affleck found a degree of commercial success when he was cast in Steven Soderbergh's heist comedy Ocean's Eleven (2001), starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Damon.

"[75] However, Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt it "would be a stronger movie if Mr. Affleck had the wherewithal to bare more of the passive-aggressive rage inside ... a more resourceful actor would have used this blank slate to scrawl a thousand telling details.

"[83][84] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times described Affleck's performance as a "revelation" which "manages to make the character seem dumb and the actor wily and smart.

"[85] Similarly, Claudia Puig of USA Today declared him a "real revelation [who] perfectly inhabits the role"[86] while Todd McCarthy of Variety said Affleck made "an indelible impression as the insecure, physically unprepossessing weakling.

While he was filming The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in Calgary, Affleck was visited by his brother, who offered him the leading role in his directorial project, the Boston crime thriller Gone Baby Gone (2007).

"[90] Jim Ridley of The Village Voice described him as "a major talent coming into his own"[91] while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle remarked that "the revelation is Casey Affleck, who heretofore has been a rather wormy, uncharismatic screen presence.

"[92] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe commented: "I'd never stopped to consider Casey Affleck as a movie star before, but under his big brother's tutelage, he blooms as a leading man of richly watchable savvy and intelligence.

"[93] While The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Gone Baby Gone were, respectively, a financial failure and a modest box office success,[83][94] Affleck's acting career was widely believed to be at a turning point.

[33] While Affleck later clarified that it was "a planned, staged and scripted work of fiction",[95] there was much media speculation during filming about whether Phoenix's public behavior was performance art or a genuine breakdown.

"[97] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe described it as "an interesting but half-baked exercise in persona deconstruction, celebrity politics, and meta-meta-entertainment ... Parts of it are close to genius; most of it is actively torturous to watch.

[70] Philip French of The Guardian found him "disturbingly brilliant"[101] while Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised "a mesmeric, implosively powerful performance.

"[102] Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times said Affleck "showcases his uncanny ability to project a person holding two thoughts in his head at once, as he often gives away nothing in his face to convey the firestorm obviously raging in his soul.

[107] Shannon M. Houston of Paste described him as the film's "standout actor": "Down to his very jawline, Affleck captures the physicality and feeling of a sincerely romantic outlaw.

"[109] Matt Pais of the Chicago Tribune said: "He has great instincts when it comes to morally compromised anti-heroes, and without trolling for our sympathy, Affleck's Bob is more than just a collection of behaviors; it's a smartly considered performance.

[113] Claudia Puig of USA Today found his performance as an Iraq War veteran dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder "completely captivating ...

"[110] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post described the performance as "a searing portrayal of a young man who pushes himself to the punishing physical limit in search of both money and catharsis.

"[115] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times remarked that Affleck "can come across as intensely vulnerable on screen, which nicely works for a broken man like Rodney.

"[132] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post said the film was "anchored by a quietly volcanic central performance by Casey Affleck, in a breathtaking breakout role he's long deserved.

"[133] David Fear of Rolling Stone stated: "He's given impressive turns before [but] the way Affleck gradually shows you the man's bone-deep grief and emotional damage makes you believe that one of this generation's finest actors has simply been waiting to be coaxed out.

"[23] In 2008, Affleck filmed an episode of documentary series 4Real, in which he visited the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and remarked upon the progress they had made due largely to "their own resourcefulness and determination and their character, and not because of the goodness of our collective heart.

Amanda White, one of the film's producers, sued Affleck for $2 million with multiple complaints including sexual harassment and breach of oral contract.

[162] The film's cinematographer, Magdalena Gorka, sued Affleck for $2.25 million with multiple complaints including intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of oral contract.

[163][164] Gorka alleged that she had been subjected to "routine instances" of sexual harassment by crew members including Antony Langdon, "within the presence and with the active encouragement of Affleck.