Matt Damon on how birth order shaped his personality
Interviewed by Krista Smith for Netflix's Skip Intro Podcast (19 January 2026)
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SMITH: How has your birth order informed who you are as a person?
MATT: I've thought about this a lot because my wife is the oldest of three, and I'm the youngest of two. I really think that's one of the reasons we work so well. Because I think as the youngest [...] I'm extremely adaptable. I have no need to be in charge. [...] But I think Lucy and I gel together really well because she's five years younger than me, but she just naturally takes on that kind of leadership role. Then I'm completely fine with it.
We bought our house in L.A. years ago. We were living in New York, and we had talked about moving to L.A., and we were going out because I was going to shoot Behind The Candelabra in L.A., and so we needed to rent a house for the summer. And she went out to find the rental and saw a house for sale that was on the same street that Ben lived on, and called me and said, "There's this house, and I love it!" And Ben came down and looked at it. And so I had my two favorite people on the phone. And Ben was like, "You should get this place." And Lucy said, "I love this place." And I was just like, "OK." Like, we bought it, and I'd never seen the house. But I knew if they love it, I'm sure it's great. And if she loves it and she's going to be happy, I know I'm going to be happy. I know it's nicer than some of the hotels I've stayed in while I'm shooting. So this is going to be totally fine. And it was. And we lived there for nine years.
SMITH: That's amazing. And now they run your company, basically, right? Artists Equity?
MATT: Actually, yeah. We're the three partners in the company. And when I was shooting— Another thing that was unique about that Odyssey experience for my kids was that when I was shooting that, Ben was shooting this movie called Animals. [...] And Lucy produced it. And so she left to go to L.A. I left to go to Europe. And we had to have somebody stay with the kids. [...] We both went in separate directions. But there were these incredible moments, kind of dream-come-true opportunities for each of us. And the kids were like incredibly supportive of that.
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See also:
[After reading the book for The Last Duel, Ben Affleck] became possessed with a great sense of urgency—“we have to do this and get it done now”—that he needed Damon to share. “He’s got a busy life, he’s all over the place,” Affleck explains, “and he frankly requires being marshaled a little bit to focus and zone in.” So Affleck laid out a plan of action: “Okay, and this is how we’re going to do it: We’re going to do four hours a day, I’m going to schedule it, I’m going to come over there…”
— From Matt Damon’s interview with GQ (September 2021).
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[Full transcript under the cut]
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SMITH: How has your birth order informed who you are as a person?
MATT: I've thought about this a lot because my wife is the oldest of three and I'm the youngest of two. I really think that's one of the reasons we work so well. Because I think as the youngest— and you can tell me if this has been your experience, it certainly has been mine. I'm extremely adaptable. I have no need to be in charge.
And I remember, as a kid, my brother's girlfriend was on the YWCA swim team. And so my brother joined the YWA swim team, right, as the only boy. And I had to join the YWCA swim team because my mom, you know, is a professor— She was, you know, a single mom. My dad, they were divorced, but my dad had us like every other weekend and one day a week. So my mom had to figure out what to do with us after school. So I was just on the swim team with my brother. Like she just kept us together on the swim team. And it didn't strike me at the time that this was some kind of unfairness or injustice that I didn't want to be on the swim team. I just did it, you know, and I think I'm that way.
[In] my career— your career as an actor, you're living out of a duffel bag for the whole first part of your career. And you're in this Best Western Hotel and you kind of live in the production, which is always a little chaotic. And I never really had a problem with it. It never— it seemed like, "Yep, well, that's what I have to do." But I think Lucy and I gel together really well because she— She's five years younger than me, but she just takes on the role that kind of— naturally takes on that kind of leadership role. Then I'm completely fine with it.
We bought our house in L.A. years ago. We were living in New York, and we had talked about moving to L.A. And we were going out because I was going to shoot Behind The Candelabra in L.A., and so we needed to rent a house for the summer. And she went out to find the rental and saw a house for sale that was on the same street that Ben lived on, and called me and said, "There's this house and I love it!" And Ben came down and looked at it. And so I had my two favorite people on the phone. And Ben was like, "You should get this place." And Lucy said, "I love this place." And I was just like, "OK." Like we bought it and I'd never seen the house. But I knew if they love it, I'm sure it's great. And if she loves it and she's going to be happy, I know I'm going to be happy. I know it's nicer than some of the hotels I've stayed in while I'm shooting. So this is going to be totally fine. And it was. And we lived there for nine years.
SMITH: That's amazing. And now they run your company, basically, right? Artists Equity?
MATT: Actually, yeah. We're the three partners in the company. And when I was shooting— Another thing that was unique about that Odyssey experience for my kids was that when I was shooting that, Ben was shooting this movie called Animals. It's great. It's going to come out on Netflix later in the year. It's a great movie. And Lucy produced it. And so she left to go to L.A. I left to go to Europe. And we had to have somebody stay with the kids. Luckily, it happened over the spring break time. So there was like a week on one side of spring break. Then spring break happened and they could come, and then there was a week on the other side. So it worked out. But we both went in kind of separate directions. But there were these incredible moments, kind of dream-come-true opportunities for each of us. And the kids were like incredibly supportive of that.
"I’ve seen so many different ways of working with crew and actors and department heads and I feel like the biggest thing a director can do is create almost a bubble of magic safety for their actors and for their department heads and hold a perimeter so they feel safe to play and bring their whole selves. And also with the actors they feel that they own those roles. The minute that we start rehearsing they know more than I do. I do not hold a secret key of who the person is, they do. They should have their own– that they can take it into themselves so they become the guardian of the person. And even to the point of like the way my actors worked with my costume designer. I had them build wardrobes instead of costuming each scene because I wanted them to be able to say– because it goes over a year– I wanted Saoirse to be able to say I think this is what she would wear here… The thing you don’t want actors to feel is that they don’t– that they feel like they always have to look to you for permission because I think that limits the work that they can do. And I think when they feel “No it’s mine and I understand it” it opens them up."
