Matt Damon has the kind of career that, when you lay it all out, borders on the surreal. One minute he’s a blue-collar math prodigy from South Boston; the next, he’s a lethal spy with no memory, a stranded astronaut surviving on duct tape and science, or a stubborn father navigating a foreign justice system. Few actors move this comfortably between genres, or make it look this easy. With that in mind, let’s count down Matt Damon’s 15 best movies, starting from the bottom and working our way to the very top. Fair warning: disagreements are inevitable.
15. Stillwater (2021)
In Stillwater, Damon has stripped away movie-star polish to play the role of an Oklahoma oil worker, Bill Baker, who attempts to prove his daughter’s innocence after she winds up in jail in France. It is a realistic and sometimes uncomfortable performance, and that is the point. Beneath the accent, baseball cap, and awkward silences, Damon finds real compassion. Bill isn’t heroic, or clever-he’s just dogged and flawed and so painfully human.
14. The Last Duel (2021)
Medieval France isn’t exactly Damon’s usual playground, but he makes it work. Co-writing the script and starring as Jean de Carrouges, Damon plays a man powered by pride, insecurity, and wounded ego. Thanks to the film’s shifting perspectives, his character is gradually revealed to be less noble than he thinks he is. It’s a rare Damon role in which the self-delusion is the major characteristic; he leans into it.
13. Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Playing the steady man in the midst of turmoil, auto industry legend Carroll Shelby, the role has particular emotional resonance for Damon, who brings balance to the film’s high-octane action with his depiction of friendship and tragic loss. While Bale gets the big scenes, Damon’s role helps to morph the sports car movie about the need for speed ever so slowly, ever so surely, into one about obsession, dedication, and the true cost of perfection.
12. Air (2023)
Finally, in front of the camera for Ben Affleck, Damon brings warmth and humor to the role of Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro. He’s not showy; he’s only relentlessly ambitious, and Damon’s laid-back charm rings completely true in the role. When the time comes for the key emotional payoffs, he delivers them with substance, not with theatrics, and proves once again that he is the king of understated acting.
11. True Grit (2010)
Damon does love to be cast against type as LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger who has all the confidence in the world but not a lick of ability to go along with it. The Coens give their actor plenty of room to roam within the range of comedy, and he’s full of swaggering arrogance punctuated by wounded pride.
10. Oppenheimer (2023)
With his role as General Leslie Groves in Christopher Nolan’s thickly detailed epic, Damon brings a commanding presence and surprisingly witty humor. Teaming with Cillian Murphy, he offers a down-to-earth complement to Oppenheimer’s intellectual brilliance. Damon helps make Groves seem plausible in a story replete with hare-brained ideas and larger-than-life characters.
9. The Departed (2006)
Few Damon roles are as chilling as Colin Sullivan, the polished Boston cop concealing a criminal soul. He’s calm, controlled, and morally hollow, making him a perfect foil to Leonardo DiCaprio’s unraveling undercover agent. It’s in the projection of normalcy, with hints at the rot beneath the surface, that this performance can be so unsettling.
8. The Ocean’s Trilogy (2001–2007)
As Linus Caldwell, Damon plays the eager apprentice surrounded by cooler, older criminals. His nervous energy and need for constant approval add levity to the ensemble. Throughout the trilogy, Linus becomes more confident but never loses that endearing awkwardness that makes Damon a natural fit for the role.
7. Contagion (2011)
To bring out the best in the ensemble thriller by director Steven Soderbergh, there has to be an element of the human experience, and Matt Damon fills that role. In this situation, as a mourning husband and father during an unprecedented global crisis, the actor holds back and remains all too real.
6. The Informant! (2009)
This is probably the most duplicitously complex performance Damon has ever given. Playing Mark Whitacre, the corporate whistleblower who is maybe not entirely truthful about his motives, Damon develops paranoia, ego, and self-destructive tendencies. With his constant voiceover storytelling, he draws you even deeper into his warped mind, and this is both hilarious and cringeworthy.
5. The Martian (2015)
With the setting alone on the planet’s surface, the movie is all but carried by Damon, who makes the experience look effortless. The character, Mark Watney, in the film is sustained by his intelligence, wit, and an obstinate positive spirit. Even in insurmountable circumstances, the mood in the movie remains buoyant without losing depth.
4. The Bourne Trilogy (2002–2007)
Jason Bourne reinvented the modern action hero. In the action genre, Damon brought what was needed—a physically committed performance coupled with intelligent and emotional restraint. The first three films stay tightly wound, with plenty of brutality, and the character in the Damon incarnation is both threatening and relatable.
3. Good Will Hunting (1997)
The role where he broke out and launched his entire career. Playing Will Hunting, he combines street smarts with vulnerability, and the fear of one’s own talent is palpable. By co-writing the screenplay, he also adds to the reality of the film. It’s as much an actor’s show as it is an acting role, with Robin Williams’s standout performances being balanced by Damon’s character.
2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Although he appears well into the movie, his role is imperative to the plot. He symbolizes the humanity behind the mission because he is the soldier who would do whatever it takes to protect. Ryan is portrayed by the actor Jake Gyllenhaal and also by the actor with the last name of Damon, who plays the soldier whom Ryan would do anything to protect.
1. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Damon’s most chancy performance is also the most remembered. As Tom Ripley, he conveys the ache of longing and envy, and danger. You can see the desperation of Ripley, even when he is behaving utterly horrifically. He is walking the high wire between sympathy and fear in that performance.
Ranging from troubled geniuses to unexpected heroes and everything in between, the film career of Matt Damon proves that he has an impressive range. Whatever role he takes, he makes sure to bring authenticity, intelligence, and a slightly unpredictable edge to the role to hook the viewer. Very few people have managed to work up a list as extensive and engaging as done here.