Ben Affleck

Affleck in 2010, marcello farina / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt

Place of Birth: Berkeley, Alameda, California, United States

Date of Birth: August 15, 1972

Ethnicity: English, Irish, German, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, distant French and Swiss-German, remote Swedish and Welsh

Ben Affleck is an American actor, filmmaker, and producer. He has directed the films Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo, Live by Night, and Air; he also co-wrote the first two and wrote the fourth, and starred in all but the first. Ben has played Bruce Wayne / Batman in the DC Universe. His many roles also include the films School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dean Koontz’s Phantoms, Armageddon, Shakespeare in Love, Forces of Nature, Dogma, Boiler Room, Reindeer Games, Bounce, Pearl Harbor, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Changing Lanes, The Sum of All Fears, Daredevil (2003), as the title character; Gigli, Paycheck, Jersey Girl, Surviving Christmas, Hollywoodland, Smokin’ Aces, He’s Just Not That Into You, State of Play, Extract, The Company Men, To the Wonder, Runner Runner, Gone Girl, The Accountant, Triple Frontier, The Way Back, The Last Duel, which he also co-wrote, The Tender Bar, Deep Water, and Hypnotic (2023). He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting, with childhood friend, actor Matt Damon; they have often appeared together, as in that film. Ben was selected People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” in 2002.

Ben is the son of Chris Anne (Boldt), an elementary school teacher, and Timothy Byers Affleck, who had been an actor, electrician, carpenter, auto mechanic, bookie, bartender, and janitor. His brother is actor Casey Affleck. Born in Berkeley, Ben’s family moved to their native East Coast when he was three, living in Falmouth, and then Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ben is married to actress, singer, and television personality Jennifer Lopez. He has three children with his former wife, actress Jennifer Garner.

Ben’s maternal grandfather was of half German and half Irish descent. Much of the rest of Ben’s ancestry is English, along with some Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, other German and Irish, distant French and Swiss-German, and remote Swedish and Welsh. Ben’s maternal grandmother was from a family with roots in the American South.

Ben’s middle name, Géza, a Hungarian name, was given to him after a Hungarian friend of his parents, who was a Holocaust survivor. This was mentioned in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio (2001).

Ben is a tenth cousin, once removed, of his friend Matt Damon. Ben’s paternal nine times great-grandparents, Elizabeth and William Knowlton, of England, were also Matt’s paternal ten times great-grandparents. It appears that, until 2014, Ben and Matt were not aware of this genealogical relationship, common for two people of New England, English, ancestry. Actor Matthew Maher has also often worked with Matt and Ben. Their parents all knew each other in Cambridge in the 1960s.

Ben’s patrilineal line can be traced to his great-great-great-grandfather, William Affleck, who was born, c. 1825, in Kirkpatrick Durham, Kirkcudbright, Scotland.

Ben’s paternal grandfather was Myron Hopkins Strong Affleck, Jr. (the son of Myron Hopkins Strong Affleck and Frances Lucretia Perkins). Ben’s grandfather Myron was born in Rhode Island. Ben’s great-grandfather Myron was the son of William R. Affleck, Jr., whose father was Scottish and whose mother was English; and of Mary Hoyt Strong. Frances was the daughter of Willard Clifford Perkins and Rachel Harris Rathburn Cross.

Ben’s paternal grandmother was Nancy Louise Byers (the daughter of Allen Dewey Byers and Dorothy Elizabeth McGuire). Nancy was born in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. Allen was the son of Allen C. Byers and LuLu/Lou Lee French. Dorothy was the daughter of George Woolverton McGuire, Jr. and Viola M. Naylor, who was of at least part German ancestry.

Ben’s maternal grandfather was William O’Brien “Obie” Boldt (the son of Joseph Raymond Boldt and Anne Rita Lenihan). William was born in New Jersey. Joseph was born in Rhode Island, the son of German immigrants, Heinrich/Henry Boldt and Eliza/Ida/Elise Luttuch/Lettich/Lüttich/Hanckal; Heinrich is known for discovering the 10th century concave gold disc, the Curmsun Disc, when he was twelve years old. He found the door to the cellar crypt while playing with friends at the Groß- Weckow village in Pomerania. Ben’s great-grandmother Anna was born in County Down, Ireland, the daughter of Edward Lenihan/Lenighan and Anne/Ann/Annie Smyth.

Ben’s maternal grandmother was Elizabeth N. Roberts (the daughter of Lawrence Lester Roberts and Margaret McLain/McClain). Elizabeth was born in New York. Lawrence was born in the District of Columbia, the son of parents from the state of Georgia, Flournoy Charles Roberts and Margaret/Maggie V. Cole. Ben’s great-grandmother Margaret was born in Mississippi, the daughter of parents who were also born there, Gordentia Waite McClain and Harriet/Hattie M. Roberts. One of Ben’s maternal great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers was Adam Rankin Alexander, a U.S. Congressman, of the Jacksonian Republican party, from Tennessee, from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1827.

A DNA test taken by the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2014) stated that Ben’s genetic ancestry is:

*99.7% European
——–*46% British & Irish
*0.2% Middle Eastern and North African
*0.1% Sub-Saharan African

In his 2016 book about the show, Finding Your Roots, Season 2: The Official Companion to the PBS Series, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. wrote that among Ben’s genetic ancestry was a “small amount” of Ashkenazi Jewish.

Sources: Genealogies of Ben Affleck – http://www.geni.com
http://famouskin.com
http://www.genefiend.org

Family history of Ben Affleck – https://archive.is

Marriage record of Ben’s paternal great-grandparents, Myron Hopkins Strong Affleck and Frances Lucretia Perkins – https://www.familysearch.org

Marriage record of Ben’s paternal great-grandparents, Allen Dewey Byers and Dorothy Elizabeth McGuire – https://www.familysearch.org

Genealogy of Ben Affleck (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.wikitree.com

Obituary of Ben’s maternal great-grandfather, Joseph Raymond Boldt – http://select.nytimes.com

Ben’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth N. Roberts, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Obituary of Ben’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth N. (Roberts) Boldt Shaw – http://www.nytimes.com