Ben Affleck’s sitting pretty now on top of the Hollywood heap. Not so long ago the man was the butt of jokes about some of the dirge he’s been attached to, but suddenly 2013 became the year of Affleck. He’s critically acclaimed and publicly lauded for his work as a director and actor in “Argo”, ending up with one of those Oscar statuettes that mean that yes, the people like you, they really like you.
It’s been a career of peaks and troughs, with some high notes and a lot of low ones. The whole thing started inauspiciously 40 years ago, when Affleck was born. Already he was forced to contend with great difficulties: his birth name was Benjamin G?za Affleck-Boldt, for one thing, ensuring no-one at school could possibly take him seriously.