Matt Damon is considered the most profitable actor in Hollywood, and for those who have had the opportunity to watch him at his craft, the reasons for this level of success are obvious. Mr. Damon is not a man that draws a great deal of unnatural attention, but this is part of his appeal as an actor. His performances are steady, confident and extraordinarily well acted with an attention to nuance that bespeaks a talent and a well practiced skill that few other actors can bring to bear on their roles.

There is good reason to consider comparing Mr. Damon's roles and acting style to those of Harrison Ford. Many of Matt Damon's earliest roles, such as the critically acclaimed Good Will Hunting, give Mr. Damon the opportunity to collaborate with the script writer and director to actually fashion a character that the audience genuinely cares about. Harrison Ford's earliest roles, like those of Han Solo in Star Wars or Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, although cast in films of an entirely different genre, evoke a similar response in audiences. Neither of Harrison Ford's iconic roles would have seen so many sequels and generated such a phenomenal fan response had Mr. Ford not been capable of precisely the same ability to help create a character that audiences care about.

One of Matt Damon's better roles, and one for which he scarcely received enough congratulations, was that of professional card player Mike McDermott in the 1998 film Rounders, directed by John Dahl. The film centers around a brilliantly written portrayal of the New York underground gambling world, and stars an extraordinary cast. Damon is written opposite Edward Norton's character Lester "Worm" Murphy, who is equal parts hustler and formidable gambler.

What Matt Damon portrays in this film is an understated urgency that is the entire basis for his role. McDermott is a man with gifts who finds that normal life is more of an obstacle to him than an environment in which he can succeed. His girlfriend, played by Gretchen Mol, is quite intolerant of his avocation, and most of the early scenes in the movie depict the tension between them as McDermott tries to balance the two worlds that cannot seem to co-exist.

Films like Rounders, and Damon's Bourne series, based on the Robert Ludlum novels, make it possible for a director to build a colorful cast around an actor that provides a context for amazing supporting roles. Franka Potente's performance in the Bourne Identity was made all the easier and was undoubtedly improved by Damon's presence, as was John Turturro's performance in Rounders. Damon gives his fellow peformers a steady sense of characterization that makes it far easier for them to become their roles, and which advances his and their films as a result.

Matt Damon won an Academy Award for his collaboration on the screenplay for Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with his best friend and acting colleague Ben Affleck. He was also nominated for a Best Actor award for the same film, and has also received three Emmy nominations for a television documentary in conjunction with Project Greenlight, which is a fund for new filmmakers.

If the word "typecast" has an antonym, Matt Damon's variety of roles would be described well by it. He is equally at home in both comedy and dramatic roles, and is not only capable of playing both a protagonist and an antagonist, but, in the Bourne series, portrays a character that is at once a man to be feared, yet seems to be a man in transition from perfectly constructed killing machine to gallant, and possibly even remorseful human being concerned more with doing the right thing than simply taking orders. The sobering and well acted Jason Bourne character is a contrast to others like Linus Caldwell in Ocean's Eleven, or even Mike McDermott in Rounders. The tension in the Bourne Series and the similar level of urgency in Rounders both make use of Damon's skill and aplomb in acting that is much like the difference between playing a cello and making music with one.

In both the Bourne Identity and the Bourne Supremacy, Damon portrays a character that seems to have all the answers, despite the fact that the entire premise of the films centers around the fact that Jason Bourne has no answers and in fact has no idea who he is at all. Such a role can be very difficult to portray well, given the inconsistencies in the character's identity. It can be very easy for such a role to become confused long before the first lines of dialogue are spoken on film, but because of Damon's steadiness and sense of both who the character is and the ability to become his role, he is able to place the obligation for empathy squarely back on the audience.

A good example of this is one of the later scenes in the Bourne Supremacy, where Damon's character meets the daughter of one of the people he was sent to assassinate. Audiences would search far and wide for a finer job of acting and especially of portraying understated anguish than this scene. It is a sterling example of a man journeying towards atonement on behalf of circumstances out of his control, and by itself a good reason to see the second Bourne film.

Matt Damon starred in his third portrayal of Jason Bourne in the Bourne Ultimatum, which was released in theaters on August 3rd, 2007. On July 25th of the same year, Matt Damon earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.