Boston is not typically thought of as a hotbed for Hollywood entertainment. Los Angeles and New York City are still the top cities to find talent in movies and television. However, you’d be surprised at how many actors and actresses got their start in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, more specifically, Boston.
Ask someone to name five actors from Boston, and I can almost guarantee that Matt Damon will be mentioned. The Oscar winner is one of the most famous entertainers with Boston roots. Joining Damon on our Boston-based list are Chris Evans and Mark Wahlberg—two actors who are not afraid to showcase their distinct accents.
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Chris Evans
Steve Rogers might be from Brooklyn, but Evans is a New England native. The 44-year-old was born in Boston and grew up outside the city in the town of Sudbury. Like many famous stars from the region, Evans can accentuate that Boston accent with the best of them, as evidenced by his 2020 “Smaht Park” commercial for the Super Bowl. Evans still has roots in the area and recently welcomed his first child in Massachusetts with his wife, and fellow actress Alba Baptista.
Evans first burst onto the scene in 2001’s Not Another Teen Movie, a masterpiece in parody if you’re asking me. After a well-received performance in 2004’s Cellular, Evans ventured into the superhero realm as Johnny Storm/Human Torch for two Fantastic Four movies. By 2011, Evans traded in fire for a shield to play his career-defining role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Evans will reprise Steve Rogers later this year in Avengers: Doomsday.
While most of the last 15 years have been spent fighting Thanos, Evans worked with several well-known auteurs, including Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer). One of my favorite performances from Evans came in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, where he played a spoiled and entitled New Englander with an attitude. I don’t believe Evans is anything like his character, but he clearly had fun playing a Massachusetts menace.
- Release Date
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November 27, 2019
- Runtime
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131 minutes
- Director
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Rian Johnson
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Daniel Craig
Benoit Blanc
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Chris Evans
Ransom Drysdale
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Ana De Armas
Marta Cabrera
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Jamie Lee Curtis
Linda Drysdale
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Mark Wahlberg
Before becoming a movie star, Wahlberg was all about good vibrations as a member of the Grammy-nominated hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Wahlberg is one of nine children. Talent runs in the family as Wahlberg’s older brother, Donnie, is an actor and member of the boy band New Kids on the Block.
Following his run in music, Wahlberg started acting in the mid-1990s, with roles in The Basketball Diaries and Fear, which eventually led to his breakout performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. Wahlberg rode the momentum of Boogie Nights to the A-list, where he has remained ever since. The actor’s journey to Hollywood inspired the hit HBO comedy show Entourage. Don’t sleep on Marky Mark’s acting ability; the 54-year-old’s two most critically acclaimed performances came as a rugged Boston cop in The Departed and a boxer from Lowell in The Fighter. Wahlberg’s ability to channel his Boston roots resulted in two Oscar nominations—Best Supporting Actor for The Departed and Best Picture (producing) for The Fighter.
Wahlberg still supports his favorite teams in the area, including the New England Patriots and Boston Celtics. However, Wahlberg’s Patriots fandom took a hit when he left Super Bowl LI early. In that game, Tom Brady and the Patriots erased a 28-3 deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime. I’m sure Wahlberg’s Boston-based friends gave him a hard time with that decision, deservedly so.
- Release Date
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October 6, 2006
- Runtime
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151 minutes
- Director
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Martin Scorsese
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Matt Damon
It wouldn’t be a Boston list without Will Hunting himself. Damon grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a suburb in the Greater Boston area. As a child, Damon became friends with a kid two years younger than him named Ben Affleck, and the rest is history. After high school, Damon attended Harvard University and began his acting career with roles in Mystic Pizza and School Ties. In 1992, Damon dropped out of Harvard to star in Geronimo: An American Legend, which flopped at the box office.
In the mid-1990s, Damon and Affleck realized that they could no longer wait for parts to come to them; it was time to write original material. The result became Good Will Hunting, a sensational drama about Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT who happens to be a genius. Faced with possible jail time after a legal dispute, Will agrees to study under a brilliant professor (Stellan Skarsgård) and attend therapy with Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams). Damon and Affleck’s gamble worked, as Good Will Hunting catapulted their careers to new heights, culminating in the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Damon appeared alongside Wahlberg in The Departed. Instead of being the hero, Wahlberg portrayed the dirty cop; more specifically, he played an excellent rat. Like a good Bostonian, Damon supports the Patriots, Celtics, and Boston Red Sox. The 55-year-old will also appear in Dunkin’ commercials, though Affleck is the coffee king in his friendship. Speaking of Affleck, Damon and Affleck recently starred in The Rip, a gritty Netflix action movie that hopefully leads to more team-ups for Boston’s favorite sons.
- Release Date
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January 13, 2026
- Runtime
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113 minutes
- Director
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Joe Carnahan
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Ben Affleck
Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne
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Matt Damon
Lieutenant Dane Dumars
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Steven Yeun
Detective Mike Ro
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Teyana Taylor
Detective Numa Baptistie
Speaking of Netflix, stream popular movies like Zodiac and The Wolf of Wall Street before they leave Netflix. Plus, give the video podcasts on Netflix a shot if you’re looking for more programming.
