The talented Mr Damon

THEY are best friends, as close as brothers, and grew up together in Boston.

Throughout their teenage years the pair was forever sneaking off to New York for auditions.

They broke through together, writing and starring in their 1997 big-screen hit Good Will Hunting and earning an Oscar in the process, for Best Screenplay. But then, like brothers, their lives took their separate courses: one tackled a number of high-budget, misfiring movies, and at least one high-profile romantic tryst, emerging as something of a tabloid darling, while the other adopted a lower profile, cutting his teeth as a support player before emerging as the more bankable actor.