Ben Affleck is a man of many talents. His CV is crammed with impressive achievements - actor, writer, director, producer, international heart-throb, and now he can add another string to his already brimming bow - Batman.

His casting in the sought-after Hollywood role for the Man of Steel sequel was announced this morning (August 23) and sent social media into overdrive. The movie will mark the first time that these two superheroes have appeared on the big screen together.

To honour the latest Batman role, we've got 10 Affleck-related facts for you below...



1. Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt was born in Berkeley, California on August 15, 1972. He was born to mother Christine, who was a teacher, and father Timothy, a social worker turned director and actor. Affleck is of English, Irish, German, Swedish, Scottish and French ancestry and he has a younger brother, actor Casey, who was born after the family moved to Massachusetts.

2. When he was 8, Affleck met 10-year-old Matt Damon, who was living two blocks away. Oddly enough, Damon is Affleck's tenth cousin once removed, apparently through a New England ancestor. They both attended the same school although were in different year groups. After school, Affleck went to Occidental College in LA, before attending the University of Vermont where he studied Middle Eastern affairs and lasted all of one semester. He left to pursue his acting ambitions.

3. Affleck has openly said how he wanted to be an actor from a young age. His first experience of acting was in a Burger King advert when he was 8, alongside the PBS mini-series The Voyage of the Mimi . During the mid-'80s, Affleck appeared as a news correspondent for Kidsworld, where he reported on extremely important things such as the life of retired circus elephants. Cute.



4. When he was a teenager, Affleck was cast mainly in TV movies and small television appearances such as Hands of a Stranger and The Second Voyage of the Mimi . He made his feature film debut in Dazed and Confused in 1993 and then went on to star in several independent films such as Kevin Smith's Mallrats and Chasing Amy . Between acting roles, Affleck had his first go at directing in 1993 with short film (long title!) I Killed my Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney .

5. While living with Matt Damon, the pair wrote the script for Good Will Hunting so that they could star in it themselves. Their friend Kevin Smith helped the film get made through Miramax and Gus Van Sant, and Affleck and Damon were swiftly thrust into the limelight after the film's success in 1997. Things got even better in 1998 when the duo picked up an Oscar for 'Best Original Screenplay'.



6. In 1998, Affleck was cast in Armageddon opposite Bruce Willis and in 1999, he starred in rom-com Forces of Nature with Sandra Bullock. After achieving box office success, Affleck collaborated with Armageddon director Michael Bay on Pearl Harbour . Although it received scathing reviews, the war drama still raked in $449 million (￡275 million) worldwide and set Affleck up as a leading man for 2002's The Sum of All Fears and Changing Lanes .

7. In 2003, Affleck made his first appearance in a superhero film as Daredevil , opposite Jennifer Garner, who he later married and had three children with, Violet, Seraphina and Samuel. The Daredevil experience was not a career highlight for Affleck. In a 2006 interview, he said: "By playing a superhero in Daredevil , I have inoculated myself from ever playing another superhero... Wearing a costume was a source of humiliation for me and something I wouldn't want to do again soon." New Batman director Zack Snyder must have been very persuasive!



8. Affleck experienced a difficult year in 2003, seeing Daredevil , Paycheck and the disastrous Gigli flop. The latter, which saw him co-star with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, bagged seven Razzie Awards and almost derailed his career entirely. Affleck slowly found his way back to the top thanks to his turn as Superman actor George Reeves in Hollywoodland and Gone Baby Gone , his critically-acclaimed directorial debut.

9. As well as winning a string of Oscars, Golden Globes, Blockbuster Awards and MTV Awards among others, Affleck is also the recipient of People magazine's 'Sexiest Man Alive' accolade. In 2007, he was also ranked number 50 in EW 's list of the smartest people alive and he is the youngest person ever to win an Oscar for 'Best Original Screenplay'. Perhaps his biggest triumph to-date came when he took the 'Best Picture' Oscar for Argo earlier this year.



10. Affleck will be the eighth actor to play a live-action Batman, following in the footsteps of Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and George Clooney (who was one of his Argo producers). Before the Man of Steel sequel arrives in 2015, we'll get to see Affleck as Nick Dunne in the eagerly-awaited adaptation of Gillian Flynn's gripping page-turner Gone Girl .

Photo gallery - Ben Affleck's career in pictures: