Matt Damon's Harvard Drama Class Surprise: When Your Old Scene Partner Becomes a Supreme Court Justice

Talk about a blast from the past. Matt Damon recently discovered that Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was his drama class partner back at Harvard University. The two were paired together for a scene assignment, but Damon didn’t make the connection until decades later when he heard Jackson’s voice during a CBS Mornings interview while promoting Christopher Nolan’s film“The Odyssey.”The moment he heard her speak, everything clicked, and he realized exactly who she was. What makes this even more special is that Jackson remembered Damon from those days because he was already making waves in Hollywood, but she’s gone on to achieve something truly historic as the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

Harvard’s drama program clearly served as a launching pad for some seriously talented people. Beyond Damon and Jackson, Ben Affleck also stopped by that same drama class to rehearse scenes with Damon from“Good Will Hunting,”the screenplay that would go on to win an Academy Award in 1997. The more you learn about this creative hub, the more you realize how many seeds were planted in those Harvard classrooms that eventually grew into remarkable careers across different fields. Damon has been telling his kids about the whole situation, which is pretty cool when you think about it.

This story reminds us that you never know where people’s paths will lead or what kind of impact they’ll have on the world. Jackson and Damon were just young students doing what young students do, working on scenes and learning their craft, but one of them would eventually make history on the Supreme Court. It’s the kind of connection that makes you wonder about the people you knew in school and where life has taken them. Have you ever reconnected with someone from your past and been surprised by what they’ve accomplished?