Chris Anne Affleck, the mother of actors Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck, has died at age 83, months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The Affleck family announced her death in an obituary published by The Boston Globe. She was diagnosed in December 2025 and told she had approximately six months to live, according to reports.
Her family remembered her as an educator, activist and devoted grandmother whose five grandchildren became “the animating force of her last two decades.”
Born Christopher Anne Boldt in New York City in December 1942, Chris spent 35 years teaching in public schools before retiring in 2008. She also helped Ben and Casey begin acting as children and remained a visible supporter throughout their Hollywood careers.
She Fulfilled Her Final Wish Two Days Before Her Death
After receiving her diagnosis, Chris’ greatest wish was to live long enough to watch Atticus, Casey’s younger son, graduate from high school. She attended the ceremony with her family on May 31. The obituary said she died peacefully in her sleep two days later.
Chris had five grandchildren: Casey’s sons, Indiana and Atticus, and Ben’s children, Violet, Fin and Samuel. Her family said she took pride in their achievements but was particularly pleased when they “questioned, defied, or cleverly engaged authority.”
She also supported one granddaughter’s student activist group by offering space for its training sessions in Truro, Massachusetts. Rather than merely providing the location, Chris attended every workshop and took notes.
Chris Taught in Public Schools for 35 Years
Chris graduated from Harvard University and dedicated most of her professional life to public education. Ben previously said his mother earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard before teaching fifth and sixth grade.
Her obituary described her classroom as a place where children from different backgrounds were treated as equally important participants. She remained a public school teacher for 35 years before retiring in 2008.
Chris raised Ben and Casey primarily in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following her divorce from their father, Timothy Affleck. Casey later said she worked to preserve family traditions and a sense of stability throughout their childhood.
Activism Remained Central Throughout Her Life
Chris’ commitment to political and social causes began long before her retirement. In 1964, she taught literacy classes in Mississippi during Freedom Summer and later participated in demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
She continued that work decades later by volunteering during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. After traveling to Israel and Palestine in 2009, she returned to Massachusetts as an organizer with the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine.
Chris was also a founding board member of Sustainable Cape, a nonprofit project based in Truro. Her obituary remembered her as someone who entered retirement determined to continue seeing and changing the world.
She Helped Launch Her Sons’ Acting Careers
Chris helped Ben find some of his earliest acting opportunities through her former Harvard roommate, casting director Patty Collins. “I got into acting as a young child on account of a sort of arbitrary thing,” Ben told Parade in 2007. “A friend of my mom’s was a casting director so, really as kind of a lark.”
Casey similarly described their mother as “really supportive” when the brothers began appearing as extras and auditioning for local productions, commercials and television movies. Chris accompanied Ben to the 1998 Academy Awards, where he and Matt Damon won Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. Damon also brought his mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige.
Recalling the night years later, Ben said there was never any question about whom they would invite. “There was nobody else that was going to go,” he said. “Of course, our moms were gonna go.”