Matt Damon: The Groom Identity

Fri., Dec. 9, 2005 11:35 AM PST by Sarah Hall

Childhood pals Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have increasingly more in common than just a shared Oscar and a deep appreciation for the Boston Red Sox.

As of Friday morning, Damon, like Affleck, is a married man, having swapped vows with fiancée Luciana Bozan in a private ceremony in Manhattan.

The actor's rep, Jennifer Allen, confirmed the nuptials to E! but declined to provide any details beyond the fact that Bozan's seven-year-old daughter, from a previous relationship, was in attendance. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office said the ceremony took place at City Hall. News of the insta-nuptials was first reported by Us Weekly.

Unfortunately, Affleck was apparently too busy tending to his week-old daughter Violet to make it to the festivities.

Damon and Bozan, a former bartender who now works as an interior designer, met two years ago at the Miami club Crobar, where Bozan was employed at the time.

The Argentine-born beauty soon became a fixture at Damon's side, accompanying him to the European shoot for 2004's Ocean's Twelve and home to Boston to meet his family and friends. Last spring, they purchased a home together in Florida.

Damon, 35, took the relationship to the next level a few months ago, when he popped the question to Bozan shortly before Labor Day weekend.

"The engagement isn't, like, anything new," Damon told the Boston Herald. "We know we're together."

It's the first marriage for the actor, who has previously been linked to Minnie Driver, Winona Ryder and Affleck's former assistant, Odessa Whitmire, and it's the second for Bozan (who formerly used her married name of Barroso).

"I am thrilled. I like Luci a lot," Damon's brother Kyle told People magazine. "They make a fantastic couple."

On Thursday, Access Hollywood reported that Damon and Bozan were expecting their first child together, but Allen refused to confirm the report.

However, Damon has made no secret of his desire to be a dad.

After playing a paternal figure for the first time in his current release, Syriana, Damon told the Boston Herald last week that "fatherhood is definitely appealing."

"I've longed for it in real life, anyway," he added.

When he's not getting hitched in impromptu wedding ceremonies, Damon has been busy shooting The Good Shepherd, a government thriller in which he stars opposite Robert De Niro and Angelina Jolie.

Damon is also slated to star in the upcoming drama Margaret, with Matthew Broderick and Anna Paquin, and The Bourne Ultimatum, the third film in the Bourne franchise.