Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Ketanji Brown Jackson Hilariously Opens Up About Acting With Matt Damon In Harvard Drama Class

Ketanji Brown Jackson; Matt Damon
Paras Griffin/Getty Images; Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

The Supreme Court Justice told CBS' Norah O'Donnell about her experience doing a scene from 'Waiting for Godot' with the Hollywood actor while the two were undergrads at Harvard.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has opened up about one of her favorite college memories—with actor Matt Damon.

Brown Jackson and Damon attended Harvard at the same time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it turns out they once had a drama class together.


Brown Jackson told CBS' Norah O'Donnell about a time when the two were paired together to do a scene from the play Waiting for Godot—and it didn't go how anyone would expect.

@cbsmornings

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reminisces about being paired with Matt Damon as scene partners in "Waiting for Godot" for a Harvard drama class: "And at the end, the professor said, 'Ketanji, you were very good. Matt, we'll talk.'" #ketanjibrownjackson #mattdamon #SupremeCourt #Harvard #Scenepartner #CBSSundayMorning #news

Brown Jackson said that the two never properly performed together, but were assigned a scene from the play together in class.

She told O'Donnell:

“He’s not going to remember this, of course. The reason why I remember it is because he was already kind of well-known around campus and off campus, so it was kind of exciting to be his scene partner for a particular class.”

Damon had already appeared on TV and in small roles in films like Mystic Pizza and School Ties during his time at Harvard, so of course the budding star and future Oscar winner stole the show while the future legal mind just muddled through, right?

Think again. Brown Jackson says she received high accolades from the professor for her work in the scene. Damon on the other hand? Not so much.

She said:

“At the end, the professor said, ‘Ketanji, you were very good. Matt, we’ll talk.'"
"I was like, ‘Oh my God, I was better than Matt Damon in a scene.’”

On social media, people loved the anecdote about Brown Jackson and Damon's time as classmates.








Brown Jackson majored in government at Harvard while also dabbling in theater and an improv troupe called On Thin Ice.

Damon, of course, famously dropped out of Harvard to pursue his Hollywood dreams. And while he said in 2022 that he doesn't remember acting with Brown Jackson, he thinks the story is "so cool!" Perhaps they can reprise their scene at the next Harvard reunion.

More from Entertainment/celebrities

Melania Trump
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Melania Just Held A Bizarre Press Conference To Debunk 'False Smears' Related To Jeffrey Epstein—And Everyone Had The Same Response

First Lady Melania Trump had everyone thinking the same thing after she held a bizarre press conference on Thursday to deny that she had anything but casual ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late disgraced financier, pedophile, sexual abuser, and sex trafficker.

Mrs. Trump publicly denied any ties to convicted sex offenders Epstein and his procurer Ghislaine Maxwell, saying claims linking her to Epstein are “lies” meant to damage her reputation. She said she met her husband, President Donald Trump at a New York City party in 1998 and did not meet Epstein until 2000, contradicting a witness statement in the Epstein files that alleges Epstein introduced the couple.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sarah McBride; Nancy Mace
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Dem Rep. Sarah McBride Perfectly Shames Nancy Mace For Her Transphobic Response To McBride's Condemnation Of Trump

Delaware Democratic Representative Sarah McBride pushed back at South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace after Mace responded with transphobia to McBride's criticism of President Donald Trump's genocidal threat to kill the "whole civilization" of Iran.

Trump has insisted that God supports his war on Iran and declared—before a provisional ceasefire was announced—that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" ahead of a deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges that legal scholars and world leaders have said would constitute war crimes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JD Vance
News Nation

JD Vance Dragged After Making Bizarre 'Skydiving' Analogy About His Wife To Explain Iran Ceasefire Deal

Vice President JD Vance had critics raising their eyebrows after he used a bizarre analogy about his wife–Second Lady Usha Vance—going skydiving while attempting to explain the United States' position on Iran's right to enrich uranium.

Vance addressed reporters on the tarmac at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport as he left Hungary, where he had voiced the Trump administration’s support for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán only days before the country’s elections.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @mikemancusi's Instagram video
@mikemancusi/Instagram

Comedian Explains How Millennials' Midlife Crises Are Different From Past Generations—And He's Spot On

Don't make promises you cannot keep, unless your goal is to hurt someone.

Millennials know that practically better than anyone. They were fed a long and impassioned series of advice, hyper-focused on the importance of getting a college degree in order to find a good job. They were also force-fed traditionalist ideals of getting married, having kids, and buying a nice house with the money they'd be making from that great job, of course.

Keep ReadingShow less