10 Actors Who Became Awesome Directors

10. Ben Affleck

Given that Ben Affleck's acting career was steeped in mediocrity by the mid-2000s and many believed that Matt Damon did most of the hard work writing their Oscar-winning script for Good Will Hunting, there wasn't much reason to expect good things from Affleck entering the director's chair.

But the release of his 2007 debut Gone Baby Gone, a riveting thriller about the desperate search for a missing Boston child, proved just about everyone wrong.

Affleck went on to confirm it was anything but a fluke by following up with the expertly-crafted heist romp The Town, and then 2012's Best Picture-winning historical thriller Argo.

Though Affleck's fourth film, the awards-baiting gangster flick Live By Night, was a critical and commercial failure, it does little to change the fact that Affleck has made a more graceful transition from acting to directing than anyone could've ever anticipated.

Affleck's next directing gig will see him change gears significantly, helming a live-action adaptation of the hit fantasy novel series "Keeper of The Lost Cities."