He was once the dickhead who broke up with Minnie Driver on Oprah. It will always be one of my favourite Oscar moments: watching Minnie try to hold on to her face when Matt and Ben win the Academy Award.

But Minnie is a mom now. And Matt is a dad – to Isabella and to Gia, born just three weeks ago. Love the name Gia. Was obsessed with Gia Carangi back in the day. Thing of Beauty by Stephen Fried is one of my favourite books. Sorry…I digress.

Was it fatherhood that inspired Matt’s evolution? Or his wife Luciana? Either way, he’s amazing. He’s really, really, really amazing.

And very, very, very candid. My colleague Susie Wall sat down with him for 15 minutes yesterday and he was no shy about sharing his political opinion: who he’s voting for, what he thinks of who he’s not voting for, and whose story he compared to a “bad movie script”. Watch eTalk tonight to see his answers. Will post about it tomorrow.

As you know, Matt was in Toronto last night to attend the OnexOne gala for the third straight year. Up and down and all around, if you were to ask anyone behind the scenes about working with Matt Damon on the event, the answer would be universal – he’s the best.

He arrived on the carpet 5 minutes early, he spoke with every outlet at length, thoughtfully, without rushing, he made sure ever media member would be able to bring back an appropriate soundbite in support of the cause, he stretched out his day to make sure that he was visible to everyone in the city about why he was in town, and once inside the gala, he was engaging, and sincere, and approachable. The best of example of this is the private room.

Most special guests and performers will request their own private rooms to rehearse and prepare or because they don’t want to have to mingle with the minions until it’s absolutely necessary. Matt Damon declined the private room. And even when he was offered one anyway, he preferred instead to talk to the staff, to spend time with non celebrities, to walk around and meet new people, hear their stories, learn about their lives.

I don’t have to tell you how unusual this is. Most of them don’t operate like that. Ben Affleck certainly doesn’t operate like that. But Ben isn’t Matt. Matt is amazing.