Matt Damon believes he ''owes everything'' to the late Robin Williams.

The 43-year-old actor launched his career alongside Ben Affleck when the pair wrote and starred in 1997 movie 'Good Will Hunting' and Matt is sure his career would have panned out differently if Robin didn't take the starring role.

He said: ''Ben (Affleck) and I owe everything to him. He said yes to our movie and he got it made. I could never thank him enough. I look around at the life I have and how blessed I feel and so much of it started with him.''

Meanwhile, Matt has revealed he was ''shocked'' to learn of the death of the 63-year-old actor, who committed suicide last month after a lifelong battle with depression and the 'Bourne Identity' star is hoping that Robin's death will help to raise awareness of the effects the disease can have on people.

Matt told Yahoo! News' Katie Couric: ''I was shocked. I hadn't been in touch with him and obviously, he was battling severe depression and I hope it can start a conversation in the country about depression, just how serious it is and what an exceptionally powerful disease that it is.

''I think it affected everybody in the country actually. We all felt like we knew him and he was a part of our lives.''

Matt was also full of praise for the comedy actor, calling him the ''funniest person'' he'd ever met.

He said: ''He was the funniest person I ever met in my life. He was the guy who, when the crew was flagging, would stop everything and do 20 minutes of stand-up off the top of his head that literally had everybody on the floor and we were like, 'Ok, let's get back to work'.

''He was amazingly generous with that time he gave to help other people but just in life, if you walked down the street and if somebody stopped him he would talk to that person, he engaged with every single person and he understood at some level, the impact that he had on people. He could see people light up when they saw him.

''I think that is what I carry with me... the joy he brought in my life.''