Matthew David McConaughey
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Awards
Matthew McConaughey won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014 for his performance as Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club. He first gained attention in the 1990s with roles in Dazed and Confused 1993 and A Time to Kill 1996. McConaughey later starred in the HBO series True Detective 2014 and in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar 2014.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Matthew McConaughey — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Matthew McConaughey by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Matthew McConaughey — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Matthew McConaughey was born on November 4, 1969 in Uvalde, Texas to parents Mary Kathleen and James Donald McConaughey. His father ran an oil pipe supply business while his mother worked as a substitute teacher.
Growing up in Longview, Texas, McConaughey graduated from Longview High School in 1988. He initially planned to become a lawyer and attended the University of Texas at Austin, but after reading Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World he changed his major to film.
McConaughey began his acting career in 1991 with student films and commercials. His first major break came in 1993 when he was cast in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, initially a small role that expanded to over 300 lines due to his improvisation.
In 1996, he starred as a young lawyer in A Time to Kill, opposite Sandra Bullock and Kevin Spacey, which made him a Hollywood sensation. He then appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad 1997 and Robert Zemeckis’ Contact 1997. During the 2000s, he became known for romantic comedies like The Wedding Planner 2001 and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 2003.
After a brief hiatus in 2009, McConaughey reinvented himself with a series of dramatic roles starting with The Lincoln Lawyer 2011. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014 for his portrayal of Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club 2013. The same year, he starred in HBO’s True Detective 2014 and Christopher Nolan’s science fiction epic Interstellar 2014.
McConaughey married Brazilian model Camila Alves in a private Catholic ceremony in Austin, Texas on June 9, 2012. The couple had been engaged since December 2011. They have two sons: Levi McConaughey born July 7, 2008 and Livingston Alves McConaughey born December 28, 2012.
His father James Donald McConaughey died of a heart attack in August 1992. McConaughey has one sibling, a brother named Rooster. The family maintains a residence in Austin, Texas.
McConaughey’s career transformation from romantic comedy star to Oscar-winning dramatic actor is often cited as a Hollywood renaissance. His performance in Dallas Buyers Club 2013 earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe. In 2014, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6931 Hollywood Boulevard.
He is also the author of the bestselling memoir Greenlights 2020, which draws from his lifelong habit of keeping a daily diary. McConaughey continues to be a highly sought-after actor and producer, with a legacy defined by his range and authenticity.
The complete filmography of Matthew McConaughey — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Matthew McConaughey — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Matthew McConaughey — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Traveling Is a Great Love of Mine. I Love South America and Africa. I’m Your Ultimate Backpacker When I’m Away. It’s Just Me and My Backpack. It’s Good for Getting Away from the Industry.
I Want to Be Reincarnated as a Jaguar. They’re the Coolest Animals in the World. I Came Across One Very Briefly in the Manú National Park in Peru. I Followed Its Tracks and Got Close Enough to Realize How Beautifully Self-contained It Was. Jaguars Are Keen and They’re Perfectly Poised. I’d Sure Love to Be That Well Designed.
To Understand Me, You Need to Understand Texan Logic. If You Come from Texas, You’re 100 per Cent American but You’ll Do Things the Texan Way. We’re Independent. We’ve Got Our Own Way of Doing Things. Try to Build Fences Round Us and We’ll Run You Out of Town. I Can Go Anywhere in the World but My Spirit Is Still Texan and I Recognize My Own Kind. There Are No Secret Handshakes but When Texans Meet There’s a Special Fraternity.
I Love Taking Advantage of My Fame. If I Go to the Airport and Get Taken to the Front of the Line, I’m Not Going to Protest. When I Show up to See a Band and I Get Whisked Backstage, I Like It. If I’m Offered the Use of a Private Jet, Bring It On. but I Draw the Line at Playing The, Do You Know Who I Am? Card and I Refuse to Have Every Little Thing Done for Me. If You Buy into All That, It Will Show up in Your Acting. the Trick Is to Understand That Being a Good Actor Isn’t Playing a Red-carpet Celebrity. Fame Is the By-product. If You Don’t See That, You’ll Be Chasing Your Tail for a Full Decade ? and That Makes a Man Dizzy. It’s Important to Realize That Fame Is a Dance, and I’d Like to Think I’ve Got My Dance Down Better Now.
Who Needs a House When You Can Live in a Trailer? People Tell Me It’s Not a Very Hollywood Way to Live but It Happens to Be My Preference. I’ve Lived in Big Houses and a Big Space Gave Me Too Many Options. I Had This Amazing Chair That I Loved but I’d Go Months Without Sitting on It. I Had Some Nice Paintings on the Walls but I’d Hardly Ever Look at Them. I Realized I Didn’t Need Those Things. so I Went Minimalist. My Airstream Trailer Is 28 Feet by 7 Feet and It’s Got Everything I Need, Including TV and Wireless Internet. It’s Stress-free Living Because My Choices Are Limited. My Living Space Is so Small That I Can Sit on the Toilet and Scramble Eggs at the Same Time. How Cool Is That?
Common Sense Is Like Money and Health, Once You Have It, You Have to Work to Keep It.
Little-known facts about Matthew McConaughey — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
McConaughey reportedly has three bedrooms in his house and sleeps in each of them in turn.
An animal lover, McConaughey helped rescue many pets stranded after Hurricane Katrina.
He has a fear of revolving doors.
Police responded to a disturbance at McConaughey’s home in Austin, Texas in October 1999; they found him playing bongo drums in the nude and attempted to arrest him after spotting illegal drugs.
During the birth of his first child, McConaughey played Brazilian music for eight straight hours in the operating room to help his then-girlfriend Camila Alves.
McConaughey lost 47 pounds to play Ron Woodroof in his Oscar-winning role in Dallas Buyers Club 2013.
His favorite actor is Paul Newman.
His first professional acting job was in a beer commercial.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Leno surprised him with an old airline training tape he had acted in, which McConaughey had no memory of.
In 2005, he auctioned his 1971 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray on eBay with proceeds going to Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network for Hurricane Katrina relief.
McConaughey has his own clothing line called j.k. livin, named after his life motto Just keep living, which is also the name of his charitable foundation.
He is good friends with Lance Armstrong, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Reese Witherspoon.
He was strongly considered to play Jack Dawson in Titanic 1997 until Leonardo DiCaprio accepted the role.
His life motto is Just keep living.
His original career plan was to become a criminal defense attorney, a role he later portrayed in A Time to Kill 1996 and The Lincoln Lawyer 2011.
In 2006, he gave Barbara Walters a foot-rub as a thank-you for an interview.
In November 2007, he bought a 3,500 square foot home in Malibu for $10 million by making an offer to the residents of a property not on the market.
He was voted Most Handsome in his senior year of high school.
He is well known for rarely wearing deodorant or cologne.
He lived for a year in Warnervale, New South Wales, Australia as a Rotary exchange student in 1988, returning with an adopted Australian accent.
His childhood hero was Evel Knievel, and he has expressed interest in starring in a movie based on Knievel’s life.
He owns a 1,600-acre ranch in west Texas purchased for $500,000.
McConaughey has kept a daily diary for most of his life, a source he used for his memoir Greenlights 2020.
He is a huge fan of the English rock band The Cult, and in 2012 he joined them onstage to play bongo drums during a performance in Austin.
His first two L.A. auditions were for Angels in the Outfield 1994 and Boys on the Side 1995, both of which he landed.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6931 Hollywood Boulevard on November 17, 2014.
His father James Donald McConaughey died of a heart attack in August 1992; he once played football for the Green Bay Packers.
McConaughey married Camila Alves in a private Catholic ceremony in Austin, Texas, where they maintain a family residence.
He was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame on March 10, 2006 in Austin, Texas.
He attended the University of Texas at Austin, College of Communication, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television-Film in 1993.
He became a father for the first time at age 38 when his then-girlfriend Camila Alves gave birth to son Levi McConaughey on July 7, 2008.
One of his first acting jobs was in a music video for Trisha Yearwood’s song Walkaway Joe with Don Henley.
He became a father for the third time at age 43 when his wife gave birth to son Livingston Alves McConaughey on December 28, 2012.
He had a dog named Mrs. Hud, named after the movie Hud 1963 starring his favorite actor Paul Newman.
He is a huge fan of Willie Nelson.
His mother Kay McConaughey appeared in Bernie 2011.
He was arrested in Austin, Texas for resisting transportation after being suspected for marijuana possession.
Despite being a native Texan, he is a huge fan of the Washington Redskins NFL team.
McConaughey is a member of Delta Tau Delta international college fraternity.
He has said he would most like to play The Hulk as a superhero role.
He attended and graduated from Longview High School in Longview, Texas in 1988.
He was considered for the role of Jack Dawson in Titanic 1997 and later played Dirk Pitt in Sahara 2005, who found the Titanic.
He is a huge fan of John Mellencamp’s music; he wore a T-shirt from Mellencamp’s Whenever We Wanted tour in A Time to Kill 1996.
McConaughey was on the sidelines with the Texas Longhorns football team during the 2006 Rose Bowl when they beat USC 41-38.
He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.
He chews tobacco.
He was chosen by People Magazine as the Sexiest Man Alive in 2005.
In March 2011, he attended the wedding of Reese Witherspoon to Jim Toth.
He became engaged to Camila Alves McConaughey on December 26, 2011.
In Michael Connelly’s novel Nine Dragons, a suspect claims McConaughey is his alibi, referencing his character Micky Haller in The Lincoln Lawyer 2011.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Matthew McConaughey.
Celebrities similar to Matthew McConaughey — same craft, ranked by reach.
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