Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughy

Song: Here Without You by Three Doors Down

Date of Birth

4 November 1969, Uvalde, Texas, USA

Birth Name

Matthew David McConaughey

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

The youngest son of a gas station owner, who ran an oil pipe supply business and mother - substitute school teacher, Matthew McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, but grew up in Longview, Texas where he graduated from the local High School (1988). Showing little interest in his father's oil business, which his two brothers later joined, Matthew was longing for a change of scenery, and spent a year in Australia, washing dishes and shoveling chicken manure. Back to the States, he attended the University of Texas in Austin, originally wishing to be a lawyer. But, when he discovered an inspirational Og Mandino book "The Greatest Salesman in the World" before one of his final exams, he suddenly knew he had to change his major from law to film. He began his acting career in 1991, appearing in student films and commercials in Texas and directed short films as Chicano Chariots (1992). Once, in his hotel bar in Austin, he met the casting director and producer Don Phillips, who introduced him to director Richard Linklater for his next project. At first, Linklater thought Matthew was too handsome to play the role of a guy chasing high school girls in his coming-of-age drama Dazed and Confused (1993), but cast him after Matthew grew out his hair and mustache. His character was initially in three scenes but the role grew to more than 300 lines as Linklater encouraged him to do some improvisations. In 1995, he starred in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994), playing a mad bloodthirsty sadistic killer, opposite Renée Zellweger. Shortly thereafter moving to L.A., Matthew became a sensation with his performances in two high-profile 1996 films Lone Star (1996), where he portrayed killing suspected sheriff and in the film adaptation of John Grisham's novel A Time to Kill (1996), where he played an idealistic young lawyer opposite Sandra Bullock and Kevin Spacey. The actor was soon being hailed as one of the industry's hottest young leading man inspiring comparisons to actor Paul Newman. His following performances were Robert Zemeckis' Contact (1997) with Jodie Foster (the film was finished just before the death of the great astronomer and popularizer of space science Carl Sagan) and Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), a fact-based 1839 story about the rebellious African slaves. In 1998, he teamed again with Richard Linklater as one of the bank-robbing brothers in The Newton Boys (1998), set in Matthew's birthplace, Uvalde, Texas. During this time, he also wrote, directed and starred in the 20-minute short The Rebel (1998). Later, in Jonathan Mostow's U-571 (2000), McConaughey portrayed the officer Lt. Tyler in a WW II story of a daring mission of American submariners, trying to capture the Enigma cipher machine. Matthew also took a part in comedies such as The Wedding Planner (2001), opposite Jennifer Lopez and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) in which he co-starred with Kate Hudson. His most interesting role was playing Denton Van Zan, an American warrior and dragons hunter in the futuristic thriller Reign of Fire (2002), where he co-starred with another young actor, Christian Bale.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Tzvetislav Samardjiev, tzvetislav@abv.bg

Trivia

His mother, Kay, is a schoolteacher.

Lived briefly in Australia following high school and adopted an Australian accent for awhile after returning to the USA.

Education: University of Texas at Austin (Film)

Graduated 1988 from Longview High School, Longview, Texas.

Brother of Rooster McConaughey.

Arrested in Oct 1999 in Austin, Texas for "resisting transportation" after first being under suspicion for marijuana possession.

Police responded to a disturbance call at Matthew's home in Austin, Tx. in October. When they arrived, the music was blaring and he was playing bongo drums in the nude. He was with an unknown man and police attempted to arrest him after spotting illegal drugs. He resisted arrest.

Was the first choice to play the lead in Titanic (1997).

Travelled around Peru after filming A Time to Kill (1996).

Voted "Most Handsome" in his Senior year of high school.

Member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.

His favorite sport is golf.

He owns a 1,600-acre ranch in west Texas, which he purchased for $500,000.

His father died of a heart attack in August 1992.

His first professional acting job was in a beer commercial.

Fan of John Mellencamp's music. Was seen wearing a tee shirt from Mellencamp's "Whenever We Wanted" tour in A Time to Kill (1996).

Born on the same day as Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.

Was on the sidelines of the Texas Longhorns during the 2006 Rose Bowl where the Longhorns beat the USC Trojans 41-38.

Was accompanied by Penélope Cruz to the Grammy Awards in 2005. The couple met on the set of Sahara (2005).

Served as the Grand Marshall for the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida in February 2005.

He traveled around the United States for a month in his personal Airsteam trailer promoting his movie Sahara (2005).

During a guest appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992), Leno surprised him with an old airline training tape he had acted in. McConaughey had no memory of being in the video.

Is of Irish descent

Despite being a native Texan, he's a big fan of the Washington Redskins NFL team.

People Magazine's 2005 Most Sexiest Man Alive

Turned down a role in The Jackal (1997).

Was considered for a role in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997).

His life motto is "Just Keep Living"

His brother, Michael McConaughey, aka Rooster, had a son and named him Miller Lyte McConaughey.

Doesn't wear deodorant or cologne.

Has three bedrooms in his house and sleeps in all of them in turn.

Announced that he is auctioning his 1971 Chevy Stingray Corvette on Ebay, and donating all the money to Oprah's Angel Network Hurricane Katrina and Rita relief funds.

Has worked with such well-known directors as Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Richard Linklater and Jonathan Mostow.

Is good friends with Lance Armstrong.

Is good friends with Jake Gyllenhaal.

Named one of People Magazine's "Hottest Bachelors" in 2006.

He was considered for the role of Jack in 'Titanic.' He then played Dirk Pitt (in Sahara), who found the Titanic in another adventure.

He has traveled around Mali in western Africa.

Personal Quotes

"Be the lean horse for the long ride. I figure I am in the third round of a 15 round fight." [on career philosophy]

(On himself) "My best quality is that I'm a big hearted person. I'm resilient, too. My worst quality is selfishness, although everyone is guilty of that to an extent. Everyone should be, I think -- you need to respect yourself."

"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."

(On how he got started in acting) "I was about 21 when I started. I dropped out of law school to go to film school -- the idea of practicing law for my whole life seemed a little boring. I was doing more directing stuff to start with, until a student mate asked me to be in his film Dazed and Confused. A professional guy named Don Phillips spotted me and the rest is history."

(On Hollywood) "I love it. It's silly to say that it is a world of false and stupid people. Sure there are witches and swindlers, but you can meet there many creative, talented and generous persons too. Hollywood is a pleasant place, when you are hip to the game and you enjoy it for what it is really."

Salary

Sahara (2005)	$8,000,000
The Wedding Planner (2001)	$5,000,000
Amistad (1997)	$1,000,000