Matthew McConaughey

About Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey was born in the small town of Uvalde, Texas. His family later relocated to the slightly larger town of Longview, Texas where Matthew would spend the remainder of his childhood with his parents Kay and Jim and his two brothers Michael and Pat.

Matthew McConaughey's mother Kay was a teacher and his father, who once played in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers, owned an oil business. After graduating from high school in 1988, McConaughey decided to take a year off to travel as opposed to going straight to college. He ended up travelling around Australia, working odd jobs for spending money. After a year, Matthew McConaughey went back to his home state of Texas and enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in law. McConaughey would eventually graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, but not with a law degree.

Changing Directions

At the age of 21, Matthew McConaughey was well on his way to earning a law degree when he picked up the best-selling book, The Greatest Salesman in the World by author Og Mandino. After reading this book about personal empowerment, McConaughey was inspired to go into film and he did just that by dropping out of law school during his final exams and changing his major to Film Studies. Matthew McConaughey received his Bachelor's Degree in 1993. Equally as important to earning his degree, while attending film school he met casting director Don Phillips, who would introduce him to Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater.

First Film Role

The role that would provide Matthew McConaughey a stepping stone into Hollywood almost didn't happen. Richard Linklater was looking for an older, slacker-type to play the role of David Wooderson in his upcoming film Dazed and Confused. Upon meeting McConaughey, Linklater thought he was just too good looking to play the part. Upon hearing Linklater's thoughts, McConaughey grew his hair longer and grew a mustache. He got what was to be a very small bit part, but turned into an over 300 line part because Linklater found that he really liked McConaughey's ad-libbing and improvisational skills.

After the 1993 film was released, McConaughey found steady work in the films:

• Angels in the Outfield – 1994
• The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre – 1994
• Submission - 1995
• Judgment – 1995
• Boys on the Side – 1996
• Lone Star – 1996
• A Time to Kill – 1996

Breakout Film Role

Since 1993, Matthew McConaughey was keeping busy as a working actor in Hollywood, but had not yet found the role that would make the film industry take notice of his talents until his role of Jake Brigance in the 1996 crime drama A Time to Kill directed by the famed Joel Schumacher. After his performance in the film, McConaughey's salary for his next critically acclaimed movie Amistad was a reported $1,000,000. After that, the film roles kept coming and his salary kept going up. He earned a reported $8,000,000 for his role of Dirk Pitt in the action/adventure film Sahara.

Personal Life

Trouble with the Law

The laid-back, southern charm McConaughey is known for couldn't get him out of trouble when he was arrested in 1999 when police knocked on his door in response to a noise complaint. It was reported that Matthew was playing the bongo drums naked while smoking pot. When officers placed McConaughey under arrest, he "refused transport," which is the equivalent of resisting arrest. The pot charges were later dropped. In subsequent interviews, McConaughey turned on his charm and laughed off the incident.

Dating Life

Matthew McConaughey has been linked to a number of Hollywood actresses including:

• Patricia Arquette
• Ashley Judd
• Sandra Bullock
• Penelope Cruz

After dating Cruz for two years, the couple decided to separate. Matthew then met his current girlfriend, model and handbag designer Camila Alves. The two are expecting their first child in 2008. Although Matthew has stated that he doesn't plan on a wedding anytime soon, he has revealed that he wants to name his baby boy after his favorite beer. No telling if this beer-naming rumor is true, but he does have a nephew named Miller Lyte McConaughey.