Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey
McConaughey in 2019
Born
Matthew David McConaughey

(1969-11-04) November 4, 1969 (age 54)
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin (BS)
OccupationActor
Years active1991–present
WorksFull list
Spouse
(m. 2012)
Children3
AwardsFull list

Matthew David McConaughey (/məˈkɒnəh/ mə-KON-ə-hay; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993).[1][2][3] After a number of supporting roles, his first success as a leading man came in the legal drama A Time to Kill (1996). His career progressed with lead roles in the science fiction film Contact (1997), the historical drama Amistad (1997), and the war film U-571 (2000).

In the 2000s, McConaughey became known for starring in romantic comedies, including The Wedding Planner (2001), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Failure to Launch (2006), Fool's Gold (2008), and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009), establishing him as a sex symbol.[4] In 2011, after a two-year hiatus from film acting, McConaughey began to appear in more dramatic roles, beginning with the legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer. In 2012, he gained wider praise for his roles as a stripper in Magic Mike and a fugitive in Mud.[5]

McConaughey's portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS, in the biopic Dallas Buyers Club (2013) earned him widespread praise and numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. He followed it with a supporting role in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and a starring role as Rust Cohle in the first season of HBO's crime anthology series True Detective (2014), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. His subsequent film roles include starring in Interstellar (2014) and The Gentlemen (2019), as well as voice work in Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), Sing (2016) and its sequel Sing 2 (2021).

  1. ^ Halperin, Shirley (January 20, 2012). "Matthew McConaughey Reprises 'Dazed and Confused' Breakout Role for Music Video". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  2. ^ Grossman, Samantha (January 13, 2015). "Treat Yourself to Matthew McConaughey's Dazed and Confused Audition Tape". Time. Archived from the original on November 20, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  3. ^ Ihnat, Gwen (June 29, 2017). "Matthew McConaughey deconstructs his signature phrase in this exclusive clip". The AV Club. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  4. ^ Pulver, Andrew (June 28, 2012). "Matthew McConaughey: from himbo to highbrow". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  5. ^ Syme, Rachel (January 16, 2014). "The McConaissance". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2022.