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Matthew David McConaughey (born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. McConaughey first gained notice for his breakout role in the coming of age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993). He went on to appear in films in a variety of genres including the slasher Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), the legal thriller; A Time to Kill (1996),
Steven Spielberg's historical drama
Amistad (1997), the science fiction drama Contact (1997), the comedy EDtv (1999) and the war film
U-571 (2000).
In the 2000s he became best known for starring in romantic comedies, including The
Wedding Planner (2001), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Failure to Launch (2006) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). Since 2010 he has moved away from romantic comedies and has had critically acclaimed roles in the films The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Bernie (2011), Killer Joe (2011), Mud (2012), and Magic Mike (2012).
HISTORY
Matthew, the youngest of three boys, was born in Uvalde, Texas. His mother, Mary Kathleen "Kay" (née McCabe), was a kindergarten teacher, and his father, James Donald
McConaughey, was a gas-station owner who ran an oil pipe supply business and once played NFL
football for the Green Bay Packers. McConaughey's mother and late father divorced and re-married each other several times. He is of
Irish extraction. He is a relative of General Dandridge McRae. McConaughey had a Methodist upbringing.
McConaughey moved to Longview, Texas - located east of Dallas - where he attended Longview High School. While in high school, he was voted most handsome in the Longview Lobo Yearbook. He lived for a year in
Warnervale, New South Wales, Australia, as a Rotary exchange student in 1988. McConaughey attended the University of Texas at Austin College of Communication at the
University of Texas at Austin, where he joined Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity and lived at The Castilian residence hall. He began in fall of 1989 and graduated in the spring of 1993 with a B.S. degree in Radio-Television-Film.
CAREER
McConaughey began his acting career in 1991, appearing in television commercials, before being cast in Richard Linklater's film Dazed and Confused, which became a critical success, garnering largely positive reviews. After appearing in some smaller roles in Angels in the Outfield, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Boys on the Side, the television series Unsolved Mysteries, and as the male lead in the Trisha Yearwood music video for the song Walkaway Joe, McConaughey's big break came as the lawyer "Jake
Brigance" in the 1996 film A Time to Kill, based on the John Grisham novel of the same name.
McConaughey was cast in leading roles in many more movies: Contact,
Amistad, The Newton Boys, EDtv, and U-571. By the early 2000s, he was frequently cast in romantic comedies, including The Wedding Planner and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, both of which were successful at the box office. During this period, he appeared as a firefighter in the low-budget film Tiptoes, opposite Rene Russo, in Two For The Money as a protégé to Al Pacino's gambling mogul, and in Frailty, cast against type as a serial killer, opposite Bill Paxton. On September 10, 2000, he appears as himself on the show Sex and the City on HBO, talking with Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) about optioning her columns to make a movie.
McConaughey starred in the feature film Sahara, along with Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz. Prior to the release of the movie, he promoted it by repeating some trips he took in the late 1990s, including sailing down the Amazon River and trekking to Mali. That same year, McConaughey was named People magazine's “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2005. In 2006, he co-starred with Sarah Jessica Parker in the romantic comedy Failure to Launch. McConaughey also provided voice work for an ad campaign of the Peace Corps in late 2006. He replaced Owen Wilson in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder after Wilson's
suicide attempt. On January 21, 2008, McConaughey became the new spokesman for the national radio campaign, "Beef: It's What's For Dinner", replacing actor Sam Elliot. In June 2010 it was announced that McConaughey is teaming up with Marc Hyman to develop a scripted comedy for TV channel FX based on material from J. R. Reed.
McConaughey was one of the presenters at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony. In 2012, McConaughey starred alongside Channing Tatum in Magic Mike, based on Tatum's early life, which was directed by Steven
Soderbergh. He returned to his East Texas roots, by working again with director Richard Linklater on Bernie, the story of a small-town funeral director, played by Jack Black, who kills the town's grande dame, played by Shirley
MacLaine. McConaughey played real-life district attorney Danny Buck Davidson, who had prosecuted the real Bernie Tiede in 1998. McConaughey's mother,
KayMac, played one of the town gossips in the film. The film premiered at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival and hit theaters in April 2012. McConaughey will be seen as a gaunt HIV victim in his upcoming movie The Dallas Buyer's Club. The role required him to lose 38 pounds. During this time, he recorded a public service announcement in Austin, Texas for the LBJ Presidential Library. He will next appear in HBO series True
Detective. In early 2013, McConaughey was confirmed as the lead in Christopher Nolan's upcoming time travel science fiction film Interstellar, which is set for release on November 7, 2014.
Personal life
McConaughey's foundation is called j.k. livin foundation (all lower-case), which "is dedicated to helping teenage kids lead active lives and make healthy choices to become great men and women."
Arrest
On October 26, 1999, McConaughey was at his home in Austin, Texas, playing the bongo drums in the early hours of the morning, After a neighbor complained and the police were called in, they found
cannabis. McConaughey denied the drug charges (which were subsequently dropped), but was charged with disturbing the peace. He pleaded guilty and paid a
$50 fine.
Animal rescue
McConaughey rescued various pets stranded after the flooding of New Orleans from
Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, in Sherman Oaks,
California, he rescued a cat from two youths who had doused the animal in hairspray and were attempting to set it on fire.
Family
McConaughey met Brazilian model and television performer Camila Alves in 2006. McConaughey proposed to Alves on
Christmas Day 2011. The couple were
married on June 9, 2012, in Austin, Texas, where they reside. Together they have three children: son Levi Alves McConaughey (b. 2008), daughter Vida Alves McConaughey (b. 2010), and son Livingston Alves McConaughey (b. 2012).
Matthew
in Amistad - Youtube
LINKS:
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