Matthew David McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, to Mary Kathleen (McCabe),a substitute school teacher from New Jersey, and James Donald McConaughey, a Mississippi-born gas station owner who operated an oil pipe supply business. He is of Irish, Scottish, German, English, and Swedish descent.
Growing up in Longview, Texas, Matthew attended the local high school, graduating in 1988. He showed little interest in his father's oil business, which his two brothers later joined, and instead yearned for a change of scenery. He spent a year in Australia, washing dishes and shoveling chicken manure, before returning to the United States.
Matthew attended the University of Texas in Austin, initially planning to pursue a career in law. However, after reading an inspirational book by Og Mandino, "The Greatest Salesman in the World," he changed his major to film.
Matthew began his acting career in 1991, appearing in student films and commercials in Texas, and directed short films as Chicano Chariots in 1992. He met casting director and producer Don Phillips in a hotel bar in Austin, who introduced him to director Richard Linklater for his next project.
Matthew's breakthrough role came in 1993, when he starred in Linklater's coming-of-age drama "Dazed and Confused," playing a character who was initially in three scenes but grew to more than 300 lines after Linklater encouraged him to improvise.
In 1995, Matthew starred in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation," playing a mad bloodthirsty sadistic killer opposite Renée Zellweger. He then moved to Los Angeles and became a sensation with his performances in two high-profile 1996 films, "Lone Star" and "A Time to Kill."
Matthew's subsequent roles included "Contact" with Jodie Foster, "Amistad" with Steven Spielberg, and "The Newton Boys" with Richard Linklater. He also wrote, directed, and starred in the 20-minute short "The Rebel" in 1998.
In the 2000s, Matthew became known for starring in romantic comedies, such as "The Wedding Planner" with Jennifer Lopez and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" with Kate Hudson. He also played Denton Van Zan, an American warrior and dragons hunter, in the futuristic thriller "Reign of Fire" with Christian Bale.
Matthew's career took a dramatic turn in 2011, when he portrayed criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller in "The Lincoln Lawyer," a role that was considered one of his best until then. He went on to play other iconic characters, including district attorney Danny Buck Davidson in "Bernie," the wild private detective "Killer" Joe Cooper in "Killer Joe," and Mud in "Mud."
Matthew's performance as HIV carrier Ron Woodroof in the biographical drama "Dallas Buyers Club" earned him widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Best Actor award at the 86th Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.
In 2014, Matthew starred in HBO's "True Detective" as detective Rustin Cohle, whose job is to investigate a gruesome murder with his partner Martin Hart, played by Woody Harrelson. The series was highly acclaimed by critics and won several awards, including four of the seven categories it was nominated for at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Matthew also starred in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi film "Interstellar" in 2014, playing Cooper, a former NASA pilot.
