Matthew McConaughey

American actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS, in the biopic Dallas Buyers Club (2013). He made his motion picture debut in the comedy classic Dazed and Confused (1993). In addition to his acting career, McConaughey formed his own production company, j.k.livin’. In 1998, he wrote, produced and directed a short film, The Rebel, and in conjunction with a former girlfriend, actor Sandra Bullock, he produced Making Sandwiches (1998).

McConaughey’s father, "Big Jim," who died in August 1992, ran an oil pipe supply business, and his mother Kay worked as a substitute teacher. He and his older brother, "Rooster," grew up in Texas where Matthew excelled in several sports during high school and was voted "Most Handsome" by his senior class. After graduation in 1988, he moved to Australia where, for a short time, he supported himself with a series of menial jobs. Eventually he returned to the US and enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin where he prepared for a career in law. He graduated in 1992, but a film he directed during his senior year awakened an interest in acting, so he moved to Los Angeles.

He followed up his initial film success with a series of supporting roles in films like Angels in the Outfield (1994), but it was his riveting performance in A Time to Kill (1996), that propelled him into leading man status. Although he took some time off to travel in Peru after completing the film, the rave reviews he received helped him capture his next role, starring opposite Jodie Foster, in Contact (1997), and soon afterward, Hollywood proclaimed him a "golden boy." In 1999, McConaughey starred in Ron Howard’s EdTV and a year later he appeared in the action-thriller U-571.