Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey was born November 4th, 1969 in Uvalde, Texas. He's the youngest of 3 boys born to Kathrine, a substitute teacher, and Jim, who sold pipe and couplings in the oil business. His father also played football for the Green Bay Packers between 1967-68. Jim died in 1992 from a heart attack.

He graduated high school in 1988, where he played football and was fittingly voted "Most Handsome". He then spent a year as an exchange student in Australia where he worked helping a law firm. Matthew went on to study at the University of Texas in Austin. He initially went to University to become a lawyer but changed his focus to film direction and he graduated in 1993.

In his junior year he met Don Phillips, who would introduce him to Producer/Writer Richard Linklater. That meeting led him to be cast in 1993's "Dazed Confused." Linklater liked Matthew so much that he expanded his onscreen character to include more lines. He was then cast in the sequel to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" that same year. Then came the role as Drew Barrymoore's cop boyfriend in "Boys on the Side" with Whoppie Goldberg and Mary-Louise Parker.

In 1994 he played a baseball player in "Angels in the Outfield." It wasn't until 1996 that Matthew was given the opportunity to play the lead in a feature film. It was in "A Time to Kill" with Ashley Judd. His performance and success of the film put Matthew on the Hollywood "A-List". His charming good looks and superb character acting talent shone. In 1997 he starred with Jodi Foster in "Contact" where he played religious advisor Palmer Joss. The movie boasted a star filled cast and out-of-this-world special effects and was one of the top grossing movies of the year.

Next he teamed with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman, in the Steven Spielberg slave-ship drama "Amistad. In 1998, Matthew re-teamed with Linklater for the "The Newton Boys" which was based on a true story about a bank robbing bunch of brothers. In 1999 he starred in the Ron Howard comedy "EDtv" where he played a video store clerk whose life becomes the subject of a 24-hour television show.

He signed a deal with Warner Bros. that will allow him to produce, star and possible direct films through his own production company j.k. livin' (short for just keep living). His latest film is "U-571" a World War 11 drama about an American submarine crew's battle against time and their own fears while carrying out a daring mission to capture a top-secret encrypting device from a Nazi U-boat.

Some other interesting facts about Matthew is that he has a dog ( ½ lab and ½ chow) which is named Ms. Hud after a Paul Newman movie, he drives a new black BMW, has recently quit chewing tobacco and resides in Austin, Texas (where he was arrested in the fall of 1999 for playing the bongos naked and partying too loud).