Matthew McConaughey Biography

Actor

Matthew McConaughey is a Hollywood leading man whose insouciant charm has played especially well in romantic comedies like The Wedding Planner (2001, with Jennifer Lopez) and Failure to Launch (2006, with Sarah Jessica Parker). A film student while at the University of Texas in Austin, McConaughey hooked up with filmmaker Richard Linklater for a memorable big-screen debut as a stoner Romeo in the 1993 comedy Dazed and Confused. He reached heartthrob status after Boys on the Side (1995, with Drew Barrymore), and by the late 1990s he was starring in big budget movies such as A Time to Kill (with Sandra Bullock) and Contact (1997, with Jodie Foster). McConaughey is known more for his outright handsomeness than his onscreen intensity. His credits include Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), Frailty (2001), Reign of Fire (2002, with Christian Bale), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003, with Kate Hudson) and Sahara (2005, with Penelope Cruz).

Extra credit: McConaughey became famous off-screen in 1999 as the guy who was playing bongos in the nude when police showed up at his house to investigate a noise complaint. In the end he paid a fine for creating a public disturbance.