Matthew McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, the youngest son of "Big Jim", who ran an oil pipe-supply business, and Kay, whom Matthew sometimes refers to as K-Mac. The family moved to Longview, Texas, but after high school, Matthew was longing for a change of scenery, so he took off for The Land Down Under. After a year of washing dishes, and shovelling chicken manure, he decided to come back to the States and register at the University of Texas in Austin.
      Matthew originally wanted to be a lawyer, but at the end of his sophomore year, the wheels of doubt started to turn. Just before one of his final exams, Matthew picked up the book "the Greatest Salesman In The World", and read a passage about "forming good habits, beginning now ". A little light bulb switched on, and he suddenly knew he had to change his major from law to film.
      Matthew was cast in "Dazed And Confused", his first motion picture, after meeting and standing up for casting director Don Phillips in a hotel bar. Phillips had just found out that Matthew was a film student, and was impressed that a stranger would stick up for him, so he offered him a part on the spot. At first, "Dazed" director Richard Linklater thought Matthew was too handsome to play Wooderson, so he asked him to grow out his hair and mustache to make him look more scruffy. Matthew's role also grew, mushrooming from the original three scenes to over 300 lines as Linklater encouraged him to do some improvisation. For one of the film's key scenes, Linklater looked to Matthew for just the right line, and Matthew said, "It's all about livin', isn't it?". The line became: "You just gotta keep livin', man. L-I-V-I-N."
      Sadly, Matthew's father died of a heart attack in August, 1992, when Matthew was only two weeks into the production of "Dazed". After the movie wrapped later that year, Matthew returned to UT to finish his education. Matthew's production company is called "j.k. livin' " (short for "just keep livin' ") and entered a first-look deal with Warner Bros. in 1996. The company also has several projects in development for Warner, as well as Universal, Paramount and Imagine Entertainment.
Photo © Unknown

Bio by K. Kamarauskas © 2001. -[Please let us know of any errors]