Matthew David McConaughey (born November 4, 1969 in Uvalde, Texas) is an American actor best known for his roles in Romantic Comedies and a particularly epic Career Resurrection. After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused (1993) and A Time to Kill in 1996. However, after that he starred in a series of box-office disappointments, with critics and audiences alike dismissing McConaughey as nothing more than a pretty boy actor.
And then he accepted the titular role in William Friedkin's black comedy, Killer Joe. The character was a role that was so against the type he normally played that everyone started taking interest in McConaughey. What started out as a shocking example of He Really Can Act turned into one hell of a Career Resurrection (styled as the "McConnaissance") which contained movies such as Magic Mike, a One-Scene Wonder in The Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club (for which he won the Best Actor Academy Award) and the HBO anthology drama True Detective.
Offstage, he's noted as a big fan of the Texas Longhorns, the sports teams representing his alma mater of the University of Texas at Austin. Near the end of 2018, UT named him as "Minister of Culture" (a likely marketing-related role) for its new basketball arena that opened in 2022. He also began teaching a film class there for the Fall 2019 semester. Then, in August 2019, he was announced as one of several new minority owners of Austin FC, which started play in Major League Soccer in 2021.
Works with pages on TV Tropes:
- Dazed and Confused (1993) as David Wooderson
- Angels in the Outfield (1994) as Ben Williams
- A Time to Kill (1996) as Jake Brigance
- Larger than Life (1996) as Tip Tucker
- Contact (1997) as Palmer Josh
- Amistad (1997) as Roger Sherman Baldwin
- The Newton Boys (1998) as Willis Newton
- EDtv (1999) as Ed Pekurny
- The Wedding Planner (2001) as Steve Edison
- Frailty (2001) as Fenton/Adam Meiks
- Reign of Fire (2002) as Denton Van Zan
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) as Benjamin Barry
- Sahara (2005) as Dirk Pit (also executive producer)
- Two For The Money (2005) as Brandon Lang
- Failure to Launch (2006) as Tripp
- We Are Marshall (2006) as Jack Lengyel
- Fool's Gold (2008) as Ben "Finn" Finnegan
- Tropic Thunder (2008) as Rick Pec
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) as Connor Mead
- Eastbound & Down (2010-12) as Roy McDaniel
- The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) as Mickey Halle
- Bernie (2011) as Danny Buck Davidson
- Killer Joe (2011) as "Killer" Joe Cooper
- Mud (2012) as Mud
- Magic Mike (2012) as Dallas
- Dallas Buyers Club (2013) as Ron Woodroof (Academy Award winner for Best Actor)
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) as Mark Hanna
- True Detective (2014) as Rustin "Rust" Cohle
- Interstellar (2014) as Cooper
- The Sea of Trees (2015) as Arthur Brenna
- Free State of Jones (2016) as Newton Knight
- Gold (2016) as Kenny Wells
- Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) as Beetle/Hanzo
- Sing and Sing 2 (2016, 2021) as Buster Moon
- The Dark Tower (2017) as Walter Padic
- The Gentlemen (2019) as Mickey Pearson (Also Co-Producer)
- Agent Elvis (2023) as Elvis Presley
This actor provides examples of:
- Anti-Hero: He has a tendency to play these.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His role in The Wolf of Wall Street. His "Money Song" sounds silly, but the guy is a masterful financial shark.
- Catchphrase: David Wooderson's (McConaughey's character from Dazed and Confused) "Alright, alright, alright!" has become McConaughey's own catchphrase, especially since he dropped it during his Oscar speech. It's gotten to the point where people react with disappointment if he only says one "Alright" in front of a live audience.
- The Charmer: His characters tend to be extremely charismatic and near impossible not to like.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: The comic book The Ultimates redesigned Giant Man after McConaughey's likeness.
- Good Ol' Boy: He's from Texas and plays these kind of roles quite a bit.
- Mr. Fanservice: In all his roles. Even when he isn't getting one of his famous shirtless scenes, his good looks are still very prominent.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Tends to keep his famous Texas accent in every role, to the point that it's pretty much impossible to imagine him without it.
- Throw It In: His famous "alright, alright, alright!" line from Dazed and Confused was an ad-lib from him.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: To the point where it's a Running Gag on RiffTrax.
- What Could Have Been: Was offered the role of Ego the Living Planet in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but turned it down because of his general hesitation to take on franchise work.
