Matthew McConaughey was born in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on November 4, 1969. He is the youngest child and has two older brothers, named Mike and Patrick, or as Matthew would say "Rooster" and "Patsy". Both brothers are involved in the oil business, which his father, Jim, had also been. Before his dad began working in the oil business, he was a Green Bay Packer until a knee injury forced him to quit. Matthew's father passed away in 1992. When he died, Matthew and his mother Kathrine (K-Mac) became even closer. His mother is now a substitute teacher. The passing on of his father also prompted him to pursue acting, with the hope of making the family name famous.

Early in his life his family moved from Uvalde, Texas, to Longview, Texas. There in Longview, he attended high school and graduated in 1988. Soon after he graduated from high school, he went to Australia in an exchange program.There he worked at a lawfirm. After a year, he decided he had been there long enough and returned home to Texas. There he went to the University of Texas to pursue a degree in law. Later, he changed his mind and chose to obtain a degree in film. This was due to his liking of the book "The Greatest Salesman in the World". In his junior year, he met producer Don Phillips, who would change his life. This led to Matthew's role in the movie "Dazed and Confused" as the character Wooderson. At the moment, he was directing short films at the University of Texas. After the filming of "Dazed and Confused", he returned to school to complete his college education in which he graduated in 1993.

Because of his recognition for the movie "Dazed and Confused", other Hollywood directors were beginning to take a look at him. His immediate plans after graduation were to move to Los Angelas. However, he was casted as the lead character in the movie "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", which did not come out until 1996. Next, he moved to Los Angelas and signed up with an Angency that landed him three more roles. Those roles included "Angels in the Outfield"(1994) as player Ben Williams, "Scorpion Spring"(1995), and "Boys on the Side"as Drew Barrymore's cop boyfriend. He also appeared in a short film in 1995 called "Judgement". You might also have noticed Matthew in the movie "Larger Than Life", whom he costared with Bill Murray. Perhaps my favorite movie that he has been in, "A Time to Kill", brought him the most recognition he had ever received up until that time. John Grisham liked what he saw in Matthew and thought he would be the perfect candidate for the lead role as a lawyer. In that movie, he had costars such as Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, and Sandra Bullock. In 1996, Matthew even created his own production company-j.k. livin(short for just keep living). One of Matthew's newer movies he has starred in is the movie"Contact", which he costarred with Jodie Foster. Matthew's films of 1998 included "Amistad", "The Newton Boys", and "Ed TV".