Matthew McConaughey Was born November 4th 1969 in Uvalde, Texas, but he grew up in Longview Texas. He was the youngest child. His father was a gas station owner who ran an oil pipe supply business. His mother was a school teacher.
Matthew McConaughey graduated from his local High School in 1988, and didn't take an interest in his Dad's oil business even though his two brothers took an interest in it. He decided instead to spend a year in Australia, and worked washing dishes and shoveling chicken manure.
He decided to move back to the USA, and attend the University of Texas in Austin where he had originally desired to become a Lawyer. Right before he took one of his final exams, he discovered an inspirational Og Mandino book"The Greatest Salesman in the World." It was then that he decided to officially change his major from law to film.
He appeared in student film and commercials in Texas in 1991 to start off his film career. He later went on to direct some short films such as "Chicano Chariots" in 1992. Not too long after that, one day while he was in his hotel room, he met casting director and producer Don Phillips, who introduced him to director Richard Linklater, who cast him in the movie "Dazed and Confused" in 1993.
At first, Matthew McConaughey was only cast for three scenes, but that quickly changed to over 300 lines as Linklater continued to encourage him and work with him. In 1995, Matthew McConaughey starred in "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre". He played a mad, sadistic, bloodthirsty killer opposite Renee Zellweger.
Shortly after that, he decided to move to Los Angeles, and became a sensation in two films that he did in 1996. The first of which was the film "Lone Star", and the other one was the film adaptation of John Grisham's novel "A Time to Kill". In this movie, Matthew McConaughey worked with many stars such as Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Matthew McConaughey was then soon hailed as one of the hottest leading men in the movie industry. He went on to star in films such as "Amistad" and "Contact"in 1997, "The Wedding Planner" in 2001, and recently starred in "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" in 2003.
In the movie "A Time to Kill", Matthew McConaughey plays the part of a young lawyer by the name of Jake Tyler Brigance. He has a wife, and a young daughter as well. He takes on the case of a father named Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), who's young daughter Tonya, who was raped by two white men. Carl Lee was afraid the two boys would get off, so he took matters into his own hands, and killed them. Carl Lee in turn hired Brigance to defend him, and he agreed to do so. Brigance had a couple attacks on his family by members of the Ku Klux Klan, and they were forced to leave town. Brigance proceeded to defend Carl Lee anyway in the midst of threats from the Klan, and warnings from his family, and boss. In the end, Carl Lee was found not guilty, and Brigance had won his first case.
