Early 1990s–2000: Career beginnings In the early 1990s, McConaughey began working in television commercials. In 1992, he was cast as the boyfriend in the music video for "
Walkaway Joe", a song by
Trisha Yearwood featuring
Don Henley. Also that year, he acted in an episode of
Unsolved Mysteries.
Bob Balaban's
''My Boyfriend's Back premiered on August 6, 1993, where McConaughey made his first big screen appearance as Guy 2''. On September 24,
Richard Linklater's
Dazed and Confused premiered. McConaughey played Wooderson in a large ensemble cast of actors who would later become stars. He was not originally cast in the film, as the role of Wooderson was originally small and meant to be cast locally for budget purposes. At the time of casting, he was a film student at the
University of Texas in
Austin and went out with his girlfriend to the Hyatt hotel bar. He approached casting director
Don Phillips. Phillips recalls, "The bartender says to him, 'See that guy down there? That's Don Phillips. He cast Sean Penn in
Fast Times.' And Matthew goes, 'I'm gonna go down and talk to this guy.'" Phillips also recalls that Linklater didn't like McConaughey at first "because he was too handsome". During production, another character named Pickford was meant to be a larger role. Due to the behavior of the actor playing Pickford with other cast members, his screen time was cut in favor of McConaughey's character, Wooderson. Linklater recalled "There was another actor who was kind of the opposite [of McConaughey]. He wasn't really getting along with everybody. I could tell the actors weren't responding to him." Much of the Wooderson role was improvised or written on the spot. The film received positive reviews from critics. The film generally gets favorable reviews. On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 92% approval rating. The website's critical consensus reads: "Featuring an excellent ensemble cast, a precise feel for the 1970s, and a killer soundtrack,
Dazed and Confused is a funny, affectionate, and clear-eyed look at high school life." In her review for
The Austin Chronicle, Marjorie Baumgarten gave particular praise to Matthew McConaughey's performance: "He is a character we're all too familiar with in the movies, but McConaughey nails this guy without a hint of condescension or whimsy, claiming this character for all time as his own". In 1994, McConaughey acted in
Angels in the Outfield,
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and
Daniel Johnston's music video "Life in Vain". McConaughey acted in
Herbert Ross'
Boys on the Side, which premiered on February 3, 1995. That year he also acted in a crime thriller,
Brian Cox's
Scorpion Spring.
John Sayles'
Lone Star (1996) is a neo-Western mystery film set in a small town in
South Texas. McConaughey is in an ensemble cast that features
Chris Cooper,
Kris Kristofferson, and
Elizabeth Peña. McConaughey played the lawyer Jake Brigance in
Joel Schumacher's
A Time to Kill which premiered July 24. The film is based on the
John Grisham courtroom crime novel of the
same name. In an ensemble piece McConaughey,
Sandra Bullock,
Samuel L. Jackson, and
Kevin Spacey share the top billing. On
Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 67%. The critics' consensus reads: "Overlong and superficial,
A Time to Kill nonetheless succeeds on the strength of its skillful craftsmanship and top-notch performances". In the U.S. it reached number one during its first two weeks and grossed over $108 million domestically, and an additional $43,500,000 was made internationally. At the
MTV Movie Awards, McConaughey won Best Breakthrough Performance.
Larger Than Life is a road comedy film starring
Bill Murray and directed by
Howard Franklin; McConaughey played a supporting role. Also that year he acted in
Glory Daze. McConaughey starred in the science fiction film
Contact (1997), directed by
Robert Zemeckis, an adaptation of
Carl Sagan's 1985
novel of the same name; Sagan and his wife
Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film. In the film
Jodie Foster portrays the film's protagonist. Also that year, McConaughey starred as then-lawyer
Roger Sherman Baldwin in
Steven Spielberg's
Amistad.
The Newton Boys, co-written and directed by Richard Linklater, was released in 1998. It is based on the true story of the
Newton Gang, a family of bank robbers from
Uvalde, Texas. In 1999, McConaughey acted in
EDtv. The film was a box office bomb, grossing only $35.2 million from an $80 million production budget. In 2000, he starred in
U-571, a submarine film directed by
Jonathan Mostow.
2001–2011: Romantic comedies and professional expansion By the early 2000s, he was being cast in romantic comedies including
The Wedding Planner and
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days; both were successful at the box office. These and others, such as ''
Fool's Gold (2008), and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' (2009), established him as a
sex symbol. He appeared as a firefighter in a low-budget film,
Tiptoes with
Kate Beckinsale, in
Two for the Money as a protégé to a gambling mogul,
Al Pacino, and in
Frailty with
Bill Paxton who was also the director. McConaughey acted in the 2005 feature film
Sahara;
Steve Zahn and
Penélope Cruz co-starred. Prior to the release of the film, he promoted it by sailing down the
Amazon River and trekking to
Mali. That same year, McConaughey was named
People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" for 2005. In 2006 he co-starred with
Sarah Jessica Parker in the romantic comedy
Failure to Launch and as Marshall head football coach Jack Lengyel in
We Are Marshall. McConaughey also provided voice work in an ad campaign for the
Peace Corps in late 2006. He replaced
Owen Wilson in
Ben Stiller's
Tropic Thunder after Wilson's suicide attempt. In 2008 McConaughey became the new spokesman for the national radio campaign,
"Beef: It's What's for Dinner", replacing
Sam Elliott. McConaughey recognized that his "lifestyle, living on the beach, running with my shirt off, doing romantic comedies" had caused him to be typecast for certain roles, and he sought dramatic work with other themes. This shift in his choice of roles has been known as the "McConaissance" between 2011 and 2014. He said:
2011–2014: Established actor in 2011 In 2012, McConaughey starred alongside
Channing Tatum in
Magic Mike, based on Tatum's early life; it was directed by
Steven Soderbergh. Also in 2012 came
Mud, which gained him praise for his role as a fugitive. He returned to his East Texas roots, working again with director
Richard Linklater on
Bernie, playing district attorney Danny Buck Davidson. In June 2012, McConaughey was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2013 he portrayed
Ron Woodroof in the biographical drama
Dallas Buyers Club. The role of a rodeo rider who discovers he has
AIDS and struggles to get treatment required him to lose nearly 50 lb (22 kg). The film earned McConaughey numerous accolades, including the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Drama, and the
Academy Award for Best Actor. His co-star
Jared Leto won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rayon, making
Dallas Buyers Club the first film since
Mystic River (2003) to win both awards. He was featured in
Martin Scorsese's
The Wolf of Wall Street as Mark Hanna, an early boss of
Jordan Belfort. During this time, McConaughey recorded a public service announcement in Austin, Texas for the
LBJ Presidential Library. In April 2014,
Time magazine included McConaughey in its annual
Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World". In August 2014, the
Lincoln Motor Company signed a multi-year collaboration with McConaughey for an ad campaign. The commercials, directed by
Nicolas Winding Refn (
Drive), featured McConaughey as a storyteller driving a Lincoln's
MKC crossover. Shortly after the commercials debuted in September 2014, they were parodied by
Ellen DeGeneres,
Conan O'Brien,
Jim Carrey,
South Park, and
Saturday Night Live. Overall sales for Lincoln increased by 25 percent one month after the ads debuted. The series of commercials starring McConaughey continued for several more years; during this period he also endorsed the
MKZ sedan,
MKX and
Nautilus crossovers and
Aviator SUV. In 2014, McConaughey received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame; it is located on 6931 Hollywood Boulevard. Also in the same year, he shared star billing with
Woody Harrelson in
HBO's crime drama anthology series
True Detective. For his role as
Rust Cohle, he won the
Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He was also nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, which he lost to
Bryan Cranston and the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. With his first Oscar win and the critical acclaim received for
True Detective, "McConaughey seems to be tapping into something essential, remaining himself while stretching, getting older while staying the same age." Critic Rachel Syme dubbed his recognition and performances while taking on more complex, dramatic roles as "The McConaissance".
2015–2019: Career fluctuations After finishing
Gus Van Sant's 2015 film
The Sea of Trees with
Ken Watanabe, in 2016, McConaughey starred in two films,
Free State of Jones and
Gold, and voiced leading characters in two animated films,
Kubo and the Two Strings and
Sing. In 2016, McConaughey was hired as creative director and celebrity spokesman for
Wild Turkey's latest campaign, to bring in more women and more international customers. McConaughey starred as
Walter Padick in the 2017
Stephen King adaptation
The Dark Tower, which received negative reactions from most critics. In 2018, he starred in the true life gangster drama
White Boy Rick, which gained mixed reviews. In 2019, he headlined the erotic thriller
Serenity, that also starred
Diane Lane and
Anne Hathaway. The film was panned by both critics and audiences after its release on January 25. McConaughey next had the starring role in
Harmony Korine's
The Beach Bum, a comedy also featuring
Zac Efron and
Jonah Hill. The film was released on March 29, 2019. In late 2019 McConaughey appeared in the
Guy Ritchie film
The Gentlemen, playing fictional cannabis baron Mickey Pearson.
2020–present: Limited work In 2020 McConaughey published a memoir,
Greenlights. On February 6, 2023, it was announced that he voiced an animated version of
Elvis Presley on the
Netflix animated series
Agent Elvis, released on March 17, 2023. McConaughey returned to feature acting in 2025, starring in the crime film
The Rivals of Amziah King, which premiered at the
South by Southwest festival in March to critical acclaim. He is also starring in
Paul Greengrass' survival thriller
The Lost Bus as a bus driver navigating the
2018 Camp Fire; the film was released on
Apple TV+ in October 2025. == Personal life ==