Matthew McConaughey Looks Back at His 30-Year Hollywood Ride — and Why Being a Dad is His Greatest Gig
The Oscar winner, devoted dad and Sexiest Man Alive alum just keeps livin' —and thriving — 30 years after taking Hollywood by storm
In August 1996, PEOPLE touted Matthew McConaughey as a rising talent and newly minted "hot celebrity," complete with a reader tutorial on how to pronounce "Ma-CON-a-hay." Now, the Oscar winner's name rolls off the tongue, and his impact as an actor, humanitarian and best-selling author has made the 2005 Sexiest Man Alive one of Hollywood's most influential stars. "I’ve had an incredible amount of good will in my 30-something years in this industry," says McConaughey, 54, whose just keep livin Foundation, the nonprofit he co-founded with wife Camila, 41, in 2008, has helped thousands of underserved students. But his greatest gig? Being dad to their kids, Levi, 15, Vida, 14, and Livingston, 11. In an interview for PEOPLE's 50th anniversary special issue, the star says of fatherhood: "I can't think of anything more important."
You’ve engendered a lot of support over your career.
I, like anyone, have had my ups and downs. My star meter has been higher, my star meter has been lower. I've won Oscars, I've been arrested playing the bongos naked. Overall, I believe there's been inherent goodwill for me, but it did not keep me from figuring out my own initiation into the industry. There's a lot of things you learn 10 years after being in Hollywood and you go, "Well, why didn't they tell me that in year two?" Because there's an initiation process. There just is. You can get tips, but you've got to figure out the BS, cut the wheat from the chaff along the way.
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Would you share that wisdom with your younger self?
Oh, I wouldn't tell him. I'd let him figure it out the same way I did. Take feeder roads off the highway. Get confused, get frustrated, feel lost, and overcome it.
How meaningful is it to give back with things like Greenlights Grant Initiative, which helps schools access federal funding?
I’m in a position to be able to give some time, some money, some effort to gather some people together that have a similar want and are trying to stop some leaks. But hopefully, it is prevent before cure... It's meaningful when I hear from the just keep livin students, who go, "Matthew, Camila, thank you. And here's why. Here's where I was. Here's where I am. I wouldn't be where I am if you didn't help me." I hear that tangible stuff [and] it shakes me like reverb.
Related: From Gun Control Advocacy to Meals on Wheels, How Matthew McConaughey Uses His Platform For Good
It's crazy to think how when you were new to Hollywood, people didn't even know how to pronounce your name.
I remember I said to a voice coach Tim Monich, "Man, I'm going to hear McGonaghey and McGonaghay..." and Tim goes, "Real easy. This is what you tell someone who mispronounces your name: It's McConaughey, rhymes with What would Madonna say?’' and 100%, when I've said that, people always said "McConaughey" after that.
It's been 30 years since you first uttered the iconic phrase "Alright, alright, alright" as David Wooderson in the 1993 cult classic, Dazed and Confused. Do you ever get tired of hearing that line?
I had no idea that that line would precede me for the rest of my life and people ask me all the time, "Are you tired of that preceding you?" And I'm like, "Hell, no!" That [came] out of my mouth in a scene that I was never supposed to be in, that was never written.
I had gone to the set to do a makeup and wardrobe test for Richard Linklater, the director, to approve [and] he asked me, "Hey, do you think Wooderson might be interested in the redheaded intellectual girl in school?" And I went, "Yeah, Wooderson likes all types of chicks, right?" And he's like, "Well, what if you hop in the car here and pull up and try and pick her up?" I was like, "All right." I started to go, "Well, who's my man? Who's Wooderson?" I said, "Wooderson loves his car" and I'm like, "Well, I'm in my car. There's one." I said, "Wooderson loves rock and roll"... Well, I got Ted Nugent in the 8-track. There's two. I said, "Wooderson loves to get high" and I'm like, "Well, Slater's riding shotgun. He's always got a doobie rolled up." I said, "And Wooderson likes picking up chicks"… Then all of a sudden, I heard, "Action!" I looked up, and [actress] Marissa Ribisi, the redheaded intellectual, was over there. As I put it in drive, I thought to myself, "I got three out of four and I'm going to get the fourth. Alright, alright, alright"... That was three affirmations for the thing that my character had as he was going to get his fourth. It was a kick-starter.
Every time I hear it, I'm like, "That was the first three words you said ever on film 30-something years ago." I take it as a compliment.
You've made rom-coms, dramas and thrillers over the course of your incredible career. Did you lend your voice to Sing and Sing 2 to change things up and for your kids to enjoy?
Yeah, it was fun.... And as they got older, there's nothing I made that they could see. As you become a parent, you end up watching mostly what your kids are watching. And so I was like, "Man, I've never been a part of an animated film and I like doing voice work" and so I went and did that. I remember sitting in the premiere of [Sing] and they're listening and going, "Hey, that sounds like... " They had that moment where they look at the screen, audio, look at me sitting next to them, do the math and go, "That's you!" That was really cool to them. And that was something I did for them and the kid in all of us.
Having children, I know, has made me a better artist and a better actor. Kids see things for the first time all the time. Their questions are innocent. I've become a better storyteller because I have kids.
Credits
Photographer Art Streiber
Cinematographer Ted Newsome
Set Design Anthony A. Altomare/Buffalo Art Co.
Groomer Marcus Francis
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