In the tradition of other Lone Star luminaries,
Matthew McConaughey has become one of Hollywood's brightest lights

As a child growing up in Texas, Matthew McConaughey never followed the crowd. "Since I was four years old, watching Westerns with my dad, I'd always root for the Indians," he begins. With an irresistible mixture of breezy confidence, good looks, and Southern charm, McConaughey's route to stardom has been just as unconventional.

McConaughey enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin with the goal of studying law, "but I wasn't sleeping well with that idea." That's when McConaughey discovered Og Mandino's bookThe Greatest Salesman in the World, an affirmation-filled parable that encourages perseverance and self-confidence. The philosophy clicked with McConaughey. "I knew right then I wanted to go to film school. I changed my major the next day."

It was after he switched majors that McConaughey met producer/casting director Don Phillips at an Austin hotel bar. They hit it off immediately. According to Phillips, "He's got a natural cool and humility about him," qualities which led to McConaughey being cast as an overage slacker in Richard Linklater's 1993 salute to the '70s, Dazed and Confused. The result was a standout performance.

Completing his studies, McConaughey continued working on productions in Austin and landed the lead in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In 1993, he moved to Los Angeles and signed with one of Hollywood's heavyweights, William Morris Agency. Next for McConaughey was the role of Drew Barrymore's policeman boyfriend in Boys on the Side and then the part of Sheriff Buddy Deeds in John Sayles' Lone Star.

McConaughey's natural sincerity and effortless sensuality left critics impressed and female audiences clamoring for more. During the production of Lone Star, McConaughey initially was cast as the redneck villain of A Time to Kill, to be directed by Joel Schumacher from John Grisham's bestseller. After considering practically every male lead in Hollywood, Schumacher and Grisham could not agree on who would play the starring role. McConaughey did a screen test and landed the choice role of the Southern lawyer who defends a black defendant in a racially-charged trial. The film was a hit, and McConaughey's star quality was affirmed.

"On first glance he looks like the perfect boy-next-door that every mother would like her daughter to marry," explains Schumacher. "Then on second look, you find a dangerous wild guy, and you tell your daughter to stay in the house. That is what makes him a little dangerous and thoroughly fascinating."

After appearing with Bill Murray in Larger than Life, in which he once again delivered a scene-stealing performance, McConaughey joined Jodie Foster in the Robert Zemeckis science fiction thriller Contact. "He's serious about his work, and he's got that unbelievable screen presence," says Zemeckis.

Next, McConaughey joined the cast of Steven Spielberg's Amistad as the real estate lawyer who identifies the key legal principle in the defense of rebellious slaves.

McConaughey's most recent movie was The Newton Boys, the true story of a family of hard-working brothers who turn to robbing banks when they can no longer find honest jobs. Like McConaughey, the Newton brothers hail from Uvalde, Texas. A real-life connection struck a chord with the actor.

McConaughey just finished work on edTV, a comedy about a video store clerk named Ed Pekurny who agrees to have his life televised 24 hours a day. McConaughey praises co-stars Woody Harrelson and Jenna Elfman. "Jenna was great. Woody plays my brother, and we hit it off right away."

Eager to work on both sides of the camera, he recently formed his own production company, jk livin, named for his improvised line in Dazed and Confused: "Just Keep Livin'."

Finding stories worth telling is a priority for jk livin. "I like a character with some kind of code--a line not necessarily drawn in the sand, but a line drawn in your head and your heart."

McConaughey will be back on theater screens in March with edTV and later next year with Johnny Diamond. Schumacher offers insight into McConaughey's success: "If he went back to Texas and decided to be a cowboy, I'm sure he'd be the greatest cowboy you ever met. If he decided to teach, he'd be the greatest teacher you had. If he opened a bar, you'd go every night. He's a star in life whether he's a movie star or not."

Copyright ©1998 Cowboys & Indians

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Text by Lance Thompson Photographs by Lance Staedler/Outline

Filmography edTV (1999) Johnny Diamond (1999) Last Flight of the raven (1998) The Newton Boys (1998) The Rebel (1998) South Beach (1998) Contact (1997) Amistad (1997) Making Sandwiches (1997) Scorpion Spring (1997) Glory Daze (1996) Larger Than Life (1996) A Time to Kill (1996) Lone Star (1996) Boy on the Side (1995) Submission (1995) Angels in the Outfield (1994) The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994) Dazed and Confused (1993) My Boyfriend's Back (1993)