Matthew McConaughey is an American actor that first gained attention in the 1993 comedy “Dazed and Confused.” He went on to excel in many other supporting roles in films, including “Angels in the Outfield.” His first leading role came in 1996 when he starred in “A Time to Kill.” Following this, McConaughey starred in films of many different genres throughout the late ’90s, which showed his range as an actor.
One particular genre in which he excelled was romantic comedies. This genre dominated the films he starred in throughout the 2000s. Some of his more popular films were “The Wedding Planner,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Failure to Launch” and “Fool’s Gold.” Playing a romantic lead so many times established McConaughey as a Hollywood heartthrob.
Starting in 2011 with “The Lincoln Lawyer,” McConaughey began appearing in more dramatic films. In 2013 he received critical success playing the role of Ron Woodroof in “Dallas Buyers Club.” His performance in the film earned McConaughey numerous accolades including the Academy Award for Best Actor. The following year he starred in the HBO series “True Detective” which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Outside of his impressive career, McConaughey is also a family man. He married his wife, Brazilian model Camila Alves, in 2012. The couple shares three children named Levi, Vida and Livingston. As they’ve grown, the children’s resemblance to their gorgeous parents has become clear. This is especially the case with Levi, who looks just like McConaughey, particularly in an appearance he made with his mom and sister at Paris Fashion Week in March 2023.
Before he became the star he is today, McConaughey was a pretty ordinary guy. He was born on Nov. 4, 1969, in Uvalde, Texas, and moved to Longview, Texas, in 1980. Toward the end of the decade, he visited Australia and ended up living in New South Wales for a year.
McConaughey eventually made his way back to Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film. While he once thought he would go on to become a lawyer, those dreams changed as he began to discover his true calling for acting.
The star started out by working in television commercials during the 1990s and was even cast in a Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley music video a few years later. Finally, in 1993, McConaughey made his big screen debut, although it was in a very small role in the film “My Boyfriend’s Back.”
Still, it was clear that the aspiring actor had a knack for the industry, and he continued pursuing a career in film and television. It wasn’t long before McConaughey found himself becoming more popular and landing more roles, many of which ended up being leading roles.
McConaughey has been an icon in the movie industry since the early 1990s. While he has starred in a plethora of films in many different genres, he was once most known for his heartthrob moments in the romantic comedy movies he has appeared in. With his smooth charm and plenty of shirtless scenes, it’s not hard to see why McConaughey has been dubbed as the go-to guy for romantic comedies.
Although the famous actor’s breakthrough in the industry came from his part in the ensemble comedy “Dazed and Confused,” McConaughey’s real rise to fame came from his time portraying the handsome and sexy boyfriend in a number of romantic comedy films. His sweet southern drawl and charm along with his great looks made him the perfect candidate for the genre.
Some of McConaughey’s most classic romantic comedy movies include “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days” starring opposite Kate Hudson, “The Wedding Planner” with Jennifer Lopez, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” where he worked with Jennifer Garner and “Failure to Launch” with Sarah Jessica Parker.
McConaughey fully embraced being Hollywood’s rom-com go-to guy, and he was able to make a lot of money as he continued to gain more fame and success. However, he didn’t want to stay in this part of the industry for the entirety of his career and embraced new opportunities when they came his way.
“I’m the go-to-guy at rom-coms,” McConaughey said during a June 2021 Apple Music interview with country music star Tim McGraw. “I’m living in a pad in Malibu surfing on the beach shirtless. I’m shirtless rom-com McConaughey and I’m like, ‘You damn right I am, those rom-coms are paying for these houses that I’m renting on the beach, baby.’”
Proud of how far he’s come with the help of his early claim to fame in the movie industry, McConaughey said, “I’m fully happy with that.” The 53-year-old star has been an actor since the early 1990s and has starred in plenty of movies in various genres, but he owes his early rise to fame to his roles in rom-coms.
“At the same time, I started to feel like every rom-com script I did, I go, ‘Oh, that’s a good one. I think I can do that tomorrow morning,’” McConaughey added. However, he didn’t want to stay in the genre forever, as he felt like he had more talents to showcase and more to contribute to the entertainment industry. “Then I was like, ‘Well, I’m glad you feel like you could do that tomorrow morning,’ but I was like, ‘I want to be scared.’ I want to look at something and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that,’” McConaughey said.
This led McConaughey to venture out and look for different types of roles to help broaden his horizons and expand on his current resume. He went through a career renaissance as he continued to turn down large amounts of money for rom-coms so he could focus on getting jobs where he could portray different types of characters.
During his interview with McGraw, McConaughey talked about just how much money he turned down so he could push his career forward. “They started at an $8 million offer. I said no,” he explained. The offer continued to rise and rise until it got to a whopping $14.5 million deal, but McConaughey still turned it down. “Let me tell you, at $14.5 million, it was the same words at the $8 million offer, but it was a more well-written script sir,” McConaughey said. “It was a funny script. It had more. But I said no.”
This was the catalyst for changing his career, and although he didn’t get any jobs for the next 14 to 15 months, McConaughey stayed optimistic. During the time he was not working in Hollywood, he was able to disconnect from the industry, and the industry disconnected from him. McConaughey’s time as a rom-com actor was no longer the focal point of his career, and he was able to work on rebranding himself as a more serious actor.
“Because I found anonymity in those two years — I underbranded — and no one knew where I was,” McConaughey said. “By not being around, they were like, ‘You know who’s a bright new idea? McConaughey for this.’ Then when they came, I jumped on it.”
Some of the movies McConaughey went to star in following his rom-com legacy and dry spell included “The Lincoln Lawyer” in 2011, “Magic Mike” in 2012, “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2013 and “Dallas Buyers Club” in 2013.
While he re-branded his career away from romantic comedies, McConaughey has made sure to up his romance game in his real life. He has been married to Alves since 2012 and the two are completely smitten with one another. McConaughey has referred to his wife as an other-worldly being and has also described her as graceful, beautiful and possessing a strong sense of identity, according to E! News.
Back in 2014, the couple shared some more details about their marriage. According to Us Weekly, it was love at first sight for McConaughey, but not for Alves. Fortunately, the pair gave their relationship a shot and have now been married for nearly 20 years.
Speaking about the difference between McConaughey in a romantic comedy film versus his real relationship, Alves jokingly said:
“It’s very funny because people see him onscreen or out there in public in a certain way, and they have this vision of him being this romantic and so passionate. Just very romantic and grabs you and kisses you. And sometimes I’m like, ‘Who is this guy? Can you be a little bit of that?’ Sometimes I’m like, ‘Can we bring that guy home for a little bit?’”
Fortunately, it seems like McConaughey has worked hard at making sure to prove that he is extremely romantic in real life, too. Speaking with TODAY in 2018, McConaughey explained that his approach to maintaining the romance in his marriage is due to a low-key approach and that he doesn’t like to buy extravagant gifts for his wife. “I don’t have a certain thing I buy her,” he said. “An earnest handwritten note, that she knows I sat down and took some time and has some poetry to it, that’s worth more than whatever retail I paid for something.”
McConaughey looked like a total family man when he stepped out on the red carpet in 2019 with his beautiful wife, three children, and his then-87-year-old mother. The award-winning actor was honored at the Texas Medal Of Arts Awards in Austin.
However, we think the real honor goes to how doting of a father he is. It was a family affair for the actor as he showed how grown-up his children had become at the awards night. They looked like stars themselves.
Levi, McConaughey’s eldest son wore a beige plaid suit, while Vida dazzled in a lavender dress with black strappy shoes according to People. His youngest child, Livingston, looked adorable in a dapper suit that was finished with a bow tie.
McConaughey’s wife, Alves, stunned in a beautiful floral gown. The couple first met at a bar where McConaughey spotted Alves from across the room, he told Southern Living, and with one look at her he said to himself, “Get out of the chair and go get her.” The couple was married in 2012 and are still happily married and live together with their three kids.
The actor spoke about raising his kids with Alves during an interview on Today. McConaughey said, “My wife and I have a similar moral bottom line. When kids try to good cop, bad cop ya, we’re on the same page. If they try to play us, we give the same answer. We also have a lot of fun. We can shape them, but they are who they are.”
Speaking more about his family in 2020, McConaughey revealed that he would “like to have eight more kids,” according to Us Weekly. “My wife is not on the same page,” he added.
In October 2020, Alves shared a photo of her and Levi appreciating a chocolate chip cookie on Instagram. She captioned the post:
“The look on our faces says it all..the BEST SUGAR-FREE chocolate chip cookie skillet recipe from our friend @roccodispirito! It’s been a week full of celebration with @officiallymcconaughey’s #Greenlights book release so we had an excuse to make this amazing dessert. Judges at home give it a 10/10! Linked the recipe in my stories so you can all try it now!”
Fans couldn’t stop pointing out how much Levi looks like his dad. “Omg he looks just like Matthew,” one user commented, while another person added, “Omg that’s a mini Matthew McConaughey right there.”
Others brought up how good-looking Levi is, and mentioned that he looks like both of his parents. “Wow, if that isn’t a Brazilian Matthew McConaughey,” wrote another commenter, while another message read, “He’s so handsome! A good mix of you both.”
The loving father shared that his wife is usually the disciplinarian in their house. “Sometimes loving your kids means giving them just what they want,” McConaughey shared. “Other times, it means tough love. Affluent people can give their kids everything they want, but they’re not usually going to get what they need. Loving a child is a lot harder if you really give a damn.”
The Academy Award winner added that telling a child no “takes a lot more energy,” and so, “It’s a lot easier to say ‘yes.’” According to Town and Country, Alves laughed when she heard him say this.
This prompted McConaughey to say: “From the snicker that my wife’s giving me, it seems that I’m more consistently the yes guy. She’s probably right.”
Since then, Alves has continued to share some beautiful behind the scene moments with her husband and their children. Their family life looks absolutely amazing!
It’s evident that McConaughey has lived a very fruitful life. He has dabbled in plenty of film genres over the course of his successful career, but more importantly, he has shown just how much his family truly means to him.
Now that Levi is 14, the resemblance to his famous father couldn’t be more obvious, as he and his siblings have begun to make public appearances alongside their famous parents. In March 2023, Levi and Vida, 13, accompanied their mom to Paris Fashion Week and got all dressed up for the Stella McCartney show.
Posing for pictures, the family looked incredibly stylish as their neutral-toned outfits all matched. Alves opted for a beige pantsuit and hat, which she wore with a black bra. Vida wore a printed knee-length dress with very on-trend Ugg boots, and Levi looked dapper in a plaid tracksuit, dressed up with a beige jacket and black sneakers. Meanwhile, his sun-bleached hair mimicked his dad’s iconic locks.
Considering Alves’ former career as a model, it seems she passed on both her looks and her skills to her children, as the family looked incredibly photogenic together. Livingston, Alves and McConaughey’s youngest son, didn’t accompany his mom and older siblings to the fashionable event, and neither did McConaughey.
Alves shared her children’s arrival in Paris via her Instagram. Alongside a photo of Vida holding a box of pastries, the doting mom wrote the caption: “Look who showed up in Paris!!! Vida!! My 13 year old.” In another post, Alves shared a photo of Levi with her mom and wrote: “Look who else showed up!! Levi (14 now!!) And my mom too!!,” as well as the same message in Portuguese.
Are you a fan of Matthew McConaughey? Do you think Levi looks just like his famous dad? Let us know, and feel free to send this along to your loved ones.
The family’s Paris trip comes after Alves shared details of a terrifying moment on her and McConaughey’s flight over, where the Lufthansa flight they were on dropped nearly 4,000 feet and experienced severe turbulence, which led to seven people being taken to the ER.
