MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY

Date of Birth: November 4, 1969

With Lone Star and A Time To Kill, Matthew McConaughey blew in from nowhere to become the Official Hunk of 1996.

In the two years that followed, Matthew's face was plastered across every magazine cover on the continent and a lot was written about him. The same adjectives crop up over and over again: sincere, honest, truthful. Richard Linklater, McConaughey's director on Dazed And Confused and The Newton Boys has simply said of him, "He knows who he is." However you describe it, the one phrase that sums his qualities up best is "star power."

Matthew stumbled into his big break when he spent the night drinking with some guy he met in a hotel bar in Austin, Texas. The guy happened to be the casting director for Richard Linklater's film Dazed And Confused, and McConaughey found himself cast as the film's resident stoner, Wooderson.

Landing in Hollywood, Matthew paid the rent by appearing in Angels In The Outfield and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (the film's producers wisely held back its release until McConaughey and co-star Renee Zelwegger became big stars). He played the beefcake in Boys On The Side. Then he beat out Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer and Woody Harrelson to nab the lead in John Grisham's A Time To Kill. Landing on the cover of Vanity Fair, he was being hailed as The Next Big Thing. Meanwhile, the film finished No. 1 at the box office.

Then came Bill Murray's Larger Than Life, Contact with Jodie Foster, Steven Spielberg's epic, Amistad and The Newton Boys. He took on a lead in Ron Howard's 1999 comedy EDtv and a starring role in the thriller about Americans taking over a stranded German submarine, U-571 (2000). He went on to play the romantic lead in the hit comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), co-starring Kate Hudson, then expanded his repertoire with the action flick Sahara (2005).

Filmography:

Hammer Down (2007)
Dear Delilah (2007)
The Loop (2006)
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2008)
Tishomingo Blues (2007)
Fool's Gold (2008)
We Are Marshall (2006)
Failure to Launch (2006)
Two for the Money (2005)
Sahara (2005)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Tiptoes (2003)
Reign of Fire (2002)
Frailty (2002)
13 Conversations About One Thing (2001)
The Wedding Planner (2001)
U-571 (2000)
EDtv (1999)
Making Sandwiches (1998)
The Newton Boys (1998)
The Rebel (1998)
Amistad (1997)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1997)
Contact (1997)
Scorpion Spring (1997)
A Time To Kill (1996)
Glory Daze (1996)
Larger Than Life (1996)
Lone Star (1996)
Boys On The Side (1995)
Judgement (1995)
Submission (1995)
Angels In The Outfield (1994)
Dazed And Confused (1993)
My Boyfriend's Back (1993)