Matthew McConaughey is an American actor who made his breakthrough by starring in the Richard Linklater-directed coming of age comedy Dazed and Confused in 1993. [1] [2] His first lead role was in the 1996 film adaptation of the John Grisham novel A Time to Kill . [3] The following year, McConaughey played the lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin opposite Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins in the Steven Spielberg-directed historical drama Amistad , and also starred opposite Jodie Foster in the Robert Zemeckis-directed science fiction drama Contact . In 1998, he appeared in the Linklater-directed comedy-drama The Newton Boys . During the 2000s, McConaughey was typecast as a romantic comedy lead in the films The Wedding Planner (2001), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Failure to Launch (2006), and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). [2] [4]
In the early 2010s, McConaughey became better known for his dramatic roles. This reinvention was cited in the media as the "McConaissance" and started when he played Mickey Haller in the adaptation of the Michael Connelly novel of the same name The Lincoln Lawyer , and reunited with Linklater on the black comedy Bernie (both 2011). [2] [4] [5] In the same year he played the title role in the Southern Gothic crime film Killer Joe , for which he received the Saturn Award for Best Actor. [6] The following year he starred in the coming-of-age drama Mud (2012), [7] and also played a supporting role in the Steven Soderbergh-directed comedy drama Magic Mike (2012). [8] [9]
McConaughey's next role was as Ron Woodroof in the 2013 biographical drama Dallas Buyers Club . His performance garnered him the Academy Award for Best Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (Drama), and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. [10] [11] He also appeared in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013. In 2014, McConaughey played detective Rust Cohle in the television crime drama series True Detective and starred in the Christopher Nolan-directed science fiction film Interstellar . The former earned McConaughey a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. [12] [13]
In 2015, McConaughey starred alongside Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts in the Gus Van Sant-directed film The Sea of Trees . [14] A year later, he starred in the Gary Ross-directed historical war film, Free State of Jones , in which he appeared as Newton Knight, a Mississippi farmer. [15] He was nominated for a Women Film Critics Circle for Best Actor. [16] In the same year, he also starred in the Stephen Gaghan-directed crime adventure Gold , and won the Hollywood Ensemble Award at the 20th Hollywood Film Awards [17] [18] and a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor. [19] In 2019, McConaughey co-starred with Anne Hathaway in the neo-noir Thriller Serenity directed by Steven Knight, this film earned him a nomination for Worst Actor at the 40th Golden Raspberry Awards. [20] [21]
Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | Chicano Chariots | — | Short film; Director only | [22] |
1993 | My Boyfriend's Back | Guy #2 | [23] [24] | |
Dazed and Confused | David Wooderson | [2] | ||
1994 | Angels in the Outfield | Ben Williams | [25] | |
1995 | The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre | Vilmer Slaughter | [26] | |
Boys on the Side | Officer Abe Lincoln | [27] | ||
Glory Daze | Rental Truck Guy | [28] | ||
Scorpion Spring | El Rojo | [29] [30] | ||
1996 | Lone Star | Buddy Deeds | [31] | |
A Time to Kill | Jake Brigance | [32] | ||
Larger than Life | Tip Tucker | [33] | ||
1997 | Contact | Palmer Joss | [34] | |
Amistad | Roger Sherman Baldwin | [35] | ||
1998 | The Newton Boys | Willis Newton | [36] | |
Making Sandwiches | Bud Hoagie | Short film; Also producer | [37] | |
The Rebel | — | Short film; Producer, writer, and director only | [38] | |
1999 | EDtv | Ed Pekurny | [39] | |
2000 | U-571 | Lt. Andrew Tyler | [40] | |
2001 | The Wedding Planner | Steve Edison | [41] | |
Frailty | Fenton/Adam Meiks | [42] | ||
2002 | Thirteen Conversations About One Thing | Troy | [43] | |
Reign of Fire | Denton Van Zan | [44] | ||
2003 | How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days | Benjamin Barry | [45] | |
Tiptoes | Steven | [46] | ||
2005 | Sahara | Dirk Pitt | Also executive producer | [47] |
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D | Al Bean | Documentary; Voice role | [48] | |
Two for the Money | Brandon Lang | [49] | ||
2006 | Failure to Launch | Tripp | [50] | |
We Are Marshall | Jack Lengyel | [51] | ||
2008 | Fool's Gold | Ben "Finn" Finnegan | [52] | |
Tropic Thunder | Rick Peck | [53] | ||
Surfer, Dude | Steve Addington | Also producer | [54] | |
2009 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | Connor Mead | [55] | |
2011 | The Lincoln Lawyer | Mickey Haller | [56] | |
Bernie | Danny Buck Davidson | [57] | ||
Killer Joe | "Killer" Joe Cooper | [58] [59] | ||
2012 | Mud | Mud | [60] | |
Magic Mike | Dallas | [61] | ||
The Paperboy | Ward Jansen | [62] [63] | ||
2013 | Dallas Buyers Club | Ron Woodroof | Academy Award for Best Actor | [64] |
The Wolf of Wall Street | Mark Hanna | [65] | ||
2014 | Interstellar | Cooper | [66] | |
2015 | The Sea of Trees | Arthur Brennan | [67] [68] | |
2016 | Free State of Jones | Newton Knight | [69] | |
Kubo and the Two Strings | Beetle | Voice role | [70] | |
Sing | Buster Moon | Voice role | [71] | |
Gold | Kenny Wells | Also producer | [72] [73] | |
2017 | The Dark Tower | Walter Padick | [74] [75] | |
2018 | White Boy Rick | Richard Wershe Sr. | [76] | |
2019 | Serenity | Baker Dill | [77] | |
The Beach Bum | Moondog | [78] | ||
Between Two Ferns: The Movie | Himself | Cameo | [79] | |
The Gentlemen | Mickey Pearson | Also co-producer | [80] | |
2021 | Sing 2 | Buster Moon | Voice role | [81] |
2022 | Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story | Narrator | [82] | |
2024 | Deadpool & Wolverine | Cowboypool | Cameo | [83] |
TBA | The Rivals of Amziah King † | Amziah King | Post-production | [84] |
The Lost Bus † | Kevin McKay | Filming | [85] | |
† | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | Unsolved Mysteries | Larry Dickens | Episode: #5.12 | [86] |
1999 | King of the Hill | Rad Thidbodeaux | Episode: "The Wedding of Bobby Hill" Voice role | [87] |
2000 | Sex and the City | Himself | Episode: "Escape from New York" | [88] |
2003 | Saturday Night Live | Host | Episode: "Matthew McConaughey/Dixie Chicks" | [89] |
2003 | Freedom: A History of US | Charles Fenno Hoffman Alexander H. Stephens Captain W. W. Wood Andrew Johnson John Swinton Mark Twain | 6 episodes | [90] |
2010–2012 | Eastbound & Down | Roy McDaniel | 3 episodes | [91] |
2014 | True Detective | Rustin "Rust" Cohle | Season 1 Also executive producer | [92] |
2015 | Saturday Night Live | Host | Episode: "Matthew McConaughey/Adele" | [89] |
2023 | Agent Elvis | Elvis Presley | Voice role; lead actor; also executive producer | [93] |
Year | Title | Artist | Role | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | Walkaway Joe | Trisha Yearwood ft. Don Henley | Walkaway Joe | [94] |
1996 | Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First) | John Mellencamp | Male lead | [95] |
2012 | Synthesizers | Butch Walker and The Black Widows | David Wooderson | [96] |
2024 | Nine Ball | Zach Bryan | Male lead | [97] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | Exodus | TBA | Voice | [98] |
Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer who made his film debut with a minor role in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love. Two years later, he made his breakthrough by starring in the romantic comedy Risky Business (1983), which garnered his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1986, Cruise played a naval aviator in the Tony Scott-directed action drama Top Gun which was the highest-grossing film of the year, and also appeared with Paul Newman in the Martin Scorsese-directed drama The Color of Money. Two years later, he starred with Dustin Hoffman in the Academy Award for Best Picture-winning drama Rain Man (1988), and also appeared in the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture-winning romantic drama Cocktail (1988). In doing so, Cruise became the first and only person to star in a Best Picture Oscar winner and a Worst Picture Razzie winner in the same year. His next role was as anti-war activist Ron Kovic in the film adaptation of Kovic's memoir of the same name, Born on the Fourth of July (1989), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Robert De Niro is an American actor, director and producer. His early films included Greetings (1968), The Wedding Party (1969), Bloody Mama (1970), Hi, Mom! (1970), Jennifer on My Mind (1971), The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), and Mean Streets (1973). In 1974, De Niro was cast as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II. His performance in the film led him to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After The Godfather Part II, he starred in Martin Scorsese's psychological drama Taxi Driver (1976). In the film, De Niro portrayed Travis Bickle, who is a lonely, depressed 26-year-old living in isolation in New York City. He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. De Niro's "You talkin' to me?" dialogue was ranked number 10 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes. In 1978, De Niro appeared in Michael Cimino's war drama The Deer Hunter, a film based on a trio of steelworkers whose lives were changed forever after fighting in the Vietnam War. De Niro was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first success as a leading man came in the legal drama A Time to Kill (1996). His career progressed with lead roles in the science fiction film Contact (1997), the historical drama Amistad (1997), and the war film U-571 (2000).
Leonardo DiCaprio is an American actor who began his career performing as a child on television. He appeared on the shows The New Lassie (1989) and Santa Barbara (1990) and also had long-running roles in the comedy-drama Parenthood (1990) and the sitcom Growing Pains (1991). DiCaprio played Tobias "Toby" Wolff opposite Robert De Niro in the biographical coming-of-age drama This Boy's Life in 1993. In the same year, he had a supporting role as a developmentally disabled boy Arnie Grape in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, which earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. In 1995, DiCaprio played the leading roles of an American author Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries and the French poet Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse. The following year he played Romeo Montague in the Baz Luhrmann-directed film Romeo + Juliet (1996). DiCaprio starred with Kate Winslet in the James Cameron-directed film Titanic (1997). The film became the highest grossing at the worldwide box-office, and made him famous globally. For his performance as Jack Dawson, he received the MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance and his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Dallas Buyers Club is a 2013 American biographical drama film written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. The film tells the story of Ron Woodroof, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-1980s, a time when both the etiology and the treatment of HIV/AIDS are poorly understood and its sufferers subject to stigmatization. As part of an ongoing experimental AIDS treatment movement, Woodroof smuggles unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas to treat his symptoms. Here, he distributes them to fellow people with AIDS by establishing the "Dallas Buyers Club", all the while facing opposition from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Two fictional supporting characters, Dr. Eve Saks, and Rayon, were composite roles created from interviews with transgender AIDS patients, activists, and doctors. Presidential biographer and PEN-USA winner Bill Minutaglio wrote the first magazine profile of the Dallas Buyers Club in 1992. The article, which featured interviews with Woodroof and also recreated his dramatic international exploits, attracted widespread attention from filmmakers and journalists.
Will Smith is an American actor, rapper and film producer. His breakthrough came when he played a fictionalised version of himself in the 1990s television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The role brought him international recognition and two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy. He also served as an executive producer on 24 episodes of the series. Two years later, Smith made his film debut in the drama Where the Day Takes You, where he appeared as a disabled homeless man. In 1995, he starred as a police officer with Martin Lawrence in Michael Bay's Bad Boys. The following year, Smith appeared as a Marine Corps pilot with Jeff Goldblum in Roland Emmerich's science fiction film Independence Day. The film grossed over $817 million at the worldwide box office and was the highest grossing of 1996. In 1997, he starred as Agent J in the science fiction film Men in Black, a role he reprised in its sequels Men in Black II (2002) and Men in Black 3 (2012).
Julianne Moore is an American actress who made her acting debut on television in 1984 in the mystery series The Edge of Night. The following year she made her first appearance in the soap opera As the World Turns, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series in 1988. Following roles in television films, Moore had her breakthrough in Robert Altman's drama film Short Cuts (1993). Her performance garnered critical acclaim as well as notoriety for a monologue her character delivers while nude below the waist. She played lead roles in 1995 in Todd Haynes' drama Safe and the romantic comedy Nine Months. In 1997, Moore portrayed a veteran pornographic actress in Paul Thomas Anderson's drama film Boogie Nights, which earned her her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared in Steven Spielberg's adventure sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park—Moore's biggest commercial success to that point. Two years later, she played a wartime adulteress in The End of the Affair, for which she received her first Academy Award for Best Actress nomination.
American-born Australian actress and producer Nicole Kidman has appeared in numerous film and television projects, as well as in theatre productions. She made her film debut in the Australian drama Bush Christmas in 1983. Four years later, she starred in the television miniseries Bangkok Hilton, for which she received the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama. Her breakthrough role was as a married woman trapped on a yacht with a murderer in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. She followed this with her Hollywood debut opposite Tom Cruise in Tony Scott's auto-racing film Days of Thunder (1990). Her role as a homicidal weather forecaster in Gus Van Sant's crime comedy-drama To Die For garnered Kidman a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical in 1996. She worked with Cruise again on Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992) and Stanley Kubrick's erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut in 1999.
Denzel Washington is an American actor known for his performance on stage and screen. Washington made his feature film debut in Carbon Copy (1981). In 1982, Washington made his first appearance in the medical drama St. Elsewhere as Dr. Philip Chandler. The role proved to be the breakthrough in his career. He starred as Private First Class Melvin Peterson in the drama A Soldier's Story (1984). The film was an adaptation of the Off-Broadway play A Soldier's Play (1981–1983) in which Washington had earlier portrayed the same character.
American actor and producer Morgan Freeman has had a prolific career on film, television and on the stage. His film debut was as an uncredited character in the Sidney Lumet–directed drama The Pawnbroker in 1964. Freeman also made his stage debut in the same year by appearing in the musical Hello, Dolly! He followed this with further stage appearances in The Niggerlovers (1967), The Dozens (1969), Exhibition (1969), and the musical Purlie (1970–1971). He played various characters on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971–1977). Freeman subsequently appeared in the films Teachers in 1984, and Marie in 1985 before making his breakthrough with 1987's Street Smart. His role earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he appeared in war film Glory (1989), and starred as Hoke Coleburn in the comedy-drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Freeman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in the latter and also earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Robert Downey Jr. is an American actor who has starred in numerous films, and television series. Downey made his acting debut in 1970's Pound, directed by his father Robert Downey Sr., at the age of five. In the 1980s, Downey was considered a member of the Brat Pack after appearing in the films Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall (1985), Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield (1986), Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy (1987), and Johnny Be Good again with Hall (1988). Downey also starred in the films True Believer (1989) and Chances Are (1989), and was a regular cast member on the late-night variety show Saturday Night Live in 1985.
Sandra Bullock is an American actress and producer who made her film debut with a minor role in J. Christian Ingvordsen's thriller Hangmen in 1987. She made her television debut in the television film Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and played the lead role in the short-lived sitcom Working Girl (1990) before making her breakthrough starring in Jan de Bont's action film Speed (1994). In 1995, Bullock founded her own production company, Fortis Films, and starred in the romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping. Her performance in the film earned her first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. In 1996, Bullock starred in the film adaptation of John Grisham's novel A Time to Kill. In 1998, Bullock starred in the romantic comedy Practical Magic, voiced Miriam in the DreamWorks animated film The Prince of Egypt, and executive produced her first film, Hope Floats.
Julia Roberts is an American actress and producer who made her debut in the 1987 direct-to-video feature Firehouse. She had her breakthrough the following year by starring in the coming-of-age film Mystic Pizza (1988). For her supporting role in the comedy-drama Steel Magnolias (1989), she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Roberts' next role was opposite Richard Gere in the highly successful romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. In 1991, she appeared in the psychological thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, and played Tinker Bell in the Steven Spielberg-directed fantasy adventure Hook. Two years later, Roberts starred in the legal thriller The Pelican Brief, an adaptation of the John Grisham novel of the same name. During the late 1990s, she played the lead in the romantic comedies My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and Runaway Bride (1999).
Gold is a 2016 American crime drama film directed by Stephen Gaghan and written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Édgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Craig T. Nelson, Stacy Keach and Bruce Greenwood. The film is loosely based on the true story of the 1997 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names and story details were changed.
Charlize Theron is a South African-American actress who made her film debut in an uncredited role as a follower of a cult in the 1995 horror film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest. Theron followed this with appearances as a hitman’s girlfriend in 2 Days in the Valley, a waitress in the romantic comedy Trial and Error (1997), and a woman plagued with demonic visions in the mystery thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. She appeared in the science fiction thriller The Astronaut's Wife with Johnny Depp, and Lasse Hallström's The Cider House Rules. For her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the crime drama Monster (2003), Theron received the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. The following year, she played Swedish entertainer Britt Ekland in the biographical film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
Serenity is a 2019 American mystery thriller film written, produced and directed by Steven Knight. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Diane Lane, Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou, and Jeremy Strong, and follows a fishing boat captain who is approached by his ex-wife to murder her abusive new husband. First announced in January 2017, principal photography on the film began in Mauritius that July.
Christopher Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature directorial debut was the neo-noir crime thriller Following (1998) which was made on a budget of $6,000. Two years later, he directed the psychological thriller Memento (2000) which starred Guy Pearce as a man suffering from anterograde amnesia searching for his wife's killers. Similar to his debut feature it had a non-linear narrative structure, and was his breakthrough film. It was acclaimed by critics and was a surprise commercial success. For the film Nolan received his first nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, and for writing its screenplay he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He next directed the mystery thriller remake Insomnia (2002) which starred Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. It was his first film for Warner Bros., and was a critical and commercial success.
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