EP 516: Matthew McConaughey on Catching Life's Greenlights

Matthew McConaughey is an Academy Award-winning actor, but he is also a poet, philosopher, husband and father of three, global traveler, writer, occasional orchestra conductor, and passionate student of life. Today he shares some of things he's learned about himself, others, and the world around him. He discusses what he calls the "wild rodeo marriage" of his mom and dad, the moment when he became a man in his father’s eyes, and the long line of cattle rustlers, hustlers, and river boat gamblers in the McConaughey family tree. He talks about landing his first role in Richard Linklatter’s Dazed and Confused, the "launchpad line" that opened up the character of Wooderson for him, and how an improvised line in a scene that wasn’t even supposed to take place became the catchphrase that has followed him ever since. He recalls going from total anonymity to a celebrity in the span of just 48 hours, stepping away from Hollywood for 20 months at the peek of his success in order to land the kind of serious roles that he really wanted, and the long road to his Academy Award-winning performance in The Dallas Buyers Club. Plus Matthew talks about healing our nation’s divisions, finding our tribe in our shared values, and whether he just might want to run for office one day. Order Matthew McConaughey's new book Greenlights on Amazon, Audible, or wherever books are sold.