Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor born in Uvalde, Texas. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused in 1993. After taking on a number of supporting roles in various films, his first success as a leading man came in the legal drama A Time to Kill in 1996. McConaughey's career progressed with lead roles in several notable films across different genres. These include the science fiction film Contact and the historical drama Amistad, both released in 1997, the war film U-571 in 2000, and the epic science fiction film Interstellar in 2014.