Matthew McConaughey Net Worth

Matthew McConaughey is an American actor best known for his roles in Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar, Mud, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Since starting his career in Hollywood in 1992, he has appeared in more than 70 movies and television series.

He may be one of the world’s most recognizable actors on the big screen, but Matthew McConaughey’s net worth stems from more than just his acting career. He has been in a number of commercials, has been the creative director of a major bourbon brand, and he also has a significant real estate portfolio. There have even been rumors of the star considering purchasing an NFL team. Learn more about McConaughey’s career and his most successful projects below.

Early Life

Matthew David McConaughey was born in 1969 in Uvalde, Texas. His mother, Mary Kathleen, homeschooled him. She was a published author and former kindergarten teacher. His father, Jim, ran an oil supply business and was also drafted by the Green Bay Packers. However, he was released before he ever played a game.

McConaughey also has two older brothers, Michael and Patrick. Michael starred in the Texas Investors Club, on CNBC, and Rooster & Butch, on A&E.

McConaughey did not become interested in acting until after finishing high school. He moved to New South Wales for a year, attending high school there as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. After finishing high school, he attended the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, Television, and Film.

Acting Career

Matthew McConaughey started his acting career in the 1990s in television commercials. Then, he played “Walkaway Joe” in Trisha Yearwood’s music video for the song of the same name. From there, he played a few minor roles on TV shows, such as Unsolved Mysteries and My Boyfriend’s Back.

Dazed and Confused

In 1993, McConaughey made his first appearance on the big screen in Dazed and Confused. At the time, he was still a film student at UT Austin. He approached the movie’s casting director, Don Phillips, at a bar. As a result, he earned a role as a minor character in the film. 

Dazed and Confused underperformed at the box office, only grossing $7.9 million on its $6.9 million budget. However, since its release, it has become a cult classic.

In 1994, McConaughey played minor roles in several other movies, including Angels in the Outfield (where he earned only $48,500) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.

Contact

The late 90s brought some additional successful roles for McConaughey, including 1997’s Contact, which still sits in seventh as McConaughey’s highest-grossing film. The movie, which co-starred Jodie Foster, grossed $171 million at the box office on its $90 million budget.

A Time To Kill

In 1996, McConaughey starred opposite Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson in Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill. The film, which was based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham, was a hit at the box office. The movie raked in over $152 million against its $40 million budget.

McConaughey was reportedly paid $250,000 for his role.

Amistad

Matthew McConaughey’s net worth got a $1 million boost with 1997’s Amistad. The film, which was directed by Steven Spielberg, also starred Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, and Djimon Hounsou. And while it wasn’t a big hit at the box office, only making $44 million worldwide, it was nominated for four Oscars and a number of other awards with additional organizations.

The Wedding Planner

2001 brought a sizable boost to Matthew McConaughey’s net worth. It was that year he starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner. He played Steve Edison, a pediatrician who rescues a young wedding couple from a near-fatal collision.

The movie had a budget of $35 million and grossed just shy of $95 million at the box office. McConaughey took home a reported $5 million for the role.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Matthew McConaughey played a similar role in 2003’s How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which is his top-performing romantic comedy at the box office (and overall sixth highest-grossing film to date). He stars alongside Kate Hudson in the movie, where his character tries to prove that he can get any woman to fall in love with him in 10 days. Hudson tries to prove that she can lose any man in 10 days. Their plans cross one another and backfire. 

This movie was a box office hit, grossing $177 million on a budget of $50 million. By this point in his career, Matthew McConaughey’s net worth was steadily rising.

Fool’s Gold

2008 reunited McConaughey with Kate Hudson for yet another rom-com, Fool’s Gold. With its $70 million budget, the film went on to gross $111 million worldwide.

Tropic Thunder

The same year, McConaughey also starred in Tropic Thunder opposite Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black. The movie would earn $195.7 million worldwide on its $90 million budget.

There was one high-paying role that McConaughey famously turned down in 2008, and that was the movie reboot of Magnum P.I.. He was offered $15 million for the role and 15% of the backend profits. However, McConaughey wanted to take his career in a different direction and passed on the offer.

The Lincoln Lawyer

In 2011, he starred in The Lincoln Lawyer. He plays an idealistic lawyer in Los Angeles, taking cases out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car. The movie enjoyed moderate success and received favorable reviews from critics and fans. The movie grossed just shy of $87 million at the box office on a budget of $40 million.

Magic Mike

2012 brought Magic Mike, which was massively successful at the box office. The movie earned $167 million worldwide on its $7 million budget. The film’s success spurred a sequel as well as reality series in addition to a Los Vegas stage show. However, McConaughey was only involved with the original film.

The Wolf of Wall Street

In 2013, McConaughey starred in The Wolf of Wall Street, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill. In the film, McConaughey’s character mentors a young Jordan Belfort, played by DiCaprio, and watches him make a fortune. The movie was a box office hit, grossing $392 million against a budget of $100 million.

Dallas Buyers Club

That same year, he starred in Dallas Buyers Club. It wasn’t as flashy as The Wolf of Wall Street and didn’t have nearly the impact on Matthew McConaughey’s net worth that some of his previous roles did. But it got exceptional reviews. 

In the movie, his character is an electrician who has just learned he has AIDS. He only has 30 days to live, but he refuses to give up. The movie grossed $55 million against a budget of only $5 million and went on to win 3 Oscars, one of those being the Best Performance by an Actor award for McConaughey.

It’s reported that McConaughey received less than $200,000 to star in the film.

True Detective

Also, in 2014, McConaughey starred in the hit HBO TV series True Detective as Detective Rust Cohle. McConaughey, who starred opposite Woody Harrelson in the highly acclaimed series, received a Primetime Emmy nomination that year for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Interstellar

Interstellar premiered in 2014. This role marked a significant departure from McConaughey’s prior roles. Alongside Michael Caine and Anne Hathaway, his character leads a crew to save Earth, which is dying. The movie was well received by fans and critics alike. It was also a box office hit, earning more than $715 million against a budget of $165 million. To date, it’s McConaughey’s highest box-office grossing film.

Recent Work

In 2019, McConaghey appeared in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. The movie was well-received by critics, earning $115 million at the box office against a budget of $22 million.

Then, in 2020, he published a memoir called Greenlights. To write the book, he exiled himself in the water without electricity for 52 days. The memoir is based on journals he started keeping at 14 years old.

2021 brought his third most successful film to date, Sing 2. It was a sequel to 2016’s Sing, which is McConaghey’s second highest-grossing film to date. He voices Buster Moon in the animated franchise. Also lending their voices to the movie are Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansson.

The 2021 film grossed $409 million on its budget of $85 million. It was the highest-grossing animated film of 2021.

Other Ventures

Also adding to Matthew McConaughey’s net worth is his role as Creative Director at Wild Turkey. While McConaughey’s partnership with the whiskey brand ended in December 2022, the two accomplished quite a bit together since joining forces in 2016. McConaughey had wanted to be more than just a face of a bourbon ad campaign. And as a bourbon enthusiast, he took on the role both in front of the camera as well as behind it, to reintroduce the world to Wild Turkey.

During the partnership, McConaughey and Wild Turkey launched a small batch bourbon together, which was branded Longbranch. The bourbon was well-received and still continues on without McConaughey’s involvement.

McConaughey also started the “Just Keep Living Foundation,” which guides teenage kids to make healthy life choices. The Unite 4 Humanity Foundation gave him the Creative Conscience Award in 2016 for his philanthropic work.

In 2019, Matthew McConaughey joined the staff at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor at the Moody College of Communication. He had been serving as a visiting professor there since 2015.

Real Estate

Matthew McConaughey’s net worth also stems from a variety of real estate purchases. In 2007, he purchased a landlocked Point Dume mansion for close to $10 million. The home sits on 1.05 acres. It has four bedrooms and three bathrooms in 3,800 square feet. They sold the home in 2020 for $14.8 million.

Born and raised in Texas, McConaughey still has a home there. In 2012, he purchased a 10,000-square-foot mansion for $6 million. It has 6 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. In addition, he owns seven boat slips a short distance from the mansion.

Matthew McConaughey also purchased a vacation home in Hawaii in December 2020. The purchase price was $7.85 million and is 5,328 square feet. The home has six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms.

Personal Life

Matthew McConaughey met Camila Alves, a Brazilian model, in 2006. The couple got engaged in 2011, marrying in a private ceremony in 2012. Together, they have a total of three children, including a son that was born in 2008, a daughter in 2010, and a second son in 2012.

Matthew McConaughey’s Net Worth Today

As of 2023, Matthew McConaughey’s net worth is estimated to be $160 million. Between his acting and producing work on the big screen, on TV series, and through commercials, McConaughey has a variety of income streams that continue to grow.

Fans of McConaughey may be waiting a little while to see him on the big screen again. He was supposed to play a women’s soccer coach in Dallas Sting, but the movie was scrapped shortly before the start of production.

However, McConaughey has seven projects in various stages of development, including The Billionaire’s Vinegar, in which Will Smith is a producer, and The Brigands of Rattlecreek. But neither production has updated its status on IMDB Pro since 2017. Additionally, McConaughey is also a part of a pitch for HBO’s A Time for Mercy, where he’ll play Jake Brigance. The project is based on a book by John Grisham.