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7 Jul 2025 17:34
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Matthew McConaughey felt "validated" when he won an Oscar

    The 51-year-old actor won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014 for his role in 'Dallas Buyers Club' and not only did he feel gratified at the recognition of his "craftsmanship" from his peers, he was also thankful he had made the right decision when he took a lengthy career break to move away from his image of being a romantic-comedy star


    Reflecting on his win, he said: "I was feeling, first, validation from my peers.

    " Second, to go back to that word we started off with, translation. I remember going, 'You performed your craft of your art, Matthew, to such an extent that it translated to people and your peers who are great at what they do. And they deemed you to have done the most excellent job at this of anyone in the whole year.' That's finite translation.

    "You intended to do something, to tell such a truth on a man by embodying him through this character that other people saw themselves in that man and saw themselves in me as that man. Other people saw humanity to an extent that was so precise that they went, yes, that's great work. That's craftsmanship. Yes. So that was a pinnacle in my career as an actor.

    "Does it give me confidence? Sure. Did it make me go, 'See you were right to hold out for that two years of not working '? Yes. 'You were right to prepare so hard to come in and be the master of your man and stand up for your man and tell people he's mine. I'm not asking permission. He's mine. I own him. I'm glad you had that confidence to do that and believe that Matthew at that time, because look it translated.'

    "Once again, the deeper I went to the ‘I’, the more it became relatable to the ‘we’."

    And Matthew - who lost 50lbs for his role in the film - used his win to teach his and wife Camila Alves' three children, Levi, 12, Vida, 10, and seven-year-old Livingston, an important lesson.

    Speaking on 'The High Performance Podcast', he said: "The great lesson came when I won that trophy for Academy Award for Best Actor.

    "Kids go, what’s the trophy for? I said, 'Do you remember a year and a half ago when Papa was working and he got real skinny? And you said he looked like a giraffe because his neck got real skinny. Remember, you’d wake up in the morning and I'd already be at work and I'd be gone all day and then get back home at night.'

    "I go, 'The work that I was doing each day in that month and a half, my peers deemed to be excellent and gave me a trophy for what I did a year and a half ago. They gave me a trophy for it today.'

    "So that idea of delayed gratification, I saw a clip. They were like, 'Oh, so you can do something now and be rewarded for it tomorrow.' I was like, 'Bingo. Yes, yes you can.' "

    'The High Performance Podcast' - which is sponsored by Lotus Cars - is available weekly on Apple, Acast, Spotify and all podcast providers.

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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