Matthew McConaughey Wins Best Actor at 2014 Academy Awards: "To That I Say, Alright, Alright, Alright"

"And then I say, just keep livin'," the award-winning actor said

By Bruna Nessif Mar 03, 2014 5:18 AMTags
Matthew McConaughey, Oscars WinnersKevin Winter/Getty Images

Well, alright, alright, alright.

Those were a few of Matthew McConaughey's famous last words when accepting the award for Best Actor at the 2014 Oscars for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, beating out Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Dern and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

But he had a lot more to say before that (but no worries, there was no Neptune talk this time around).

"Thank you to the academy for this, all 6,000 members. Thank you to all the other nominees, all of these performances were impeccable. I didn't see a false note anywhere. I wanna thank Jean-Marc Vallée, our director. I wanna thank Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, who I worked with daily," he began.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

"There are three things to my account that I need each day. One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to and another is someone to chase. First off, I wanna thank God, because that's who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that its a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates...

"To my family, that's who I look forward to. To my father, who I know he's up there right now with a big pot of gumbo, he's got a lemon meringue pie right there. He's probably in his underwear and he's got a cold Miller Lite and he's dancing right now. To you Dad, you taught me what it means to be a man. To my mother, who's here tonight, who taught me and my two older brothers—demanded that we respect ourselves and what in turn learns is that we were better able to respect others. Thank you for that, mama.

Alexandra Wyman/Invision/AP

"To my wife, Camila, and my kids—Levi, Vita, Mr. Stone—the courage and significance you give me everyday I leave that door is unparallel. You are the four people in my life that I wanna make the most proud of me. Thank you. And to my hero, that's who I chase. When I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me, 'Who's your hero?' and I said, 'I don't know. I gotta think about that, give me a couple of weeks.' I come back two weeks later, and this person comes up, 'Who's your hero?' and I said, 'I thought about it and you know who it is, it's me in 10 years.'

"So I turned 25 10 years later and that same person comes to me and says, 'So are you a hero?' and I said, 'Not even close!' And she said, 'Why?' and I said, 'Because my hero is me at 35.' Every day and every week and every month of my life, my hero is always 10 years away. I'm never gonna be my hero. I'm not gonna obtain that, I know I'm not, which is just fine with me because that keeps me somebody to keep on chasing.

"So to any of us, whatever those things are, whatever we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to and whoever it is we're chasing—to that I say, alright, alright, alright. And then I say, just keep livin'."