Spirit of Adventure

Oscar-winning actor and philanthropist Matthew McConaughey launches a cheeky tequila brand with wife Camila Alves

- Bill Kearney

That said, he knows how to keep it light, too. He became the go-to rom-com dude (maybe a time too often) in the aughts, and of course had his breakout role as a happy-go-lucky stoner looking for joints and girls in Dazed and Confused.

The ability to go both deep and light—as well as his charming Texas drawl—has made him one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars. He seems to slap the world on the back and say, “Hey, bud, let’s hang.” But he’s dead serious about work. His wife of 12 years, Camila Alves, concurs. “He is chill and laid-back, but he also has a very disciplined mentality,” she told Today. “That’s how he’s been able to do the work he’s done and accomplish what he does.” That instinct of knowing when to be serious and when to be playful, and how to do both superbly, has played out in McConaughey’s first business venture with Alves, Pantalones Tequila.

Tequila was actually part of the couple’s meetcute moment. In his 2020 memoir, Greenlights, McConaughey wrote that he was making margaritas at Hyde on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles when he spotted Alves. He halted the margarita making, walked over and introduced himself, and convinced her to come up to the bar for one of his drinks. McConaughey says that the drink was the best he’d ever made and the Spanish he rattled off to her was the best he’d ever spoken. Except Alves is Brazilian and speaks Portuguese. No matter—they hit it off.

Over the years, McConaughey and Alves had a custom of sipping high-end tequila at home. It was delicious, transportive, but the “price was proud,” says McConaughey. During one of their sipping sessions they hatched a business dream. “We were like, Dang, what if we had a more affordable tequila, and got the taste down?” he says. If they could pull off the flavor, or something close to it, they figured it would be a hit.