RENAISSANCE MAN

He's reinvented himself as a heavyweight actor and bestselling author - but Matthew McConaughey says it's his role as a dad that's his greatest achievement 

- KESHIA AFRICA

THE romcom hunk who made many a woman swoon. The guy who lived in a trailer park. The dude who was arrested for playing bongo drums in the nude while under the influence. The man who made "Alright, alright, alright" a catchphrase.

Matthew McConaughey's early forays into fame are certainly a far cry from where he is now.

These days he's known for far more for being a respected Oscar-winning actor, a doting dad and devoted husband and a bestselling author - than an easy-on-the-eye layabout.

It's been a decade since Matthew spoke about his "McConaissance" as he tried to reinvent himself then - but it seems he's only now well and truly enjoying that renaissance.

His latest project, a kids' book called Just Because, follows on the success of his memoir, Greenlights. It was inspired by discussions with his children, Levi (15), Vida (13) and Livingston (10), and within less than two weeks had jumped to the top of the bestseller lists.

"As a dad, you think about your kids all the time, Matthew says. "I'd been having conversations with my children about certain new things that they experienced for the first time."

Written in playful rhyming couplets, it imparts all kinds of wisdom that Matthew (53) says he wishes he'd known when he was younger.

"Just because you can pull it off, doesn't mean that you should do it," reads one.

"Just because you failed, doesn't mean that you blew it, is another.

Matthew says when he and his wife, Camila Alves (41), hang out with friends and discussions turn to parenting, his pals often compliment him on his approach.

"We'll be sitting around as parents, talking, and sometimes people will go, 'Hey, that's a great way of saying what you just said. I'm going to use that with my own kids. I like the way that you threw that off, how you informalised that very formal-feeling lesson."