The Oscar winner’s first screen role was in 1992 on “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Matthew McConaughey’s acting debut helped solve a murder mystery because of course it did

The Oscar winner’s first screen role was in 1992 on “Unsolved Mysteries.”

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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August 16, 2026 5:49 p.m. ET

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Matthew McConaughey at the 13th Annual Mack, Jack & McConaughey Gala in April 2025. Credit:

Rick Kern/FilmMagic

- Matthew McConaughey’s first television role helped catch a murderer.

- The Oscar winner appeared on an episode from the fifth season of *Unsolved Mysteries*.

- Taran Killam, Daniel Dae Kim, and Cheryl Hines are other actors who got their start on the true crime program.

Matthew McConaughey’s first acting role was criminally good.

It’s no mystery that he’s a great actor, and his acting debut on *Unsolved Mysteries** *over 30 years ago helped solve a murder mystery in real life.

The Oscar winner made the admission during a conversation ahead of a screening of his latest film, *The Rivals of Amziah King, *at the Filmland festival in Little Rock, Ark., per *Variety*.

“I’m gonna toot my own horn a little bit,” McConaughey, who also received the Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award at Filmland, said. “The *Unsolved Mysteries* episode I did? They caught the guy weeks later — based on what I did.”

Matthew McConaughey on ‘Unsolved Mysteries’. FilmRise

McConaughey is referring to the 12th episode in season five of *Unsolved Mysteries* from its original run. He portrayed Marine and Pasadena, Texas, resident Larry Dickens for the episode about the sex offender Edward Harold Bell.

The show reenacted a 1978 altercation in which McConaughey’s Dickens confronted Bell after Bell allegedly exposed himself to children. Bell shot and killed Dickens with a pistol.

He was arrested and released on bail and then escaped to Mexico and Central America, where he wouldn’t be seen for over a decade after failing to appear for a January 1979 trial date.

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The episode aired in late 1992 and sparked interest in the case, and two viewers recognized Bell after interacting with him in Panama.

Less than three months later, in February 1993, the Panamanian National Police and FBI worked together to capture Bell, who was arrested on a yacht in Panama City, per the Paris News. He was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to 70 years in prison. Bell died behind bars in 2019.

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“Matthew McConaughey had to do a fairly robust death scene,” a producer said in the behind-the-scenes documentary *Unsolved Mysteries: Behind the Legacy, *celebrating the show’s 35th anniversary, per Huffington Post. “Let’s just say that his acting has come a long way since then.”

Cheryl Hines, Daniel Dae Kim, Stephanie Weir, and Taran Killam are among the other actors who started out with roles on the true crime series.

Matthew McConaughey at the Curzon Mayfair in London in September 2025.

Dave Benett/Getty

Per the Dallas News, *Unsolved Mysteries *“viewers have helped solve more than 260 cases, bringing over 180 criminals to justice and reuniting more than 100 families, according to Cosgrove/Meurer Productions, the show’s creator.”

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