Oscar Winner Reveals Why He’s Trademarking Himself
The actor has so far had eight trademarks of himself approved.
PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Matthew McConaughey has made a major move to protect his legacy.
The Oscar-winning actor trademarked himself in an effort to fight back against unauthorized artificial-intelligence fakes. McConaughey, 56, has gotten eight trademark applications approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” the actor said in a statement to the Journal. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”
McConaughey, seen in 2012’s “Magic Mike,” is also an investor in ElevenLabs, an AI audio company.
Claudette Barius/Warner Bros.
The trademarks that McConaughey has gotten approved include the audio of him saying “Alright, alright, alright,” his iconic catchphrase from the 1993 film Dazed and Confused, and other visual clips of the actor smiling, looking into the camera, and speaking.
One of McConaughey’s attorneys told the newspaper that they now “have a tool now to stop someone in their tracks or take them to federal court” over AI misuse and deepfakes.
In November 2025, McConaughey signed a deal with ElevenLabs, allowing the AI audio company to use a licensed, synthetic version of his voice to create a Spanish audio version of his newsletter. The Interstellar star, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014 for Dallas Buyers Club, is also an investor in the company.
McConaughey won an Academy Award for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club.”
Anne Marie Fox/Focus Features
Celebrities are consistently targeted by deepfakes, AI-generated pieces of content that proliferate across social media and can be difficult to control. Depictions imitating the likeness of Taylor Swift, Steve Harvey, Joe Rogan, and Scarlett Johansson have gone viral. Several A-listers, including Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, and Brad Pitt, have slammed the unauthorized use of their voices and personalities. In October 2025, Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda, pleaded with fans to stop creating AI-generated videos of her late father.
Hollywood has largely backed the No Fakes Act, a proposed piece of legislation that would protect individuals from unauthorized digital replicas. A bill has yet to be voted on in the House or Senate.
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