Los Angeles, March 11 : Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey, who has returned from a six-year acting hiatus with the upcoming thriller 'The Rivals of Amziah King', said that his memoir 'Greenlights', which released in October 2020, helped him to "trust" himself and be more "honest" with his performance.

"The memoir was extremely honest and it forced me to be honest with myself. It cleared up things you've been thinking about for 35 years. And it makes you realise that's kind of who you are, Matthew. Let's admit that and shake hands. Bravo,' he told variety.com.

"That gave me even more trust in myself, because, you know, there was less to maybe hide about myself. I had shared it. So that's made it easier for me to be honest as an actor.'

As well as writing his book, the 'Dallas Buyers Club' star took on some voice roles and spent time with his family during his acting break and he felt being away from the cameras was valuable.

He said: 'I needed to write my own story, direct my own story on the page."

Once he got back to work, he quickly remembered how much he loves acting and how it never feels like a hardship, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He said: 'I remembered a couple of things. One, how much I truly enjoy performing. Two, I remembered, hey, McConaughey, you're pretty damn good at this. And three, I remembered that acting is a vacation for me, and what I mean by vacation is that when when I'm performing, it's my singular focus.

"When I walk out the door in the morning, my wife says, 'Go kick some.. I got the kiddos. We're good.' That's vacation. Because I'm not multitasking. I'm not compartmentalising. I'm fully focused on finding the truth of my character."

/IANS