Matthew McConaughey won the Oscar for best actor for his performance in 'Dallas Buyers Club' during the 86^th Academy Awards.

The 44-year-old actor and father of three walked away with his first Oscar for his portrayal of AIDS patient Ron Woodroof in the biographical drama from Focus Features.

Instead of thanking his managers, agents, publicists, McConaughey thanked God, his late father, his mother, his wife, Camila Alves, and their children. He is one of few Oscar winners to thank God in the acceptance speech.

"There's a few things, about three things to my account that I need each day," he said onstage. "One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase."

"First off I want to thank God, because he's the one I look up to, he's graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human kind. He has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, 'When you got God you got a friend and that friend is you.'"

When he was 15, the actor said, he decided that hero would be himself in 10 years. Ten years later, he pushed the deadline back another decade. Then another decade.

"My hero's always 10 years away,"McConaughey said. "I'm never going to attain that. That keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing."

He concluded his heartfelt speech with his signature line -- "All right, all right, all right" -- from the first character McConaughey played in his first film, 'Dazed and Confused'.