With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history, travelling beyond this galaxy to discover what is beyond.

IT’S Matthew McConaughey’s birthday!

The Interstellar star turns 45 today so to celebrate we thought we’d reveal some little known facts about native Texan:

Titanic: In 1997 McConaughey starred in two films, Contact and Amistad. But rumour has it that he could have starred in the second highest grossing movie in history, Titanic. He allegedly turned down the role of Jack which went on to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio. When asked about the rumour that McConaughey turned his back on the role, director James Cameron was coy.

“I will neither confirm nor deny,” he said to MTV.

“I just don’t think that’s cool to talk about actors that either chose not to do it, or were unavailable, or stupidly decided that there wasn’t enough meat on the bone of the character, or whatever it was.”

Cameron’s willing to bet though that whoever did turn down the role definitely regrets it now.

“They should’ve come whimpering back afterwards and said, ‘I will never second guess you again as long as I live.’ But it’s too late. You got one chance, that’s it. And you might want to think about this next time when you get called.”

All natural: Matthew McConaughey does not wear cologne. He doesn’t even wear deodorant, and it’s been that way for more than 20 years.

“The women in my life, including my mother, have all said, ‘Hey, your natural smell smells, one, like a man, and, two, smells like you,’” said McConaughey.

One woman who wasn’t such a fan of his natural scent was Kate Hudson.

During the filming of Fool’s Gold, she begged the star to work on his personal hygiene.

“She always brings a salt rock, which is some natural deodorant, and says, ‘Would you please put this on?’” said McConaughey. For the record, he refused.

Lance Armstrong: Matthew McConaughey was great mates with Lance Armstrong when the disgraced cyclist went public with his doping confession last year. Despite the controversy, McConaughey still considers the seven time Tour de France champion to be a good friend and catches up with him regularly.

“He told a lie, he’s not a liar,” said McConaughey to Details last year.

“When it came out, I took it personally, but then I realised it ain’t personal to him. I was going, ‘That son of a bitch!’ but then I thought, ‘Well, what was he supposed to do? Call me to the side and go, ‘Hey, I did this’?”

Mums will be mums: McConaughey told UK talk show host Graham Norton that it took a while for his mum to adjust to his fame, particularly when it came to dealing with the media.

“People started getting interested in my life and my history,” said McConaughey.

“All of a sudden my mum shows up in these newspapers saying these things and I said, ‘Mum, that’s between us ... keep what should be private ours.’

“All of a sudden the next Thursday night I’m looking at ... a TV show and there’s my mum giving an escort around my bedroom.

“I call her and she goes, ‘Oh I didn’t know you’d see it.’”

Aussie connection: In 1988 Matthew McConaughey signed up to the Rotary Exchange Program and found himself living on central coast in NSW. He was just 19 years old at the time and spent the next year working a variety of different jobs, including working at an ANZ bank, assisting golf professionals and becoming “a pretty decent carpenter,” he said to GQ.

He also fell in love with Australia’s national sport.

“I was working on a pea farm in Narrandera and we’d come in for smoko, and put the cricket on,” he said in the magazine.

“And I’m talking the full-on, five-day matches, back when Curtly Ambrose and Desmond Haynes were rollin’ for the West Indies. I also went to two West Indies-Australia matches and I remember my days at the tests — you eat a hot dog, you take a nap, you wake up, then maybe you catch the first wicket … Then you drink some beer and then take another nap. It was cool man.”

Phobia: Matthew McConaughey may be a big, macho movie star, but he still has fears like the rest of us.

“I don’t like revolving doors,” said McConaughey.

“And I really don’t like that blind spot when you’re driving and go into a tunnel. You know that spot where you can’t see for about 10 feet. You can’t see what’s in front of you or if someone’s broken down or something in front of you.”

Alright, alright, alright: These are the three words that Matthew McConaughey uttered during his acceptance speeches for both the Golden Globe and the Oscar which he won for Dallas Buyers Club, and they also happen to be the very first words he ever said on screen in Dazed and Confused.

Proving he’s more than just a pretty face, the savvy stud has turned his catchphrase into T-shirts so that everyone can walk around with a touch of his southern swag.

The shirts are available as part of the actor’s clothing brand, JKL (just keep livin’), with part of the proceeds going directly to school fitness programs.

Before he was famous: A year before his breakout role in 1993s Dazed and Confused, McConaughey starred in the music video for Trisha Yearwood’s song, Walk Away Joe. In the clip, a 23-year-old McConaughey tries to seduce a girl and ends up skinny dipping with her. You sly dog you ...