Oscar winners Matthew McConaughey and Charlize Theron, co-star in the new animated films Kubo and Two Strings opening Aug. 19, and talked to Parade about their love for teachers and why its message about mentoring hits especially close to home for them both.
Here’s some:
McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin Foundation (JKL) provides an after-school program for more than 2,400 inner-city high school students in three states and Washington, D.C. “It provides a safe haven from street violence and a respite from the isolation of sitting at home,” he says. “It’s a place for kids who aren’t on a team to have a team.”
The Charlize Theron Africa Project teaches teens in Theron’s native South Africa how to prevent HIV infection. “AIDS is the number-one killer of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa,” she says. “And the number-two killer of adolescents in all the rest of the world.”
McConaughey’s mom, Kay, was a kindergarten and substitute teacher in Texas who inspired him in several ways. “She started us with Meals on Wheels, where you take food to the elderly, and she made that a weekly ritual…just like going to church. It planted a seed. That’s part of my DNA.”
Theron recalls a memorable lesson from her mother, Gerda. Once, when Theron came home from school asking for a new ruler, Gerda said “What? That’s the fourth ruler I’ve bought in the last month! Where did they all go?” Theron confessed they’d all been swiped by a classmate. Gerda told her, “Steal it back!”
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, NASA astronaut Mike Massimine, author Ann Patchett and others also tell Parade about their favorite teachers.