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When it comes to passing along grooming tips to his son, Matthew McConaughey gets right to the basics.
While chatting exclusively with PEOPLE at the Clarins x V Magazine Golden Hour Event during F1 weekend in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 18, the actor’s eldest child, Levi, revealed that his dad, 55, has taught him to “stay clean all the time.”
“It’s important,” the 17-year-old says.
Levi also shared his simple skincare routine — and how the women in his household have a hand in it.
“Just some cleanser, moisturizer and a little something that my sister and mom slip in there,” he tells PEOPLE, referring to mom Camila Alves McConaughey and sister Vida, 15.
Aside from his small arsenal of products, Levi also credits his healthy “glow” to his family. “Spending some great time with them, and time with myself,” he says.
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In addition to grooming advice, Levi got to pick up some pointers from his movie star father as he tackled his first acting role in the Apple TV thriller The Lost Bus (released on Oct. 3). The teen plays Matthew’s on-screen son in the film about the deadly 2018 Camp Fire, which burned more than 150,000 acres and killed 85 people.
Matthew told PEOPLE ahead of the movie’s release that he’s taken steps to prepare Levi for the spotlight as he begins to pursue a Hollywood career.
“I’ve tried to give him some tips that I’ve learned along the way, tried to give him some of those tips earlier than I understood them,” said the actor, who had a breakout role in 1993’s Dazed and Confused before 1996’s A Time to Kill established him as a bona fide star. “I really got into the public eye when I was about 23 or 24 with A Time to Kill. It was a lot: boom! All of a sudden, the world was a mirror. I didn’t meet any strangers or expectations and ‘I love yous’ all around.”
Courtesy of Apple
“It’s hard to keep your feet on the ground to sift out the real stuff from the BS. But over time, you got to get that sixth sense,” Matthew continued, adding of Levi: “It’s important that he has his own ownership of who he is and becomes. And [acting] will be a part of that if he continues to do it, part of finding his identity. But it can’t be his full identity.”
In the same interview with PEOPLE, Levi admitted that he feels the pressure of being Matthew McConaughey’s son.
“Yeah, it’s just starting,” he said. “And as much as people can say, ‘Oh, you got this because of your father or your mother,’ they can open the door, but then it’s going to be up to me to do my thing once I get in there. That’s on me.“
Ultimately, Levi said, “you got to have some chops.”
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At the Clarins event, the budding actor told PEOPLE that he and his father were able to authentically portray the strained relationship between their two characters in The Lost Bus thanks to the “confidence” and ease of their real-life bond.
“Just the confidence of our relationship outside the movie, because in the movie, it’s not a good relationship,” Levi explains. “But to be able to do it and then come out of the scene, and give each other a hug and go, ‘Thank you. Thank God that that’s not how our relationship is in real life.’ It just made it easier and fun.”
