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Signature. Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends (1994–2004). Perry also appeared on Ally McBeal (2002) and received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The West Wing ...
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- Matthew Perry (actor)
Website. matthewperrybook .com. Matthew Langford Perry...
- Lizzy Caplan
- Overview
- Family and early acting career
- Friends
- Other credits: The Whole Nine Yards and The West Wing
- Personal life: substance abuse and death
Matthew Perry (born August 19, 1969, Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.—died October 28, 2023, Los Angeles, California) American Canadian comedic actor best known for his portrayal of the wisecracking Chandler Bing on the hugely popular sitcom Friends (1994–2004).
Matthew Perry was the only child born to Suzanne (née Langford) Perry, a journalist who later served as a press secretary for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and John Bennett Perry, an actor who was known for playing a sailor in Old Spice cologne commercials in the 1970s and ’80s. His parents divorced when he was an infant, and he was raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario. She later married Keith Morrison, a television journalist who is a correspondent for NBC’s Dateline, and John Bennett Perry wed writer Debbie Doyle. Matthew Perry’s family later included five half-siblings.
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Perry was a high-ranking junior tennis player while growing up in Ottawa and had dreams of becoming a professional athlete. However, at age 15 he went to live with his father in Los Angeles, and there he became interested in acting. While attending the Buckley School, he took improv classes at the comedy theater LA Connection. In 1979 Perry made his TV debut, appearing in an episode of 240-Robert, a police drama that starred his father. In the mid-1980s Perry had minor roles on such shows as Charles in Charge, Silver Spoons, and The Tracey Ullman Show.
Mainstream success eluded Perry until he won the role of Chandler Bing on Friends. The sitcom, which is set in New York City, follows six young adults as they search for jobs, relationships, and fulfillment. Perry’s Chandler is a well-paid professional who uses sarcasm and self-deprecation to hide his insecurities. His best friends are Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), who is his roommate, and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer). The other main characters are Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), and Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow).
Friends debuted in 1994 and was an immediate sensation, Perry’s Chandler being especially popular with fans. The largely unknown cast became international stars, and, by the last two seasons, Perry and his costars were earning $1 million per episode. The show’s finale, which aired in 2004, drew an audience of more than 52 million viewers. During its 10-season run, Friends received a number of accolades, and Perry garnered an Emmy Award nomination (2002). The sitcom later became a staple in syndication and on streaming services, finding new generations of fans. In 2021 the Friends cast reunited for a TV special in which they discussed the show.
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While on Friends, Perry attempted to launch a movie career, with mixed results. The rom-coms Fools Rush In (1997), Three to Tango (1999), and Serving Sara (2002) failed to find an audience. More successful was The Whole Nine Yards (2000), a popular comedy in which he played a dentist whose new neighbor (Bruce Willis) is a gangster. He reprised the role in the 2004 sequel, The Whole Ten Yards.
During this time Perry also appeared in several episodes of Ally McBeal and The West Wing. On the latter show, a political drama created by Aaron Sorkin, he was cast as a Republican lawyer working in a Democratic administration, and for his performance Perry earned two Emmy nominations (2003 and 2004). In addition, in 2004 he made his directorial debut, helming an episode of the medical comedy Scrubs; he also appeared alongside his father in the episode.
Perry’s later career was largely focused on television, with only occasional film appearances. His notable credits include the TV movie The Ron Clark Story (2006), a biopic about a teacher at a Harlem school. For his portrayal of the title character, Perry earned another Emmy nomination. He later starred in Sorkin’s comedy-drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07), playing the head writer for a live comedy show similar to Saturday Night Live. Although expected to be a hit, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was canceled after one season.
Perry continued to take lead roles in sitcoms, but success remained elusive. He cocreated and starred in Mr. Sunshine (2011–12), a comedy focusing on the manager of a sports arena. The project initiated a bidding war, which was won by ABC. However, Mr. Sunshine aired for only 13 episodes before being pulled because of low ratings. In 2012–13 Perry starred as a sportscaster dealing with the death of his wife in Go On, but the comedy series was also canceled after one season. He then reunited with Cox for an episode (2014) of the latter’s series Cougar Town.
Perry struggled with substance abuse for a number of years. He began drinking when he was 14 years old and later became addicted to such pain medications as Vicodin and OxyContin. His addictions led to numerous other health issues, and in 2018 he was in a coma for two weeks. In his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing (2022), Perry wrote candidly about his substance abuse, noting that he spent an estimated $9 million trying to beat his addictions and that he had been clean and sober since early 2021. The book received positive reviews and was a New York Times bestseller.
On October 28, 2023, Perry died at his home in Los Angeles.
- Kirk Fox
Oct 29, 2023 · This web page is not a Wikipedia article, but a tribute to the late actor Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends. It covers his childhood, career, addiction, relationships and death at 54.
Dec 15, 2023 · Learn about the life and career of Matthew Perry, the actor who played Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004. Find out his quick facts, childhood, roles, addiction struggles, health problems, and death in 2023.
Actor: Friends. Matthew Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to Suzanne Marie (Langford), a Canadian journalist, and John Bennett Perry, an American actor. His ancestry includes English, Irish, German, Swiss-German, and French-Canadian. Perry was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, where he became a top-ranked junior tennis player in Canada.
- January 1, 1
- 1.83 m
- Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA
- October 28, 2023
IMDb provides a brief biography of Matthew Perry, an American actor and producer best known for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends. Learn about his early life, career, family, trivia, and death.
