Matthew Perry

Background

Matthew Perry rose to fame in his role as Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom “Friends.” Perry, whose full name is Matthew Langford Perry, was born on August 19, 1969, in Williamstown Massachusetts. Although he is an American citizen by birth, he has Canadian heritage from his mother, Suzanne Marie Morrison, a journalist and former press secretary for the Canadian government. His father, John Bennett Perry, is an American actor and model. After his parents’ divorce, Perry’s mother married a Canadian journalist and the family relocated to Ottawa, Ontario, where the actor grew up. Perry moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was 15 to pursue acting and graduated from The Buckley School in 1987.

Perry began performing improvisation comedy around the Sherman Oaks area during high school. He had his first T.V. role in 1979 in the series “240-Robert” in which he played the character of Arthur. In 1988, he got his first movie role in the film “A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.” He guest-starred on shows such as “Growing Pains,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” and “Home Free” before landing his iconic role as Chandler in “Friends” in 1994. In addition to acting in the T.V. sitcom, he concurrently starred in multiple films spanning many genres including the rom-com “Fools Rush In” starring Salma Hayek and the crime comedy film “The Whole Nine Yards” alongside action heavyweight Bruce Willis. He also starred in the drama T.V. series “The West Wing” in 2003 and was nominated for two Emmy awards for the role.

Tragically, Perry passed away on October 28 at his home in Los Angeles.

In 2004, he directed an episode in the 4th season of the comedy T.V. series “Scrubs.” In 2006, he starred as the lead actor in the successful drama film “The Ron Clark Story” which earned him several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. He starred in several other drama and comedy T.V. series and films throughout the 2000s. Between 2012 and 2014, he starred in the critically acclaimed T.V. drama series “The Good Wife.” In 2015, he began co-writing and producing a revival of the 1970s T.V. series “The Odd Couple.” He moved to live theater in 2016, playing the lead role in a play he wrote entitled “The End of Longing” in London.