Matthew Perry
Who was Matthew Perry?
American-Canadian actor (1969–2023)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Matthew Perry (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor, most famous for playing Chandler Bing on the NBC sitcom Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004. Born in Williamstown and raised in both the United States and Canada, Perry attended The Buckley School, Ashbury College, and Lisgar Collegiate Institute before moving into acting, which made him one of the most famous TV actors of his time. His role as the quick-witted and sarcastic Chandler Bing won him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 1996, shared with the Friends cast, and a TV Guide Award in 2000.
Outside of Friends, Perry had a varied career in both movies and TV. He starred in films like Fools Rush In (1997), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), and 17 Again (2009). On TV, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for guest spots on The West Wing in 2003 and for his role in The Ron Clark Story in 2006. He created, co-wrote, produced, and starred in the ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine in 2011, starred in the NBC sitcom Go On in 2012, and co-developed a revival of The Odd Couple for CBS, playing Oscar Madison from 2015 to 2017. He also appeared in the legal dramas The Good Wife and The Good Fight and played Senator Ted Kennedy in the miniseries The Kennedys: After Camelot in 2017. His last TV appearance was in Friends: The Reunion in 2021. He also voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas in 2010, for which he won a Huading Award in 2013.
Throughout his adult life, Perry battled severe addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs, a struggle he openly shared and detailed in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. In his recovery, he became a strong advocate for addiction treatment and was a spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. In 2013, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy honored him with the Champion of Recovery Award for his advocacy work.
Perry passed away on October 28, 2023, in Los Angeles at the age of 54. His death was due to the acute effects of ketamine, compounded by accidental drowning. After an investigation, five people were charged with supplying him with lethal doses of the drug; all pleaded guilty. His death led to widespread public mourning and brought up discussions about addiction, the pressures of fame, and the availability of controlled substances.
Before Fame
Matthew Perry was born on August 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His parents are actor John Bennett Perry and Suzanne Marie Morrison, a Canadian journalist who later worked as a press secretary for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. They divorced when he was very young, and Perry grew up mostly in Ottawa, Canada, with his mother. He attended Ashbury College and Lisgar Collegiate Institute before moving to Los Angeles to live with his father and pursue acting. He later went to The Buckley School in Los Angeles.
As a teenager in Canada, Perry was a top-ranked junior tennis player before he shifted his focus to acting. He started getting small TV roles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing in shows like Charles in Charge and Beverly Hills, 90210. His big break came in 1994 when he was cast as Chandler Bing in Friends, a role he had first auditioned for while the show was still being developed. The sitcom premiered when ensemble comedies were very popular on American TV, and Friends quickly became a massive hit, making Perry a central figure in one of the most-watched shows of the decade.
Key Achievements
- Starred as Chandler Bing on Friends for ten seasons (1994–2004), becoming one of the most recognizable television characters of the era.
- Won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 1996 as part of the Friends cast.
- Received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, for The West Wing (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006).
- Co-created, produced, and starred in multiple original television projects including Mr. Sunshine and the CBS revival of The Odd Couple.
- Received the Champion of Recovery Award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2013 for his addiction advocacy work.
Did You Know?
- 01.Perry was a nationally ranked junior tennis player in Canada before choosing to pursue acting over the sport.
- 02.He initially missed out on the Friends audition because he was committed to another pilot called LAX 2194, a science-fiction project set in an airport on the moon; when that show fell through, he was cast as Chandler Bing.
- 03.Perry converted his Malibu home into a sober living facility for men recovering from addiction, funding it largely at his own expense.
- 04.He voiced the character Benny, a smooth-talking Las Vegas gangster, in the critically acclaimed video game Fallout: New Vegas, released in 2010.
- 05.His 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing disclosed that at his lowest point during his addiction, he weighed only 128 pounds and doctors told him he had a two percent chance of survival.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | 1996 | — |
| TV Guide Award | 2000 | — |
| Huading Awards | 2013 | — |