Matthew Perry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Matthew Perry
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Perry in 2013
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Born |
Matthew Langford Perry
August 19, 1969 |
Died | October 28, 2023 Los Angeles, California, US
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(aged 54)
Burial place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, California |
Citizenship |
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Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1979–2022 |
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Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor. He gained 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 (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006). He played a leading role in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007). He also became known for his leading film roles in Fools Rush In (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Three to Tango (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Serving Sara (2002), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and 17 Again (2009).
Perry was co-creator, co-writer, executive producer, and star of the ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine, which ran from February to April 2011. In August 2012, he starred as sportscaster Ryan King on the NBC sitcom Go On. He co-developed and starred in a revival of the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple portraying Oscar Madison from 2015 to 2017. He had recurring roles in the legal dramas The Good Wife (2012–2013), and The Good Fight (2017). Perry portrayed Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot (2017) and appeared as himself in his final television role, Friends: The Reunion (2021). He voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010).
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Early life and education
Matthew Langford Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on August 19, 1969. His mother, Suzanne Marie Morrison (née Langford, born 1948), is a Canadian journalist who was press secretary to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. His father, John Bennett Perry (born 1941), is an American actor and former model.
Perry's parents separated when he was one year old, and his mother married Canadian broadcast journalist Keith Morrison. He was raised by his mother mostly in Ottawa, Ontario, but he also lived briefly in Toronto and Montreal. Perry attended Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College, a boarding school in Ottawa. He had four younger maternal half-siblings—Caitlin, Emily, Will, and Madeline—as well as a younger paternal half-sister named Maria. His siblings "would stand and applaud" him for early performances.
By the time he was ten, Perry started misbehaving. He stole money, smoked, let his grades slip, and beat up fellow student and future Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Perry later attributed this to feeling like a family outsider who did not belong when his mother began having children with Morrison, writing "I was so often on the outside looking in, still that kid up in the clouds on a flight to somewhere else, unaccompanied". Perry practiced tennis, often for 10 hours per day, and became a top-ranked junior player in Canada with the possibility of a tennis career. However, at age 15, he moved from Ottawa to live with his father in Los Angeles, where competition was tougher.
At 15 years old, Perry studied acting at Buckley School, a college-preparatory school in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, and graduated in 1987. While in high school, he took improvisational comedy classes at L.A. Connection in Sherman Oaks.
Career
1979–1993: Early roles
Perry's first credited role was a small part in 240-Robert in 1979 as a child actor. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Perry began auditioning for roles. Perry made guest appearances on Not Necessarily the News in 1983, Charles in Charge in 1985, and Silver Spoons in 1986. In 1987 and 1988, he played Chazz Russell in the TV series Second Chance (later called Boys Will Be Boys). Perry made his film debut in 1988 with A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. In 1989, he had a three-episode arc on Growing Pains, portraying Carol Seaver's boyfriend Sandy, who dies in a driving incident.
Perry was cast as a regular on the 1990 CBS sitcom Sydney, playing the younger brother of Valerie Bertinelli's character. In 1991, he made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Roger Azarian. Perry played the starring role in the ABC sitcom Home Free, which aired in 1993.
1994–2004: Breakthrough with Friends
Perry's commitment to a pilot for a sitcom called LAX 2194, set in the baggage handling department of Los Angeles Airport 200 years in the future, initially made him unavailable for a role in another pilot, Six of One, later called Friends. After the LAX 2194 pilot fell through, he had the opportunity to read for a part in Six of One and was cast as Chandler Bing. At age 24, he was the youngest member of the main cast. After making the pilot and while waiting for the show to air, Perry spent the summer of 1993 performing at the Williamstown Theater Festival alongside Gwyneth Paltrow.
Friends was hugely successful, and it made Perry an international celebrity. By 2002, he and his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer were making $1 million per episode. The program earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002 for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award. Perry appeared in films such Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, and Serving Sara. In 1995, he and Jennifer Aniston appeared in a 60-minute-long promotional video for Microsoft's Windows 95, released on VHS on August 1.
For his performance as Joe Quincy in The West Wing, Perry received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004. He appeared as attorney Todd Merrick in two episodes of Ally McBeal. In 2004, he made his directorial debut and acted in an episode of the fourth season of the comedy-drama Scrubs, an episode which included his father.
2005–2022: Later work
Perry starred in the TNT movie The Ron Clark Story, which premiered August 13, 2006, and received a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for his performance. From 2006 to 2007, he appeared in Aaron Sorkin's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perry played Matt Albie alongside Bradley Whitford's Danny Tripp, a writer-director duo brought in to help save a failing sketch show.
In 2006, Perry began filming Numb, a film based on a man suffering from depersonalization disorder. The release was postponed several times, but it was finally released on DVD on May 13, 2008. In 2008, Perry starred in the independent film Birds of America. Showtime passed on a pilot called The End of Steve, a dark comedy starring, written, and produced by Perry and Peter Tolan.
In 2009, Perry starred in the film 17 Again playing a 37-year-old man who transforms into his 17-year-old self (Zac Efron) after an accident. The film received mixed reviews and was a box-office success. A review on WRC-TV found Perry miscast in his role, emphasizing the disbelief in Efron growing up to resemble Perry, both physically and behaviorally — a sentiment echoed by other critics.
In 2009, Perry was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, when he presented Ellen DeGeneres with an Xbox 360 video game console and a copy of the game Fallout 3. The gesture led to game studio Obsidian Entertainment casting him in Fallout: New Vegas as the voice of Benny.
Perry's new comedy pilot, Mr. Sunshine, based on his original idea for the show, was bought by ABC. He played the lead role as a middle-aged man with an identity crisis. ABC canceled the series after nine episodes in 2011.
In 2012, Perry starred in the NBC comedy series Go On, written and produced by former Friends writer/producer Scott Silveri. Perry portrayed Ryan King, a sportscaster who tries to move on after the death of his wife through the help of mandatory therapy sessions. In the same year, he guest-starred on the CBS drama The Good Wife as attorney Mike Kresteva. He reprised his role in the fourth season in 2013.
In 2014, Perry made his British TV debut in the one-off comedy program The Dog Thrower, which aired on May 1 as part of Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents. He portrayed "a charismatic man" who enchanted onlookers by throwing his dog in the air. From 2015 to 2017, Perry starred in, co-wrote, and served as executive producer of a reboot of the sitcom The Odd Couple on CBS. He played Oscar Madison opposite Thomas Lennon as Felix Unger.
Perry played the lead role in the world premiere production of his play The End of Longing, which opened on February 11, 2016, at the Playhouse Theatre in London. Its limited run proved successful despite mixed reviews. Perry restructured the play and appeared alongside Jennifer Morrison in its second off-Broadway production, which opened at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on June 5, 2017. It closed on July 1 after receiving poor reviews.
In March 2017, Perry again reprised his role as attorney Mike Kresteva in The Good Fight, a sequel show to the CBS drama The Good Wife. Later that year, he starred as Ted Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys: After Camelot.
In May 2021, he participated in the special episode Friends: The Reunion. He was meant to have a role in Don't Look Up, but withdrew in 2020 because of CPR-induced broken ribs. Perry published a memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in October 2022. It became a bestseller on both Amazon and The New York Times charts.
Personal life
Perry held Canadian and American citizenship. He dated Yasmine Bleeth in 1995, Julia Roberts from 1995 to 1996, and Lizzy Caplan from 2006 to 2012. In November 2020, Perry became engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz. Their engagement ended in 2021.
Residences owned at some point by Perry included a condo in Sierra Towers purchased from Elton John, a house in Hollywood Hills, a house in Malibu, and a cottage in Pacific Palisades. In 2017, Perry purchased a condo occupying the top floor of The Century in Los Angeles for $20 million, selling it to Nick Molnar for $21.6 million in 2021, who in turn sold it to Rihanna in 2023. In June 2023, Perry purchased a mid-century modern house in Hollywood Hills.
Perry had a perfectionist and obsessive personality, spending many hours perfecting his answering machine message. He also believed in God, with whom he had "a very close relationship," calling himself "a seeker".
Philanthropy and advocacy
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he launched an apparel line inspired by Friends, with proceeds donated to the World Health Organization's COVID-19 relief fund.
Death
On October 28, 2023, at age 54, Perry was found dead at his Los Angeles apartment.
Acting credits
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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1988 | A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon | Fred Roberts | Credited as Matthew L. Perry | |
1989 | She's Out of Control | Timothy | Credited as Matthew L. Perry | |
1989 | Fat Man and Little Boy | Bomb Technician | Uncredited | |
1994 | Getting In | Randal Burns | Direct-to-video | |
1997 | Fools Rush In | Alex Whitman | ||
1998 | Almost Heroes | Leslie Edwards | ||
1999 | Three to Tango | Oscar Novak | ||
2000 | The Whole Nine Yards | Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky | ||
2000 | The Kid | Mr. Vivian | Cameo (uncredited) | |
2002 | Serving Sara | Joe Tyler | ||
2004 | The Whole Ten Yards | Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky | ||
2007 | Numb | Hudson Milbank | Also executive producer | |
2008 | Birds of America | Morrie | ||
2009 | 17 Again | Older Mike O'Donnell |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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1979 | 240-Robert | Arthur | Episode: "Bank Job" | |
1983 | Not Necessarily the News | Bob | Episode: "Audrie in Love" | |
1985 | Charles in Charge | Ed | Episode: "The Wrong Guy" Credited as Matthew L. Perry |
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1986 | Silver Spoons | Davey | Episode: "Rick Moves Out" | |
1987–1988 | Second Chance/Boys Will Be Boys | Chazz Russell | Series regular | |
1988 | Dance 'til Dawn | Roger | Television film | |
1988 | Just the Ten of Us | Ed | Episode: "The Dinner Test" Credited as Matthew L. Perry |
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1988 | Highway to Heaven | David Hastings | 2 episodes | |
1989 | Empty Nest | Bill at 18 | Episode: "A Life in the Day" | |
1989 | Growing Pains | Sandy | Recurring role; 3 episodes | |
1990 | Sydney | Billy Kells | Series regular | |
1990 | Who's the Boss? | Benjamin Dawson | Episode: "Roomies" | |
1990 | Call Me Anna | Desi Arnaz Jr. | Television film Credited as Matthew L. Perry |
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1991 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Roger Azarian | Episode: "April Is the Cruelest Month" | |
1992 | Dream On | Alex Farmer | Episode: "To the Moon, Alex!" | |
1992 | Sibs | Chas | Episode: "What Makes Lily Run?" | |
1993 | Deadly Relations | George Westerfield | Television film | |
1993 | Home Free | Matt Bailey | Series regular | |
1994 | Parallel Lives | Willi Morrison | Television film | |
1994–2004 | Friends | Chandler Bing | Main role | |
1995 | Caroline in the City | Chandler Bing | Episode: "Caroline and the Folks" | |
1995 | The John Larroquette Show | Steven | Episode: "Rachel Redux" | |
1997 | Saturday Night Live | Host | Episode: "Matthew Perry/Oasis" | |
2001 | The Simpsons | Himself | Voice, episode: "Treehouse of Horror XII" | |
2002 | Ally McBeal | Todd Merrick | 2 episodes | |
2003 | The West Wing | Joe Quincy | Recurring role; 3 episodes | |
2004 | Scrubs | Murray | Episode: "My Unicorn" Also director |
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2006 | The Ron Clark Story | Ron Clark | Television film | |
2006–2007 | Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | Matt Albie | Series regular | |
2011 | Childrens Hospital | Himself | Episode: "The Black Doctor" | |
2011 | Mr. Sunshine | Ben Donovan | Series regular Also creator, executive producer, and writer |
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2012–2013 | The Good Wife | Mike Kresteva | Recurring role; 4 episodes | |
2012–2013 | Go On | Ryan King | Series regular Also executive producer |
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2014 | ... Town | Sam Johnston | Episode: "Like a Diamond" | |
2014 | Playhouse Presents | The Charismatic Man | Episode: "The Dog Thrower" | |
2015 | Web Therapy | Tyler Bishop | 2 episodes | |
2015–2017 | The Odd Couple | Oscar Madison | Series regular Also creator, executive producer and writer |
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2017 | The Good Fight | Mike Kresteva | Recurring role; 3 episodes | |
2017 | The Kennedys: After Camelot | Ted Kennedy | Television miniseries; 4 episodes Also executive producer |
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2021 | Friends: The Reunion | Himself | HBO Max special; also executive producer |
Theatre
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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2016 | The End of Longing | Jack | Also playwright Playhouse Theatre, London |
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2017 | The End of Longing | Jack | Also playwright Lucille Lortel Theater, off-Broadway |
Video games
Year | Title | Voice role | Ref. |
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2010 | Fallout: New Vegas | Benny |
Awards and nominations
Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
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Golden Globe Awards | 2007 | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | The Ron Clark Story | Nominated | |
Primetime Emmy Awards | 2002 | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | Friends | Nominated | |
2003 | Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series | The West Wing | Nominated | ||
2004 | Nominated | ||||
2007 | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie | The Ron Clark Story | Nominated | ||
2021 | Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) | Friends: The Reunion | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | 1996 | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Friends | Won | |
1999 | Nominated | ||||
2000 | Nominated | ||||
2001 | Nominated | ||||
2002 | Nominated | ||||
2003 | Nominated | ||||
2004 | Nominated | ||||
2007 | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries | The Ron Clark Story | Nominated | ||
American Comedy Awards | 1996 | Funniest Supporting Male Performer in a TV Series | Friends | Nominated | |
1998 | Nominated | ||||
Huading Awards | 2013 | Best Global Actor in a Television Series | Go On | Won | |
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | 2002 | Favorite TV Actor | Friends | Nominated | |
People's Choice Awards | 2016 | Favorite Comedic TV Actor | N/A | Nominated | |
2017 | Nominated | ||||
Satellite Awards | 2006 | Best Actor in a Series, Drama | Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | Nominated | |
Teen Choice Awards | 2004 | Choice TV Actor – Comedy | Friends | Nominated | |
TV Guide Awards | 2000 | Editor's Choice | Won | ||
TV Land Awards | 2006 | Most Wonderful Wedding | Nominated |
See also
In Spanish: Matthew Perry (actor) para niños