Matthew Perry Biography, Early Life, Education, Career, Personal Life, Facts, Trivia, Awards, Nominations, Wife, Net Worth, Movies, Age, TV Shows, Parents, Kids, Siblings, Instagram

Matthew Perry Biography

Matthew Langford Perry is an American-Canadian actor, comedian, and producer who was born on August 19, 1969. He rose to fame on a global scale in the 1990s thanks to his portrayal of Chandler Bing on the NBC comedy Friends (1994–2004).

Perry has starred in a number of movies, including Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, The Whole Nine Yards, 17 Again, and The Ron Clark Story, in addition to the brief-lived television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas in 2010, working in both voice-over and video games.

The ABC comedy Mr. Sunshine, which aired from February to April 2011, was co-created, co-written, executive produced, and starred Perry. Perry debuted as Ryan King, a sportscaster, on the NBC comedy Go On in August 2012. On May 10, 2013, the show was cancelled. From 2015 through 2017, Perry co-created and portrayed Oscar Madison in the CBS comedy The Odd Couple.

Matthew Perry Early life

On August 19, 1969, Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His mother, Canadian journalist Suzanne Marie Morrison (née Langford, born 1948), was Pierre Trudeau’s press secretary when he was the country’s previous prime minister. John Bennett Perry, his father, is an American actor and former model who was born in 1941.

Before he turned one, his parents had divorced, and his mother later wed radio journalist Keith Morrison, who is Canadian-born. Although he briefly resided in Toronto and Montreal, Quebec, he was reared by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, where he also received his education. He attended Ashbury College and Rockcliffe Park Public School, where he met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He developed a passion for tennis as a child and rose to the top of the junior rankings.

Matthew Perry Career

In order to pursue acting, 15-year-old Perry relocated from Ottawa to Los Angeles, where he attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks and received his diploma in 1987.While still in high school, he pursued improvisational comedy at the LA Connection in Sherman Oaks.

He took on the role of Chazz Russell in the television series Second Chance after graduating. After 13 episodes, Second Chance changed to Boys Will Be Boys, with the stories revolving around Chazz and his friends’ escapades. Perry remained in Los Angeles after the show’s sole season and made his acting debut in the 1988 movie A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.[18] Growing Pains’ three-episode narrative in 1989 included Perry playing Sandy, Carol Seaver’s boyfriend, who passes away in the hospital following a drunk driving accident.

In the middle of his numerous ongoing guest appearances on TV, Perry was chosen to play the younger brother of Valerie Bertinelli’s lead character in the 1990 CBS comedy Sydney. He played Roger Azarian in a 1991 cameo on Beverly Hills, 90210. Following a sitcom pilot titled LAX 2194, Perry won his next television leading role on the ABC sitcom Home Free, which ran for just 11 episodes in the spring of 1993.

Having worked with Marta Kauffman and David Crane on Dream On, he attempted to get an audition for their pilot Six of One, which would subsequently become Friends. However, he wasn’t initially given a chance to audition because of prior obligations to the pilot LAX 2194. When he eventually received a reading, Chandler Bing was his role. At age 24, he was the youngest member of the ensemble.

Friends was a great hit, and Perry and his co-stars achieved their long-held dream of becoming global celebrities. In 2002, he admitted to The New York Times, “There was steam coming out of my ears, I wanted to be famous so badly.” “You want the attention, you want the bucks, and you want the best seat in the restaurant.” Because of the sitcom’s enormous popularity, Perry and the other five members of the ensemble’s primary cast were each earning $1 million per episode by 2002.

Along with Matt LeBlanc, he was nominated for an Emmy[21] for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the show in 2002, but Ray Romano ultimately won the award. Along with his father John Bennett Perry and Salma Hayek, Perry starred in the movies Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards and The Whole Ten Yards, Serving Sara, and The Whole Nine Yards II.

Perry has established a career in drama as well, particularly with his depiction of Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing, despite being most recognized for his comedic parts. He received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004 for his three appearances in that program (twice in the fourth season and once in the fifth). Before making his appearance, Perry is mentioned in the program; in the “20 Hours in LA” episode, Donna Moss seeks him out (off-screen). Additionally, he made two episodes as attorney Todd Merrick near the end of the five-season run of Ally McBeal, including a two-hour special meant to revitalize the legal comedy-drama.

In an episode of the fourth season of the American comedy-drama Scrubs, which aired after Friends ended, Perry made his directorial debut. He also guest featured as “Murray Marks,” a member of a tiny airport’s traffic control crew. Gregory, played by Perry’s real father, requests Murray’s kidney donation.

The Ron Clark Story, commonly known as “The Triumph,” which debuted on TNT on August 13, 2006, featured him as a leading role. Perry portrayed Ron Clark, a teacher from a small town who moved to the toughest class in the nation. For his performance, Perry was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy.

Perry made an appearance in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a drama by Aaron Sorkin, from 2006 to 2007. The writer-director team of Matt Albie and Danny Tripp, played by Perry and Bradley Whitford, were hired to revive a struggling sketch program. Many believed that Sorkin’s inspiration for Perry came from his own life, particularly his experiences in television.

He started shooting Numb, a movie about a man with depersonalization illness, in 2006. The movie’s anticipated release date was repeatedly delayed, but on May 13, 2008, it was eventually made available on DVD. In London, he also made an appearance in Sexual Perversity in Chicago by David Mamet. He played the senior Mike O’Donnell in the 2009 movie 17 Again. In the eccentric 2008 movie Birds of America, Tyler Perry played Morrie Tanager, an aloof guy who must deal with his siblings. The End of Steve, a dark comedy pilot starring Perry and Peter Tolan and produced by Showtime, was rejected.

Based on Perry’s original concept for the show, Mr. Sunshine, the new comedic pilot was purchased by ABC. Perry was slated to play a middle-aged man experiencing an identity crisis. The show was canceled by ABC after nine episodes.

On March 1, 2012, it was announced that Perry had agreed to star in Scott Silveri’s comedy pilot for NBC, Go On. Scott Silveri previously wrote and produced Friends. In May 2012, the project was ordered to series. Perry played Ryan King, a sportscaster who uses required therapy sessions to help him get over the death of his wife. On August 8, 2012, the pilot was broadcast as a “sneak preview” following the Summer Olympics. On September 11, 2012, the series made its debut. NBC placed an order for a complete season of 22 episodes on October 2, 2012. Go On was canceled by NBC in May 2013, not long after the end of its debut season.

As lawyer Mike Kresteva, Perry appeared as a guest role in the 2012 season of the CBS program The Good Wife. He returned to the show in the fourth season in 2013.

In the one-off comedy special The Dog Thrower that aired on May 1 as part of Sky Arts’ Playhouse Presents, Perry made his British television debut in 2014. Using his dog as a prop, Perry depicted “a charismatic man” who mesmerized passersby. Perry served as executive producer, co-writer, and star of a CBS reboot of the sitcom The Odd Couple from 2015 to 2017. Thomas Lennon played Felix Unger alongside Perry as Oscar Madison.

The End of Longing, a new production of Perry’s play, had its world premiere at the Playhouse Theatre in London on February 11, 2016, with Perry playing the title role. On June 5, 2017, Jennifer Morrison debuted at the MCC Theater, where the production was transplanted from Off-Broadway.

Perry returned to his role as lawyer Mike Kresteva in the CBS drama The Good Fight, a follow-up to The Good Wife, in March 2017.

In the miniseries The Kennedys: After Camelot that was released later in 2017, he played Ted Kennedy.

Perry’s net worth was estimated by Business Insider to be around $80 million in 2018.

Perry released a memoir titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing in October 2022. It rose to the top of the bestselling lists on both Amazon and The New York Times.

Matthew Perry Awards & Nominations

• 2007 OFTA Television Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries (The Ron Clark Story)
• 2010 Gold Derby TV Award for TV Movie/Mini Actor of the Decade (The Ron Clark Story)

Matthew Perry Social Media

• Twitter: @MatthewPerry
• Instagram: @mattyperry4
• Facebook: @MatthewPerry

Matthew Perry Personal life

Perry is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States.

In 1995, Perry was dating Yasmine Bleeth. From 1995 to 1996, he also dated Julia Roberts. From 2006 through 2012, he dated Lizzy Caplan.

The Fallout video game franchise is a favorite of Perry’s. He offered Ellen a copy of Fallout 3 during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2009. Because of this, video game developer Obsidian Entertainment decided to include him in the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas episode.

According to a source, Perry underwent abdominal surgery in August 2018 to fix a gastrointestinal perforation. He indicated in a tweet that the surgery had occurred in June 2018 by saying that he had spent three months healing in the hospital on September 15, 2018.

In November 2020, he proposed to Molly Hurwitz, a literary manager. Perry made the engagement announcement in June 2021 and told People magazine, “Sometimes things simply don’t work out and this is one of them. Best wishes go out to Molly.

His politics, according to him, are “left of center.”

Alcohol and drug addiction

After a jet-ski accident in 1997, Perry developed a Vicodin addiction. Later that year, he finished a 28-day recovery program. Over the ensuing years, his weight fluctuated greatly; at one point, it was as low as 145 pounds (66 kg). Due to pancreatitis, he lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg) in 2000. He returned to treatment in February 2001 for alcohol, methadone, Vicodin, and amphetamine addiction.

When he experienced severe stomach pains while filming Serving Sara in Texas, he took a flight to Los Angeles and checked into the Daniel Freeman Hospital in Marina del Rey. Lisa Kasteler, Perry’s publicist, confirmed his treatment. He claims to have spent about $9 million on his sobriety. He has admitted that he cannot recall three years of his time spent performing on Friends because of his addiction problems, which occurred “somewhere between season three and six.”

In 2011, Perry visited Capitol Hill to petition members of Congress in support of financing for drug courts. Perry served as the spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. Perry opened Perry House, a sober living facility located in his former Malibu mansion, in May 2013 and was given a Champion of Recovery award by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 2015, Perry eventually sold the house and closed the rehab facility. Since May 2021, Perry has been abstinent at all times.

Matthew Perry Trivia

He mailed the first cover of “People” magazine he ever appeared on to one of his former teachers, Dr. Web, who warned him that if he kept making jokes all the time, he would never amount to anything.

He requested that his name be struck off the list of Best Actor in a Comedy Emmy nominees. All of the Friends (1994) cast members agreed that they would only be considered for supporting nominations.

a door-shutting mishap in kindergarten left him with a partial middle finger missing on his right hand.

Because of Matthew’s famed wit, producers frequently incorporated his jokes and recommendations on the show.

He didn’t need a script for his Chandler Bing audition because he was so familiar with the pilot. Before going for the audition, he had been assisting a friend with the role.

started working the following Monday after a Friday audition for Chandler Bing.

He delivered the climactic statement in the final 1994 Friends episode. Chandler, a character in the play, asks “Where?” when it is suggested that they all go out for coffee.

After receiving threats from his Warner Brothers superiors regarding his escalating weight issues, castmate Jennifer Aniston from the 1994 film Friends volunteers to be his personal trainer.

is the newest member of the Friends (1994) cast.

Friends (1994) co-star Jennifer Aniston and Perry were good friends off-screen.

As the father of one of Jennifer Aniston’s lovers, his father made an appearance in the Friends (1994) episode The One with Rachel’s New Dress (1998).

Previously held a national ranking in junior tennis in Canada. He has acknowledged in interviews that he attempted to play in the States but fell short of expectations.

In the 1997 film Fools Rush In, his father, John Bennett Perry, portrayed him as a child.

He is the only main cast member of Friends (1994) who hasn’t received a Razzie nomination.

raised in Canada’s Ottawa.

He finished a 28-day program for Vicodin addiction in 1997 (he had been using up to 55 tablets per day), and in 2001, he underwent another rehab stay for opiate addiction (OxyContin) and alcohol dependence (quart of vodka each day). While filming Serving Sara (2002) opposite Elizabeth Hurley, he was hospitalized once more in 2002.

He then checked himself into a rehab center in Marina del Rey, California. He estimates that he has undergone detoxification 65 times, gone to 6000 AA meetings, endured 14 operations, and nearly passed away in a trauma center in 2019 when his colon exploded.

Perry was the only one of the five patients who were given that night’s final chance of survival by being placed on an ECMO machine. After the incident, he spent a further 5 months in the hospital and was in a coma for 14 days.

spent about $9 million attempting to quit drinking and stay sober. Through his career, Perry has also struggled with significant weight loss and gain.

When he appeared as a guest star on the Scrubs (2001) episode My Unicorn, his real-life father, John Bennett Perry, performed the role of the boy’s father.

rejected a part in the 1996 film Independence Day. He was later replaced by Harry Connick Jr. for the role.

From 1995 to 1996, Perry dated Julia Roberts, Neve Campbell, Lauren Graham, and Lizzy Caplan, all of whom are actors. From 2006 through 2012, Perry dated Lizzy Caplan.

has dual citizenship in the US and Canada.

In his free time, he likes to play softball and ice hockey.

was friends with Justin Trudeau, Canada’s 23rd prime minister, in high school.

Bradley Whitford and Hank Azaria, who co-starred in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), are good friends.

The question “Are you always this nervous?” is posed to his characters in The Whole Nine Yards (2000) and Three to Tango (1999). In both cases, the answer is “yes.”

He was first considered for the role of Maj. Don West in Lost in Space (1998), but Matt LeBlanc, a co-star from Friends (1994), ultimately landed the role.

cited “Don’t Give Up” by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush as his favorite song on his Twitter account.

He and the rest of the group appeared on the Jay Leno program from the Central Perk set at the Friends (1994) studio after the Friends (1994) series finale aired on May 6, 2004.

Gil Kerlikowske, the American drug czar, presented him with the Champion of Recovery award.[May 2013].

During the 1970s and 1980s, mother Suzanne Morrison served as the prime minister of Canada’s press office.

appeared for the first time in the top 30 of Forbes’ list of the richest 100 celebrities. Keith Morrison is an NBC newscaster. Caitlin (born 1981), Emily (born 1985), Willy (born 1987), Madeleine (born 1989), and Marie Perry’s half-brother.

He appeared in six shows that each ran for just one season: Mr. Sunshine (2011), Go On (2012), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), Home Free (1993), Sydney (1990), and Boys Will Be Boys (1987).

made his debut on a major stage while performing with Minnie Driver in the West End of London.

He has German, Swiss-German, English, Irish, German, and French Canadian ancestry.

is a member of the board of directors for Atlanta, Georgia’s upcoming Ron Clark Academy. Perry portrayed Ron Clark, a well-known educator, in the TNT original movie The Ron Clark Story (2006).

was the 10th pick in the 1996 RHI (Roller Hockey International) draft, going to the Ottawa Loggers.

He was referenced as a guest at a party the president was attending in Los Angeles in season 1, episode 16 of The West Wing (1999). Later, during the fourth and fifth seasons, he appeared in three episodes as Joe Quincy.

Matthew stated in an interview that he developed a star complex while filming A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) and would arrogantly inquire of his other co-stars what they intended to do now that “they were on their way.” Then he continued, saying that after the movie was released, reality set in and nothing happened.

John Bennett Perry’s child.

His favorite NHL team is the Ottawa Senators. He frequently goes to the playoff games in Canada’s Ottawa. He saw the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs playoff games in 2004.

adores the Toronto Blue Jays.

resides in Malibu, Studio City, and Los Angeles, California.

resides in Malibu, Studio City, and Los Angeles, California.

Cast members of the 1994 film Friends consent to submitting themselves for nomination in the leading role categories for the Emmys.

attended the elite Ashbury College in Ottawa, Canada.

Michael Keaton is his role model.

Reagan “Fletch” Holder’s godfather is Mark Holder, the son of Christine Cameron and Reagan Holder.

A 75-year-old woman ran a stop sign and struck Matthew’s BMW in the side. Both parties were unharmed.

Matthew Perry Quotes

When I was about six years old, I discovered how to fall over because I wanted to make girls laugh.

[on creating the television program Mr. Sunshine] It’s based in part on me. Although I’d like to think I’m a little less self-centered than this character, there have definitely been times in my life when I have been. It’s been said that unless my name appears twice in a sentence, I don’t really pay attention to it.

When I performed “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” Aaron Sorkin could be seen pacing around the stage’s corner while grumbling to himself. I concluded that he must be crazy. Then I understood that what he was truly doing was acting out the scenes for the upcoming week while he was writing them. And I found that intriguing. I now belong to the group of folks who murmur in the room’s corner.

[on his sports-focused series ‘Go On’] I’m shameless whenever I come across a well-known athlete. I’ll simply ask them to appear on the program. They’ve all responded positively to my face so far.

I like characters who are somewhat broken but are trying to change for the better.

I just keep playing myself in all of my roles.

There were some cool kids and some very dumb kids in my high school, and I was probably the coolest of the truly dorky kids.

I want a woman with a peculiar sense of humor. If she doesn’t grasp the jokes I tell, she probably isn’t the one for me.

Michael Keaton was and still is my favorite actor. Growing up, he accomplished something innovative that I had never seen before in the 1982 film Night Shift, which is something that we all now emulate. And then, in 1988, he co-wrote and directed Beetlejuice (1988) and Clean and Sober (1988), and I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s what I want to do.”

Matthew Perry Filmography

Movies

• 1988 A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
• 1989 She’s Out of Control
• 1994 Parallel Lives
• 1997 Fools Rush In
• 1998 Almost Heroes
• 2000 The Whole Nine Yards
• 2004 The Whole Ten Yards
• 2009 17 Again
• 2006 The Ron Clark Story
• 2007 Numb
• 2008 Birds of America
• 1999 Imagining Emily (short film)

TV Shows

• 1987 Boys Will Be Boys
• 1994-2004 Friends
• 2006-2007 Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• 2011 Mr. Sunshine
• 2015-2017 The Odd Couple
• 2021 Friends: The Reunion

Who Is Matthew Perry?

Matthew Perry was raised in Los Angeles and Ottawa. Perry’s early career was filled with supporting roles and unsuccessful pilot projects, but in the mid-1990s, when he was cast as Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, he shot to popularity. Though the actor had battled addiction for many years, he went on to star in movies like Fools Rush In and The Whole Nine Yards. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Go On were later attempts by Perry to repeat his comedy success; nonetheless, a revival of The Odd Couple eventually found favor with viewers.

Does Matthew Perry have a wife?