Matthew Perry Biography, Life, Career and Cause of Death
Matthew Perry was an actor best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends. Matthew Perry Died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 54 . Matthew Perry Biography and Cause of Death to get more details about it, please scroll down.
Matthew Perry Cause of Death
Perry was found unresponsive in his hot tub by his assistant at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, and later pronounced dead by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department. LAPD Captain Scot Williams said the cause of death may not be known for some time, but at this point foul play is not suspected. On October 29, 2023, the cause of death was listed as “deferred” by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office, pending “additional investigative steps”.
Matthew Perry Biography
Matthew Perry was an American and Canadian actor. He starred as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for the role. 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 gained a leading role in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which aired from 2006 to 2007. Perry 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 (2005), and 17 Again (2009).
| Birth Name | Matthew Langford Perry |
| Nicknames | Matty, Matt |
| Born | 19 August 19, 1969, Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.A |
| Died | 28 October 2023 (aged 54), Los Angeles, California, U.S.A |
| Occupations | Actor, Comedian and Producer |
| Years active | (1979–2023) |
| Parent | John Bennett Perry (Father)
Suzanne Perry (Mother) Keith Morrison (Step Father) Debbie Boyle Perry (Step Mother) |
| Age | 54 |
| Height | 6′ (1.83 m) |
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. Perry 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). He portrayed Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot (2017) and appeared as himself in Friends: The Reunion (2021).
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Perry suffered from severe addictions to dr@gs and alc@ohol. Through his recovery, he became an advocate for rehabilitation and spokesperson for the National Association of Dr@ug Court Professionals. In 2013, he received the Champion of Recovery Award from the White House Office of National Dr@ug Control Policy. He wrote a memoir entitled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing in 2022.
Matthew Perry Early life and Education
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.
His 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 school at Rockcliffe Park Public School, as well as Ashbury College, a boarding school in Ottawa.
By age 10, Perry started misbehaving. He stole money, smoked, let his grades slip, and beat up fellow student and future Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Perry began drinking alcohol at age 14 and was drinking every day by age 18. 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 Los Angeles to live with his father and competition there 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.
Matthew Perry Career
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 hospital after a drunk-driving crash.
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.
Perry’s commitment to a pilot for a drama called LAX 2194 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. He was the youngest member of the main cast at age 24.
Friends was hugely successful, and 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.
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 comedy-drama Scrubs, an episode which included his father.
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, Perry 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. Perry’s character was considered to be based substantially on Sorkin’s own personal experiences, particularly in television.
In 2006, he began filming Numb, a film based on a man suffering from depersonalization disorder. The film’s tentative release date was postponed several times, but it was finally released to DVD on May 13, 2008. He also appeared on stage in London in David Mamet’s Se*ual Perversity in Chicago. 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, he starred in the film 17 Again playing a 37-year-old man who transforms into his 17-year-old self (Zac Efron) after a chance 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.
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. The network cancelled the series after nine episodes in 2011.
In 2012, Perry starred in the 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, Perry 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. Perry 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 revival of the sitcom The Odd Couple on CBS. Perry 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. Years later Perry described the play as “a personal message to the world, an exaggerated form of me as a drunk. I had something important to say to people like me, and to people who love people like me.”
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. 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.
Matthew Perry 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, with their engagement ending in 2021.
In 2009, Perry was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he presented her with an Xbox 360 and a copy of Fallout 3. The gesture led to game studio Obsidian Entertainment casting him in Fallout: New Vegas as the voice of Benny.
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.
Matthew Perry Comedy Movies
Perry appeared in the hit comedy film The Whole Nine Yards (2000), as the neighbor of a hit man, played by Bruce Willis. His other feature film credits included Fools Rush In (1997), A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988), She’s Out of Control (1989) and Parallel Lives (1994). He also co-starred with Chris Farley in the buddy comedy Almost Heroes (1998) and in the romantic comedy, Three to Tango (1999), opposite Neve Campbell. Perry resides in Los Angeles. He enjoys playing ice hockey and softball in his spare time.
FAQs About Matthew Perry
1. What was Matthew Perry best known for?
A: Matthew Perry was best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends.
2. When and where did Matthew Perry pass away?
A: Matthew Perry passed away on October 28, 2023, at his home in Los Angeles, California.
3. What was the cause of Matthew Perry’s death?
A: Perry was found unresponsive in his hot tub. Although foul play is not suspected, the cause of death was initially listed as “deferred” by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office, pending further investigation.
4. What other notable roles did Matthew Perry have besides Friends?
A: Besides Friends, Perry starred in Ally McBeal, The West Wing, The Ron Clark Story, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Odd Couple. He also appeared in films like Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, and 17 Again.
5. What were some of Matthew Perry’s achievements?
A: Perry won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Friends. He was also nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for his roles in The West Wing and The Ron Clark Story.
6. Did Matthew Perry have any struggles during his life?
A: Yes, Perry struggled with severe addictions to drugs and alcohol. He became an advocate for rehabilitation and received the Champion of Recovery Award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2013.
7. What was Matthew Perry’s early life and education like?
A: Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and was raised primarily in Ottawa, Ontario. He attended Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
8. What were some of Matthew Perry’s other TV shows and films?
A: Perry appeared in Numb, The End of Longing, and Birds of America. He also had recurring roles in The Good Wife and The Good Fight and starred in the TV series Mr. Sunshine and Go On.
9. Did Matthew Perry write any books?
A: Yes, Perry wrote a memoir titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, published in October 2022.
10. What was Matthew Perry’s personal life like?
A: Perry held dual Canadian and American citizenship and had relationships with Yasmine Bleeth, Julia Roberts, and Lizzy Caplan. He was briefly engaged to Molly Hurwitz in 2020.
11. When and where was Matthew Perry born?
A: Matthew Perry was born on August 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
12. Who were Matthew Perry’s parents?
A: His mother, Suzanne Perry, is a Canadian journalist and former press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His father, John Bennett Perry, is an American actor and former model.
13. What was Matthew Perry’s family background?
A: Perry’s parents separated when he was one year old. His mother later married Canadian broadcast journalist Keith Morrison. Perry was primarily raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, and had a stepmother named Debbie Boyle Perry.
14. Where did Matthew Perry grow up and attend school?
A: Perry was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He attended Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College, a boarding school in Ottawa. At age 15, he moved to Los Angeles to live with his father and continued his education at Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.
15. What were Matthew Perry’s early interests and achievements?
A: As a child, Perry was a top-ranked junior tennis player in Canada, practicing for up to 10 hours a day. However, he shifted his focus to acting after moving to Los Angeles, where he studied acting and took improvisational comedy classes.
16. How did Matthew Perry start his acting career?
A: Perry began his acting career with a small role in 240-Robert in 1979. He made guest appearances on TV shows such as Not Necessarily the News, Charles in Charge, and Silver Spoons. He also had a role in the TV series Second Chance and made his film debut in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1988.
17. What was Perry’s role in Friends?
A: Perry played Chandler Bing, one of the six main characters on Friends. Chandler was known for his sarcastic humor and witty one-liners.
18. Did Matthew Perry have any other notable TV shows or films?
A: Yes, Perry starred in the TV series The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison, and had notable roles in films like The Whole Nine Yards and 17 Again. He also had significant roles in The West Wing, The Ron Clark Story, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
19. What advocacy work did Matthew Perry engage in?
A: Perry became an advocate for rehabilitation and recovery, particularly for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. He worked with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and received the Champion of Recovery Award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2013.
20. Did Matthew Perry own any notable properties?
A: Yes, Perry owned several properties, including a condo in Sierra Towers, a house in Hollywood Hills, a house in Malibu, and a cottage in Pacific Palisades. He purchased a top-floor condo in The Century in Los Angeles in 2017 and sold it in 2021. In June 2023, he purchased a mid-century modern house in Hollywood Hills.
21. What were Matthew Perry’s hobbies and interests outside of acting?
A: Perry enjoyed playing ice hockey and softball in his spare time. He also had a perfectionist and obsessive personality, spending many hours perfecting his answering machine message.
22. Did Matthew Perry have any involvement in video games?
A: Yes, in 2009, Perry appeared as the voice of Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas, a role he was cast in after presenting an Xbox 360 and a copy of Fallout 3 to Ellen DeGeneres on her show.
