| Matthew Perry |
Perry in 2007 |
| Born |
Matthew Langford Perry
August 19, 1969 (1969-08-19) (age 39)
Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Actor |
| Years active |
1987 – present |
Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is a Canadian-American actor. He played Chandler Bing on the NBC sitcom Friends for ten years between 1994 and 2004, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2002. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in The Ron Clark Story.
Early life and education
Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. His mother, Suzanne Jane Louise Morrison (née Langford), is a Canadian journalist and former press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and his father, John Bennett Perry, is an American actor and former model.[1][2][3] Perry holds dual US/Canadian citizenship. He is fluent in French. His parents divorced before his first birthday and his mother married Keith Morrison, a broadcast journalist. Perry was raised by his mother in Ottawa. While growing up in Ontario, Perry took a keen interest in tennis and soon became a top-ranked junior player. (Perry has been good friends with professional tennis player Jennifer Capriati.) He was enrolled at Rockcliffe Park Public School, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, and Ashbury College, all of which are in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Career
1980s
Perry moved from Ottawa to Los Angeles to pursue acting. For high school, he attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks. While at Buckley, Perry was featured as George Gibbs in Our Town and appeared as a junior in a production of The Miracle Worker. Patty Duke attended and praised the young Perry's convincing role as Helen's brother Jimmy. He was also featured in The Sound of Music as a junior. In his senior year, director Tim Hillman had planned a production of "The Elephant Man" specifically to feature Perry as John Merrick along with Vanessa Smith, and future Les Misérables star Lisa Capps. He then got his professional break at age 18. On being cast in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon with River Phoenix, Perry withdrew from Elephant Man and ended his high school acting career. Perry also pursued improv comedy at the LA Connection in Sherman Oaks while still in high school, quickly becoming a featured performer.
After some guest appearances in late 1980s television, it was his intention to enroll at the University of Southern California, but when he was offered the lead role of Chazz Russell in Second Chance he became noticed on the acting scene. Perry originally starred alongside Kiel Martin when the series premiered in 1987, but after 13 episodes the format changed: Second Chance became Boys Will Be Boys, Perry was elevated to top-billing status, and the plots re-focused on the adventures of Chazz and his teenage friends. Despite the shift, the show ran for only one season. When it concluded, Perry stayed in Los Angeles and made guest appearance on the television program Growing Pains in which he portrayed Carol's boyfriend who dies in a drunk driving accident.
1990s
In 1991 Perry made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Roger Azarian. In the midst of his many continuing guest roles on TV, Perry was a regular on the 1990 CBS farcical sitcom Sydney, playing the younger brother of Valerie Bertinelli's title character. Three years later, he landed his second TV starring role on the ABC sitcom Home Free, which only lasted 13 episodes in the spring of 1993. In 1993, he also played the role of football manager in the classic "Rudy," wearing Buddy Holly glasses. By then, Perry was making his mark, and was instantly cast in a new dramatic pilot titled LAX 2194. The project was slow to take off, so as a backup option, he attempted to secure an audition for the pilot Six of One, later to be known as Friends, by Marta Kauffman and David Crane, both of whom he had worked with on Dream On. However, due to previous commitments to the pilot LAX 2194, he was not initially considered for an audition. When he did eventually get a reading, he landed the part he is best known for, the role of Chandler Bing.
The program was hugely successful and Perry, along with his co-stars, gained wide renown among television viewers. The program also earned him Emmy nominations in 2002 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series along with Matt LeBlanc, but he lost to Ray Romano.
As well as his successful career on Friends, Perry has appeared in films such as Fools Rush In (alongside father John Bennett Perry and Salma Hayek), Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards (alongside Bruce Willis) and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, Serving Sara and 17 Again .
2000s
While known primarily for his comic roles, Perry has carved out a career in drama as well, particularly in his portrayal of Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy in Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing. His three appearances in that series (twice in the fourth season and once in the fifth) earned him two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004. Perry is referred to in the show prior to his guest appearance—Donna Moss seeks him out (off screen) in the episode "20 Hours in LA." He also appeared as attorney Todd Merrick in two episodes near the end of Ally McBeal's 5-season run, including a 2-hour special intended to revive the legal comedy-drama.
After Friends wrapped up, Perry made his directorial debut in an episode of the 4th season of the American comedy-drama Scrubs (which he also guest starred in, as "Murray Marks" an operator of a small airport's traffic control team. Murray is asked to donate a kidney to his father Gregory, played by Perry's real father).
He starred in the TNT movie, The Ron Clark Story, which premiered on August 13, 2006. Perry played Ron Clark, a small town teacher who relocates to the toughest class in the country. He received a Golden Globe nomination as well as an Emmy nomination for the performance.
In 2006–2007, Perry appeared in Aaron Sorkin's hour-long 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 substantially based on Sorkin's own personal experiences, particularly in television.[4]
In 2006 he began filming Numb, a comedy drama about a chronically depressed writer. The film's tentative release date was pushed back several times, but was finally released to DVD on May 13, 2008. He also appeared in David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago in London.[5] In April 2009, he appeared in the film 17 Again as the adult version of Zac Efron's character.
Showtime has passed on a pilot called The End of Steve, a dark comedy starring, written and produced by Perry and Peter Tolan.[6]
Personal life
Perry has battled with addiction intermittently since 1997, when he grew dependent on the pain killer Vicodin after a jetski accident. Following this episode he became an alcoholic, and in 2000 was hospitalised with pancreatitis as a result of his habits. He subsequently lost 20 pounds, thus appearing noticeably thinner during the seventh season of Friends. He also survived a car crash that same year, when he accidentally drove his Porsche into the porch of a house.
He has been booked into a number of rehab clinics, including Promises in Malibu.[7][8] Recently on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Perry said that he is a huge fan of Fallout 3, and that he had to visit the doctor for hand pains. He also gave away a signed copy of Fallout 3 for a charity auction on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Perry is bilingual, speaking French and English fluently. He is one of the three members of the Friends' cast who speak French fluently (the other two are Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc)
Perry has had a widely-reported romantic relationship with Julia Roberts during the time she appeared as a cameo role in the famous sitcom Friends along with Perry.
Theatre
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards
Emmy Awards
Golden Globes
American Comedy Awards
- Nominated - Funniest Supporting Male Performer in a TV Series for Friends (1996) - with David Schwimmer
Kids' Choice Awards
- Nominated - Favorite Television Actor for Friends (2002)
Satellite Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
TV Guide Awards
- Won - Editor's Choice for Friends (2000) - with whole cast along with Jane Sibbett and John Christopher Allen
TV Land Awards
- Nominated - Most Wonderful Wedding for Friends (2006) - with Courteney Cox
Teen Choice Awards
- Won - Choice TV Actor - Comedy for Friends (2004)
References
External links
