Matthew Perry
American-Canadian actor (1969-2023) · United States · On the map · Actors · Died at 54 · also Canada
Chandler Bing's sarcasm became the template for a generation of TV comedy - a cadence so sharp and specific that millions still quote it reflexively. Matthew Perry made vulnerability funny at a scale few sitcom actors ever reach, then spent decades fighting addictions that finally killed him at 54.
3 years since their death, on 28 October.
A life in dates
The Jennifer Hudson ShowSeries
Matthew Perry: The Diane Sawyer InterviewFilm, 20222019
Friends 25th: The One with the AnniversaryFilm, Chandler Bing2015
Misery Loves ComedyFilm2014The Dog ThrowerFilm, The Charismatic Man2013Huading AwardsAward2010
ConanSeries2009
17 AgainFilm, Mike O'Donnell (Adult)2007
The Graham Norton ShowSeries
NumbFilm, 2007Hudson Milbank2004
The Whole Ten YardsFilm, Oz2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!Series2000TV Guide AwardAward
The KidFilm, 2000Mr. Vivian (uncredited)1999
The West WingSeries, Joe Quincy1998
Almost HeroesFilm, Leslie Edwards1997
Fools Rush InFilm, Alex1996Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy SeriesAward
The Daily ShowSeries, 19961994
Getting InFilm, Randall Burns1993
Late Night with Conan O'BrienSeries1990
Beverly Hills, 90210Series, Roger Azarian
Call Me AnnaFilm, 1990Desi Arnaz Jr.1988
LIVE with Kelly and MarkSeries
A Night in the Life of Jimmy ReardonFilm, 1988Fred Roberts1969Born19 August 1969People around Matthew
Courteney Cox Also in Friends, season 2 and The Pilot
Jennifer Aniston Also in Cougar Town and Friends, season 2
Lisa Kudrow Also in Cougar Town and Friends, season 2
Matt LeBlanc Also in Friends, season 2 and The Pilot
David Schwimmer Directed The One Where Joey Dates Rachel
Robby Benson Directed The One with Phoebe's Ex-Partner (1997)
James Burrows Directed The Pilot (1994)
Kevin S. Bright Directed The One with the Embryos (1998)
Michael Lembeck Directed The One with Ross's New Girlfriend (1995)
Peter Bonerz Directed The One with the Flashback
Gail Mancuso Directed The One Where No One's Ready (1997)
Gary Halvorson Directed The One with the Rumor (2001)- James Michael Tyler Also in The One with the Sonogram at the End (1994)
David Crane Wrote The Pilot (1994)
Marta Kauffman Wrote The Pilot (1994)
Bruce Willis Also in Ally McBeal and The Whole Nine Yards
Pamela Fryman Directed The One with the East German Laundry Detergent (1994)
Thomas Schlamme Directed The One with the Lesbian Wedding (1996)
Roger Christiansen Directed The One Where Rachel's Sister Baby-Sits
Kevin Pollak Also in The Whole Nine Yards and Numb
Josh Hopkins Directed Cougar Town, also in Ally McBeal
Jon Turteltaub Produced Disney's The Kid (2000)
Dylan McDermott Also in Ally McBeal and Three to Tango
Julie White Also in Ally McBeal and Go On
Parents
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View all 29 titles
Friends: The Reunion 2021
The Ron Clark Story 2006
The Kid 2000
The Whole Nine Yards 2000
Fools Rush In 1997
Also in Deutsch
Filmography 29
101 credits on file
Television 24
Media & music
Awards
About this person
Perry broke through on Friends in 1994, playing Chandler Bing with a timing and delivery so precise it earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002 and turned his rhythm into a cultural dialect. He cycled through film leads - Fools Rush In in 1997, The Whole Nine Yards in 2000, 17 Again in 2009 - and Emmy-nominated turns on The West Wing and in The Ron Clark Story, but the sitcom work kept calling him back: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Go On, a revival of The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison from 2015 to 2017. Behind it, addiction to drugs and alcohol shadowed most of his life; he turned his recovery into advocacy, earning a White House award in 2013 and publishing his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing in 2022. On October 28, 2023, he drowned in his home after taking ketamine; five people who helped supply the drug were charged, all pleading guilty. What lasts is the performance: a comic archetype cracked open just enough to let the loneliness show through.
