Remembering Matthew Perry’s Life and Career in Photos
Remembering the life of ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry, who died at age 54 on October. 28
Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry started acting at 10 years old — but to many fans, he’ll always be Chandler Bing.
The beloved Friends actor died on October. 28, 2023, at 54 years old.
In November of 2022, the star released a memoir entitled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, looking back on his lengthy career in TV and movies as well as the ups and downs of his life.
“I’m an extremely grateful guy. I’m grateful to be alive, that’s for sure,” he told PEOPLE. “And that gives me the ability to do anything.”
Here, as friends and fans mourn the actor, look back on his life, and movie and TV roles, in photos.
Matthew Perry during Feed The Valley Homeless Benefit at Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks, California, United States
Young Matthew Perry.
Matthew Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on Aug. 19, 1969, though was raised in Ottawa, Canada (he participated in elementary school with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau).
His mother, Suzanne Morrison, was a journalist and press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin’s father.
Perry’s stepfather is Dateline’s Keith Morrison. His father, John Bennett Perry, was once an actor and model — the younger Perry even guest-starred in an episode of his dad’s cop show, 240-Robert, in 1979.
Matthew Perry’s TV Roles
Valerie Bertinelli and Matthew Perry at the Set of “Sydney” in Los Angeles, California
Matthew Perry and Valerie Bertinelli on Sydney.
Perry’s early television work included bit parts on favorites like Charles in Charge and Silver Spoons before he landed a role on Boys Will Be Boys and later, Sydney, alongside Valerie Bertinelli.
In his memoir, Perry wrote that he “fell madly in love” with Bertinelli when their siblings played in the short-lived 1990 CBS sitcom, claiming that she was “clearly in a troubled marriage” with rocker Eddie Van Halen at the time. He revealed that he had “elaborate fantasies” about her leaving the rock star and they ran away together before he finally made a move.
For her part, Bertinelli responded with a TikTok asking, “Anyone misbehave in their 20s and early 30s? Are you Mortified?”
He went on to have a string of high-profile relationships, getting engaged in 2020 to literary manager Molly Hurwitz. The two split in the summer of 2021.
Matthew Perry on ‘Friends’
Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox Arquette, ‘The One With Rachel’s Going Away Party (aka The One Where Rachel Goes To Paris)’,
Matthew Perry on Friends.
In 1994, Perry landed the role of Chandler Bing on Friends, earning an Emmy nod for his work in 2002.
“It was as if someone had followed me around for a year, stealing my jokes, copying my mannerisms, photocopying my world-weary yet witty view of life,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir, according to Deadline. “It wasn’t that I thought I could play ‘Chandler’; I was Chandler.”
As with his costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, the show became a large part of his legacy. The cast reunited in 2021 on an HBO Max special, though spent quality time together off-screen through the years, often popping up at each other’s premieres and birthday dinners.
Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis in The Whole Nine Yards.
Later in the ’90s, Perry began to make his mark on the big screen. Perhaps most notably in 2000’s The Whole Nine Yards and 2004’s The Whole Ten Yards opposite Bruce Willis.
“Bruce hadn’t been sure the film would work at all, and I’d bet him it would — if he lost, he had to do a guest spot on Friends,” Perry wrote of the first movie in his memoir, adding, “(he’s in three episodes of season six).”
“He’s a very funny wrir like he’s a very funny man. He’s an incredibly gifted comedian … his way with words is fantastic,” Hurley told Yahoo Entertainment in 2022.
Other highlights included 1997’s Fools Rush In, 1999’s Three to Tango and 2009’s 17 Again, opposite Zac Efron.