Matthew Perry

Perry was the son of Canadian journalist Suzanne Marie Langford and American actor John Bennett Perry. His parents separated when he was an infant, and he was raised mainly by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario. His stepfather was television journalist Keith Morrison, and his extended family included five younger half-siblings. He attended Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College before moving to Los Angeles at 15 to live with his father.

Perry never married and had no children. He became engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz in November 2020, but the engagement ended in 2021. He previously dated Julia Roberts, Lizzy Caplan, and other women named in accounts of his personal life.

Perry began drinking alcohol at 14 and later struggled with addictions to alcohol, prescription pain medications, and other substances. He entered rehabilitation in 1997 and again in 2001, while later treatment included numerous rehabilitation stays and therapy. In 2018, an opioid-related gastrointestinal perforation left him in a coma for two weeks, followed by a five-month hospital stay and nine months using a colostomy bag. His memoir stated that he had been clean and sober since early 2021, although later accounts described a relapse before his death.

Perry gained international fame as Chandler Bing on Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004. Chandler was known for sarcasm and self-deprecation, traits Perry combined with a more vulnerable performance. The role made him one of television's most recognizable comic actors and earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2002.

Perry starred in the ensemble alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer. Chandler's relationship with Monica Geller, played by Cox, became a major storyline, and the characters eventually married, adopted twins, and planned to move to the suburbs. The series finale attracted more than 52 million viewers in the United States.

Perry and his five principal castmates received a Screen Actors Guild Award for ensemble performance in 1996. He returned with the cast for the 2021 special Friends: The Reunion, which became his final television appearance.

Perry began acting as a teenager, appearing in the television series 240-Robert in 1979 and later taking guest roles in programs including Charles in Charge, Silver Spoons, and Growing Pains. His first starring sitcom was Second Chance, later retitled Boys Will Be Boys, and he subsequently led the short-lived series Home Free. His film debut came in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1988, opposite River Phoenix.

During and after Friends, Perry appeared in comedies such as Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, Serving Sara, and 17 Again. He found commercial success as dentist Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky in The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel, The Whole Ten Yards. His performance in the television film The Ron Clark Story earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Perry continued to work in television with roles in Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the short-lived sitcoms Mr. Sunshine and Go On, and the legal dramas The Good Wife and The Good Fight. From 2015 to 2017, he starred in, co-wrote, and executive-produced The Odd Couple, playing Oscar Madison opposite Thomas Lennon as Felix Unger. He also played Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot, appeared onstage in The End of Longing, and voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas.

Perry wrote candidly about addiction in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. The book became a New York Times bestseller and connected his personal experiences with his efforts to help people seeking recovery. He lobbied Congress on behalf of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and converted his former Malibu home into Perry House, a men's sober-living facility that operated from 2013 to 2015.

Perry died at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023. The medical examiner attributed his death to the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine listed as contributing factors. His funeral was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, where he was buried.

Five people were charged in connection with supplying or administering the ketamine involved in his death, and all pleaded guilty. The Matthew Perry Foundation was established after his death to support people struggling with addiction, extending the recovery advocacy that had become a central part of his public life.