American actor, best known for his role as Chandler Bing in the long-running hit TV series, “Friends.”
The son of actor John Bennett Perry, he moved with his mom, Suzanne, to Ontario, Canada at six-months old when his folks split up. His mom worked as press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and in 1980 married TV-news anchor Keith Morrison and had four more children.
Matthew took up tennis as a kid and reached the skills of third-ranking junior doubles player in Canada . He caught the acting-bug in school and in 1984, moved to Los Angeles to check out Hollywood, living with his dad, stepmother and step-sister. For the next decade, he served his apprenticeship in guest appearances on a variety of teen-oriented TV series. At 17, he auditioned and got a small part in his first movie, “A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon,” released in 1988. He graduated from high school but with little interest in college. Matthew made a deal with his dad that he would start college if he did not find work as an actor within a year. Within a week he began his one-episode stints on seemingly every series available. “Sitcom-hell” was good training but was leading nowhere when he joined the just-forming cast of “Friends.” When the show made its debut on NBC’s Fall 1994 schedule, it shot to immediate success and its six co-stars to international stardom.
Whenever the sitcom was on hiatus, Perry took roles in films such as “Fools Rush In,” 1997, “Almost Heroes,” 1998 and “The Whole Nine Yards,” 2000. He added a new home, wardrobe and Porsche to his life, along with a nose job to soften his profile and a few gorgeous women by his side. On 6/04/1997, he checked into a drug rehab center suffering from “chemical dependency on a prescription medication,” Hollywood’s most recent occupational hazard. His recreations include ice hockey and softball.
In May 2000, Perry had a car accident, running his Porsche into the front porch of a house. He entered a rehab facility on 3/15/2001 for a reported addiction to Vicadin, methadone, speed and alcohol. On 4/20/2001, he was driving his brand-new silver BMW when a senior woman ran into him at an intersection; no substance abuse was involved.
On January 23, 2004 he and the rest of the cast of top-rated series “Friends” filmed their last episode to be aired in May 2004.
In mid-February 2005, he was rushed to the hospital where he stayed for 24 hours. He had reportedly suffered a reaction to a prescription drug but there was speculation that his drug-abuse problem might have again reared its head.
Perry began dating Rachel Dunn in 2003 but the couple split in June 2005. From 2006 to 2012, he was in a relationship with actress Lizzy Caplan.
Link to Wikipedia biography