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Actor

Matthew Perry

Bio

Matthew Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts to an American father, actor John Bennett Perry, and a Canadian mother, Suzanne Perry Morrison (now Suzanne Langford), a former press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He holds dual US/Canada citizenship. His parents divorced before his first birthday. 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. He was enrolled at Rocklcliffe Park Public School, Lisgar Collegiate Institute and Ashbury College, where he got his first acting role in a school production in the seventh grade. At the age of fifteen, Perry moved from Ottawa to Los Angeles to pursue acting. For high school, he attended the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks. 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 Chances he became noticed on the acting scene. Second Chances ran for only one season. When it concluded, Perry stayed in Los Angeles and made guest appearances on television programs. In the early 1990s he attempted to secure an audition for the pilot Six of One 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 on what was by then called Friends. As well as his successful career on Friends, Perry has appeared in films such as Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards (alongside Bruce Willis) and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, Fools Rush In (alongside father, John Bennett Perry), and Serving Sara. While known primarily for his comedic 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. After Friends wrapped up, Perry made his directorial debut in an episode of Bill Lawrence's sitcom Scrubs (which he also guest starred in, alongside his 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 for the performance. In 2006, Perry appeared in Aaron Sorkin's new 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 is considered to be substantially based on Sorkin's own personal experiences, particularly in television. Other projects include narrating the audiobook of Douglas Coupland's Microserfs and volunteering as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program. He hosted the 2005 ESPY Awards, which took place on July 13 in Los Angeles. In 2006 he began filming Numb, a comedy drama about a chronically depressed writer. The film has a tentative release date of summer 2007.

Appearing as:

Hudson