MATTHEW PERRY
Date of Birth: August 19, 1969
Although Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, he was raised in Ottawa where his mother was a press agent for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. (His stepafather is NBC news anchor Keith Morrison.) Joking about the land of ice and snow where he was brought up, Perry says, "I started playing hockey when I was four years old because that's the law in Canada."
After making the move out west to try his luck in Hollywood, Perry did guest appearances on nearly every television series, including Charles in Charge, Silver Spoons, Highway to Heaven, Growing Pains, Empty Nest, Who's the Boss, Beverly Hills 90210, but he just wasn't get the breakthrough he needed until the script for a TV pilot called Friends landed in his lap. "I desperately -- desperately -- needed the money," Perry says about that time in 1994 when he was broke and out of work. "The part of Chandler leapt off the page, shook my hand, and said, 'This is you, man!'"
And him it was. Perry was cast in the role of Chandler and the show, of course, went on to become a huge hit, paving the way for Perry's feature film career, although that career hasn't been too solid to date. His first film role of any substance was Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek. About that movie he recalls: "I come from a history of doing failed TV shows. Fools Rush In was the first movie I'd been offered, they paid me a lot of money, and suddenly I'm in Las Vegas pretending that I'm confident knowing what the hell I'm doing. I was terrified." He went on to join an all-star cast in the hit film The Whole Nine Yards (2000). However, his next film, Serving Sara (2003) starring opposite Liz Hurley, was a box office bomb.
Friends finally halted production in 2004 after ten years, and after doing the feature film sequel The Whole Ten Yards (2004), Perry took a well-deserved break. He lives in Los Angeles and enjoys playing tennis, hockey and softball in his spare time.
FILMOGRAPHY:
The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
The Beginning of Wisdom (2003)
Serving Sara (2002)
The Whole Nine Yards (2000)
Three to Tango (1999)
Almost Heroes (1998)
Fools Rush In (1997)
Getting In (1994)
Parallel Lives (1994)
She's Out of Control (1989)
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988)