US actor Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the hit ’90s TV sitcom Friends, has died at the age of 54.
The actor was found dead at his home in his Los Angeles, law enforcement sources told US media.
Perry died in an apparent drowning at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. An official cause of death has yet to be released.
Warner Bros Television Group, which produced all 10 seasons of Friends from 1994 until 2004, paid tribute to “our dear friend” and “an incredibly gifted actor”.
Friends, which followed the fortunes of six young friends living in New York City, aired from 1994 until 2004.
After small roles in Growing Pains, Beverly Hills 90210 and Dream On, Perry scored the role of sarcastic and neurotic Chandler Bing in Friends. The comedy, about six friends living in New York City, quickly became a phenomenon, winning multiple Emmys and scoring record ratings; the 2004 finale reached more than 52 million viewers in the US, making it the most watched TV episode of the 2000s.
Born in Massachusetts in 1969, Perry was raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he attended elementary school with Justin Trudeau, who later became Canadian prime minister.
At 15, Perry moved to Hollywood, with the hope of reconnecting with his father. It was there he began to enjoy acting, and was eventually spotted at a diner, “charming a bunch of young women”, by director William Richert, who left a note asking him to be in his next movie, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, alongside River Phoenix.
Perry was 24 when he started playing Chandler and was relatively unknown, like his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer; Courteney Cox was known for her role in Family Ties. In a 2019 interview, Friends co-creator David Crane said Chandler was the most difficult character to cast, with actors Craig Bierko, Jon Cryer and Jon Favreau also considered for the role.
The comedy, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow, became one of the most successful shows of all time.
Perry was cast as the awkward Chandler Bing, famous for his sarcastic one-liners. The role earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2002.
When Friends ended in 2004, Perry’s next small-screen lead was in Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which was cancelled after one season.
In 2009 he starred in hit comedy 17 Again alongside Zac Efron, and later guest-starred on both The Good Wife and The Good Fight.
Perry also led one-season sitcom Go On and a remake of The Odd Couple, which lasted for three seasons. In 2016 he wrote and starred in play The End of Longing, which opened in the West End and later transferred to Broadway.
Perry battled for years with addiction to painkillers and alcohol, and attended rehabilitation clinics on multiple occasions
In 2019, he was put in a two-week coma when his colon exploded due to opiate abuse; he underwent 14 surgeries to repair the damage. “At this point in my life, the words of gratitude pour out of me because I should be dead, and yet somehow I am not,” he wrote in Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice in Friends, was the first of Perry’s co-stars to publicly pay tribute to the actor.
Ms Wheeler said the joy Perry brought to “so many” in his “too short lifetime will live on”.
“I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared,” she wrote on Instagram.
Morgan Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother and erotic novel writer Nora Bing, said: “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry.”
“The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock,” she added.
