Matthew Perry was born on August 19, 1969 in Williamstown, Massachusetts but raised in Ottawa, Ontario. He is the only child of Suzanne and John Perry, who were divorced when he was less than a  year old. Perry's dad is known as the guy in the Old Spice commercials. Perry's mom is a former Canadian TV anchor and onetime press secretary for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.   Perry is a tennis-lover. He started at the age of 4. At 13, he was ranked as the No.2 player in Ottawa. Perry began acting in seventh grade when he played a gunslinger named Arriba Arriba Geneva in his Ashbury College production of a play called The Life and Death of Sneaky Fitch.   His mother married Canadian anchorman Keith Morrison when Perry was 10 and proceeded to have four more children: Caitlin, Emily, Willy, and Madeline. At 15, Perry moved to L.A. to test his tennis and acting skills. He moved in with his father, John's second wife, Debbie, and their daughter Marie. He was prepared for his first big U.S. tennis match. Unfortunately, things didn't go well so Perry decided to pursue an acting career instead.

 

In 1985, Perry starred as George Gibbs in the 1985 Buckley School production of Our Town. At 16, Perry got his first big break from a waitress in a San Fernando Valley restaurant. She gave him a napkin with a note written on it by a director who had spotted Perry while dining. Perry auditioned and won a small role in the 1988 River Phoenix film A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.   In 1993, Perry and good friend Andrew Hill Newman decided to write their own sitcom, Maxwell's House, which was about the lives of twentysomething friends. Too bad NBC already had a similar sitcom in the works. This sitcom was later known as Friends. In 1994, Perry auditioned for the show and got the part of Chandler Bing. As of now, Perry is enjoying the fame and fortune he is receiving from Friends.

 

Filmography   Edwards and Hunt: The First American Road Trip (1997)   Fools Rush In (1997) .... Alex Whitman   "Friends" (1994/I) TV Series .... Chandler Bing   Getting In (1994) .... Randall Burns   ... aka Student Body (1994)   Parallel Lives (1994) .... Willie Morrison   "Home Free" (1993) TV Series .... Matt Bailey   Deadly Relations (1993) (TV) .... George Westerfield   "Sydney" (1990) TV Series .... Billy Kells   Call Me Anna (1990) (TV) .... Desi Arnaz Jr   She's Out of Control (1989) .... Timothy   Dance 'Til Dawn (1988) (TV) .... Roger   Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, A (1988) .... Fred Roberts   ... aka Jimmy Reardon (1988)   "Second Chance" (1987) TV Series .... Chazz Russell   ... aka "Boys Will Be Boys" (1987)

 

Miscellaneous crew filmography   FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) (creative consultant)   Notable TV guest appearances   "Caroline in the City" (1995) as "Chandler Bing" 1996   "John Larroquette Show, The" (1993) 1995   "Dream On" (1990) as "Alex"in episode: "To The Moon, Alex!" 10/31/1992   "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990) as "a tennis player" 1990/1991   "Who's the Boss?" (1984) as "Benjamin"in episode: "Roomies" 1990   "Just the Ten of Us" (1988) as "Bob" 1989   "Empty Nest" (1988) as "older Billy"   "Tracey Ullman Show, The" (1987) as "Craig"   "Growing Pains" (1985) as "Carol's boyfriend Sandy"   "Charles in Charge" (1984)