Otherpeople
Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is an
American-
Canadian
actor who played
Chandler Bing on the
NBC sitcom
Friends for ten years between 1994 and 2004, earning a
Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2002. He was nominated for a
Golden Globe for his role in
The Ron Clark Story.
Biography
Perry was born in
Williamstown, Massachusetts,
United States. His mother, Suzanne Jane Louise Morrison (
née Langford), is a Canadian journalist and former press secretary to
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and his father,
John Bennett Perry, is an American actor and former model.
[Matthew Perry Biography (1969-)][rick perry Ancestries of Miscellaneous "Celebrities][FILM; The Fame He Craved Came, but It Wasn't Enough New York Times] Perry holds dual US/Canadian citizenship. His parents divorced before his first birthday and his mother re-married to
Keith Morrison, a broadcast journalist. Perry was raised by his mother in
Ottawa, Ontario and was enrolled at
Rockcliffe Park Public School,
Lisgar Collegiate Institute, and
Ashbury College. While growing up, he also took a keen interest in
tennis and soon became a top-ranked junior player.
Substance abuse
Perry grew dependent on the pain killer
Vicodin after a jetski accident which almost proved fatal, taking up to 20 to 30 pills a day.
[Matthew Perry & Aaron Sorkin Joke About Drugs, Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna and Jed Dreben, People magazine, July 22, 2009.] Following this episode he became an
alcoholic[FILM; The Fame He Craved Came, but It Wasn't Enough, Dana Kennedy, New York Times, August 18, 2002.] and in 2000 was hospitalized with
pancreatitis as a result of his addictions.
[Matthew Perry Cleans Up, Slims Down, ABC News] He subsequently lost 20 pounds, thus appearing noticeably thinner during the seventh season of
Friends.
To overcome the problems with the abuse he entered a number of rehab clinics, including
Promises in
Malibu.
