Matthew Perry, who played the character Chandler Bing in the world-renowned sitcom “Friends”, has died at the young age of 54. Matthew Perry was found in the hot-tub in his house, and it is likely to take weeks before the cause of his death is known.

Matthew Perry appeared for 10 seasons in “Friends” alongside the rest of the crew, which included Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt Le Blanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer playing a young group of professionals in New York. He admitted in his 2022 best-selling book, linked to his addiction, that he “should be dead”.   

 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his old schoolmate. He wrote on X “I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play, and I know people around the world are never going to forget the joy he brought them”.

He was born in Massachusetts to a Canadian mother and a father who was an American actor. His parents divorced when he was very young, and he was brought up by his mother in Ottowa. His mother remarried to Keith Morrison and they had 4 children. He started to get in trouble when he was a teenager and was drinking heavily by the age of 18.  

In 1993, he was committed to a pilot for a drama called LAX 2194, making him unavailable for another pilot called “Six of One” which later was called “Friends”. The LAX 2194 pilot did not go through, and he was given the part of Chandler Bing, at the age of 24, making him the youngest of the cast. The series ran from 1994-2004 and it made him a world-wide star. By 2002 the cast were earning $1 million per episode.

He appeared in a number of films, including “The Whole Ten Yards”, “Three to Tango”, “Fools Rush In” and “Serving Sara”. While appearing as Joe Quincy in the series “The West Wing”, he received two Emmy nominations.