Matthew Perry died at 54: His life in pictures

The series “Friends” gave Matthew Perry his big acting breakthrough, even though he had already flickered across TV screens in one or two roles before. But fame also brought its downsides, as over time he became addicted to alcohol, drugs and painkillers: addictions that he struggled to fight over the rest of his life. He wrote about his experiences in his memoirs, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”

Matthew Perry sought the spotlight from an early age. During his high school years, he appeared on the school’s theater stage and played tennis successfully. With the sport he even managed to reach 17th place in the national youth rankings as a singles player and third place in doubles. But acting won out as a passion and later career. Perry played tennis again and again throughout his life.

Matthew Perry became world famous as “Chandler Bing”.

His acting career began with guest appearances in various television series. In 1987 he appeared in the television film “Morning Maggie”. In the same year he landed a leading role in the series “Second Chance”. Further smaller roles in films followed until he became part of the cast of the hit series “Friends” in 1994. By 2004 he had filmed ten seasons alongside Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc.

He achieved international fame with the role of “Chandler Bing” in “Friends”, but somehow things never worked out in love for long. He once told the American “People” magazine that many women were always after his money and that this damaged him. The result was that he ended up feeling like every woman he dated would want to “destroy” him.

According to US media reports, the actor died on Saturday, October 28th at his home in Los Angeles. It was said to have been found lifeless in its hot tub. The exact cause of death is still unclear.