His mother is Suzanne Jane Louise Morrison, a Canadian journalist and former press secretary to the Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. His father, John bennett perry, is an American actor and former model. His parents divorced before his first birthday and his mother remarried Keith morrison, also a journalist by profession.
Matthew He lived his first years in the city of Ottawa, and while growing up, he had a developed interest and talent in tennis, reaching good positions among players his age. His education was spent in school Rockcliffe Pard Public School and, already in his youth, he was educated at the institute Lisgar and in Ashbury College.
For having grown up in Canada, but being originally from the United States, in addition to having developed his career in this country, he maintains dual citizenship, Canadian and American.
As a teenager he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. After having passed through Canadian colleges, he attended high school The Buckley, in Sherman Oaks. While studying there, he was cast in the role of George Gibas in the work “Our Town“And appeared as a junior in the production of”The Miracle Worker” and in “The sound of Music”.
In his last school year, the principal Tim hillman planned a production version “The Elephant Man”Specifically so that Matthew will interpret John merrick with Vanesa smith Y Lisa capps, which would later become famous for “The Miserables”.
He had his professional debut at age 18 with “A night in the life of Jimmy Reardon”(1988), together with River phoenix.
Among his first television appearances were “240 Robert“(1979),”Charles in charge”(1985), and“Silver Spoons”(1986).
Subsequently, he intended to enroll in the University of Southern California, but when he was offered the role of Chazz russell, on “Second chance”(1987-1988), he abandoned this desire, when he began to become known in the acting environment. This series, after 13 episodes, would change its format and would be renamed “Boys will be Boys”, Accompanying the rise of Matthew, on the media scene.
When the series ended “Boys will be boys”, Perry stayed in Los Angeles and had guest appearances on shows like “Growing Pains”(1989) and the famous“Beverly Hills, 90210”.
In the midst of discontinuous roles in different television series, he had a relatively stable role in the 1990 show, “Sydney”, Playing the young brother of Valerie Bertinelli.
Three years later, he had a starring role in the series of ABC, “Home Free“, Which lasted only 13 episodes, in the spring of 1993.
Until then, he had already achieved some recognition, being cast instantly for the dramatic pilot named “LAX 2194”. Because this project was progressing slowly, she decided to audition for a show that would be launched under the name of “Six of one“, But eventually his name would be changed to”Friends”, From the writers Marta Kauffman Y David crane.
However, due to his commitments to “Lax 2194”, Was not initially considered for this audition, and when he did eventually perform it, he landed the role that brought him the greatest recognition in his entire career, that of Chandler bing.
The Serie “Friends”, Was enormously successful and Matthew, along with their co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney cox, Lisa kudrow Y David schwimmer, they obtained international recognition.
Along with his successful career in “Friends“, He appeared in movies like”Only fools fall in love”(1997) together with Salma Hayek, “Heroes by chance”(1998) with Chris farley, Y “Tango for three”(1999) with Neve campbell.
Already started the new millennium, roles such as that of Nicholas Oz Ozeransky, on “Fake appearances”(2000) together with Bruce Willis Y Michael Clarke Duncan, and its sequel “More false appearances”(2004) with Amanda peet, Y “Hanging from Sara”(2002) with Elizabeth hurley.
Also around these years, he was seen as a guest in series such as “Ally mcbeal“(2002),”The West Wing of the White House”(2003) and“Scrubs”(2004). For his appearances in the role of the White House Counselor, Joe quincy, earned two award nominations Emmy, in 2002 and 2003. Also, in the fourth season of the series “Scrubs”, Participated as director of an episode, the same one in which he acted as Murray marks.
He was the protagonist of the film of TNT, “United to succeed”(2006-TV). In it he played Ron Clark, a village teacher who must teach within the toughest social class in the country, a role for which he won a nomination for the Golden globe and to Emmy.
Between 2006 and 2007, he was seen in the drama of Aaron Sorkin, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip“, In which he personified Matt albie, next to Bradley Whitford, both characters on a mission to save a show from failure. The character of Matthew was regarded as essentially based on the personal experiences of Sorkin, especially on television.
During 2007, he could be seen in the comedy “Numb“, Which she starred in with Mary Steenburgen Y Kevin Pollak, the following year he worked with Ben foster Y Hilary swank on “Birds of america“, And in 2009 he was part of”17 again “, with Zac efron, Leslie mann Y Michelle Trachtenberg, among others.
Among his latest works for television we can mention the telefilm “The End of Steve”, And he will soon be seen in the role of Ben in the series “Mr. Sunshine”, Of which he was also a producer in one episode.
In his personal life, he developed an addiction to alcohol and Vicodin, an analgesic medication he became addicted to after it was prescribed for him due to an accident at Jet Sky in 1997. In 2000, he was hospitalized for pancreatitis as a result of these. addictions. During that summer he lost a lot of weight, looking very skinny during the 7th season of “Friends”.
In his fight against this disease, he has attended several rehabilitation centers, including Hazleden in Minnesota, Promises in Malibu, among others. While filming “Serving Sara“He came out of rehab, which again impacted his weight, and this was also noted in”Friends”, Whose filming also had to be adjusted due to Matthew.
As for the sentimental section, Matthew He has been a sentimental partner of the actresses Julia Roberts, Yasmine bleeth Y Renee Ashtony, the businesswoman Jamie Tarses and the scriptwriter Gabrille bober.