Matthew Perry's Real Name: Matthew Langford Perry

Quick answer: Matthew Perry's full name was Matthew Langford Perry. He was born on August 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and died on October 28, 2023, in Los Angeles at age 54. He is best known as Chandler Bing on Friends (1994–2004), and he always worked under his own name (Britannica).

Real name and early life

Britannica gives his name in full as Matthew Langford Perry. Langford was his mother's maiden name. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Perry, Matthew, 1969-2023" and records his birth in Williamstown, Massachusetts (LOC). He was the only child of Suzanne Langford Perry, a journalist who later served as press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and actor John Bennett Perry. His parents divorced when he was an infant, and he grew up with his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, where he was a highly ranked junior tennis player. His mother later married NBC Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison.

At 15 he moved to Los Angeles to live with his father. He took improv classes while at the Buckley School and made his TV debut in 1979 on 240-Robert, a police drama that starred his father.

Career highlights

After small sitcom parts and several short-lived series, Perry was cast as Chandler Bing, the sarcastic office worker on Friends. The show became an international hit. By the last two seasons the cast earned $1 million per episode, and the 2004 finale drew more than 52 million viewers. Perry received an Emmy nomination for the role in 2002.

On film, Fools Rush In (1997) and Three to Tango (1999) did not find big audiences, but The Whole Nine Yards (2000) was a hit and got a 2004 sequel. He earned Emmy nominations for The West Wing and The Ron Clark Story (2006). He also starred in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Go On, and he co-created and starred in Mr. Sunshine and The Odd Couple (2015–17).

His 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, described years of addiction and became a New York Times bestseller. The medical examiner ruled that he died from the "acute effects of ketamine." According to Britannica, all five people later charged in connection with his death pleaded guilty, and they were sentenced in 2025 and 2026.

Name notes for searchers

"Matthew Perry" is his birth name, not a stage name. Langford is his middle name. Do not confuse him with Commodore Matthew C. Perry, the 19th-century U.S. naval officer.