‘Mr. Sunshine’, ‘Friends’ Star, Matthew Perry, Dead at 54

We have some very sad news coming out of Los Angeles tonight. According to multiple reports, Friends star Matthew Perry has died. He was just 54 years old.

A report from TMZ states that police were called to a Los Angeles area home with reports of a cardiac issue. When they arrived, they found Perry unconscious in a jacuzzi tub. Initial reports state that the actor died of an apparent drowning. His assistant was reportedly the one who found Mr. Perry and called 9-1-1.

Initial reports indicate that there were no drugs found at the scene and no foul play is expected. Perry has a long history with drug abuse, but in October 2022, the actor said that he recently celebrated 18 months of sobriety. He claimed to have been sober since early 2021.

Matthew Langford Perry was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1969. He began his acting career when he was just 10 years old and appeared on an episode of 240-Robert.

For more than a decade, he continued to act in small roles in a number of movies and television shows. His big break came in 1994 when he received a starring role in what would be one of the most popular shows in recent memory — Friends. Perry played Chandler Bing, a statistician. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer.

In 2011, Perry co-created, co-wrote, executive produced, and starred in the ABC sitcom, Mr. Sunshine. The show ran from February 2011 until April 2011.

In Mr. Sunshine, Perry played Ben Donovan, the operations manager at the second-rate stadium, Sunshine Arena. Through his job, Perry meets a lot of… interesting… people and the problems that come with them. He also struggles to deal with his unpredictable boss, played by The West Wing star, Allison Janney.

In addition to his starring roles in Friends and Mr. Sunshine, Perry had a number of other notable starring roles in both film and television. In 2009, he starred alongside High School Musical star Zac Efron in 17 Again. He also had a major role in The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies, where he played shady attorney, Mike Kresteva. He reprised that role in The Good Fight spinoff.

From 2015 to 2017, he also starred as Oscar Madison in the CBS reboot of The Odd Couple.

Before his untimely passing, Perry was very open about his past struggles with alcoholism and drug use. He said that, during his darkest days, he was drinking an average of two pints of vodka each day. He would also take up to thirty pills along with the vodka.

Over the years, fans voiced their growing concern for the actor. It became increasingly difficult for him to cover up his alcohol and drug addiction struggles. Perry ended up doing multiple stints in rehab and claimed to have been drug and alcohol-free since early 2021.