Matthew Perry, with his amazing yet hilarious roles, managed to tickle the funny bones of the audience for several years. While he may no longer be around us, watching him on FRIENDS is still a soft spot for many. He brought the iconic Chandler Bing to life and, despite having troubles in his own personal life, played the character to the best of his abilities.
However, apart from the glittery life of television, there are still a lot of facts about the late actor that are not known to the general public. One of these is that he trained to be a professional tennis player. But his move to Los Angeles changed everything in his life and also forced him to leave this beloved sport.
Matthew Perry Was a Nationally Ranked Tennis Player Before His Chandler Bing Stint in FRIENDS
Chandler Bing was known for his sharp wit and impeccable comic timing, all thanks to Matthew Perry’s portrayal of the character. While the actor had done some notable work in the industry, it was FRIENDS that skyrocketed his career. However, in reality, the actor had a completely different ambition of his own and wanted to pursue tennis instead.
Not only that, but he was also training for the same, but his move from Canada to Los Angeles changed everything. This move happened when the actor was 15 years of age and shifted to Los Angeles to live with his father, John Perry, who himself was an actor.
While he thrived in the game when he was in Canada, the brutal competition in Los Angeles played a huge role in his shift to acting. He revealed the same during an interview with Men’s Health and added:
Giving up tennis wasn’t really a decision I had to make. “I was a very good tennis player in Ottawa, Canada — nationally ranked when I was, like, 13. Then I moved to Los Angeles when I was 15, and everyone in L.A. just killed me. I was pretty great in Canada. Not so much in Los Angeles. It was insane. I realized I wouldn’t be playing tennis for a living, so I went for acting.
Matthew Perry was a top-ranked player on the junior circuit in Canada and had high aspirations of going professional. But this shift in his life wasn’t an easy one, and even though his tennis skills were impressive. They were not enough to compete at the highest levels in a more competitive atmosphere. So, he changed his career trajectory from tennis courts to sitcom sets, and tennis remained a lesser-known chapter of his life.
How Did Matthew Perry Land His Iconic Role in FRIENDS?
Before his sudden passing in 2023, Matthew Perry launched his own memoir titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing in 2022. In this, the artist detailed each and every facet of his life from his addiction issues to his personal life. In the same book, he also detailed how just a couple of weeks before his FRIENDS audition, he was praying in his Los Angeles house for God to grant him fame.
He was inspired to do so after coming across an article mentioning actor Charlie Sheen. Surprisingly, his prayers were answered, and just three weeks later, he was cast in FRIENDS, a role that completely transformed his life.
However, there was a twist in this story as well and before the NBC hit sitcom, he was a part of LAX 2194 and almost missed out on Bing’s part. But the show’s producers didn’t like the pilot episode, freeing Perry to audition for FRIENDS.
You can watch FRIENDS on Max.
