From Canada to Hollywood: Matthew Perry's life in pictures

Friends star Matthew Perry has died aged 54 at his home in Los Angeles on October 28.

The actor was found dead after an apparent drowning in a hot tub, multiple US media outlets reported.

Read on to relive the triumphs and trials that made him the star he was.

After growing up in Canada, Perry moved to Los Angeles with his mother to pursue acting when he was just 15.

His first credited role was a small part in the drama 240-Robert in 1979.

From there, he went on to have roles in other television shows including Charles in Charge, Silver Spoons and The Tracey Ullman Show.

He was still in high school when he secured his first film role, playing opposite River Phoenix in the 1988 film A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.

In 1994, Perry auditioned for the pilot of a new show called Six of One, which later became juggernaut Friends.

Initially, he wasn't offered an audition because he was already committed to another show for which he'd filmed a pilot episode.

But he finally did land an audition and was offered the role of Chandler Bing, for which he is most known.

At the age of 24, Perry was the youngest of the six main Friends cast members.

Every one of them became international superstars overnight.

"There was steam coming out of my ears, I wanted to be famous so badly," he told The New York Times in 2002.

"You want the attention, you want the bucks, and you want the best seat in the restaurant."

Off-screen, the actors became as close as their characters on the show, and famously negotiated together to become some of the highest-paid actors on a television series at the time.

But behind closed doors, the pressures of fame took Perry down the beginning of a dark path, with addiction creping into the young star's life.

In 2002, Perry was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, along with co-star Matt LeBlanc.

They both lost out to Ray Romano, star of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Though he made a name for himself as a comedic actor, Perry also wowed audiences with his guest role on political drama series The West Wing.

He only starred in three episodes, but it was enough to earn him two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004.

In 2006, Perry had a largely private relationship with Mean Girls actress Lizzy Caplan.

The couple were together for six years, and were only seen together in public on a handful of occasions.

In 2009, Perry starred as the older version of Zac Efron in the hit comedy film 17 Again.

This was the last film he starred in, sticking to TV only from 2009 onwards.

In 2020, Perry returned to our TV screens for the Friends finale, with the rest of the cast.

At the end of the special, Perry broke down in tears as he discussed his friendship with his co-stars.

"The best way that I can describe it is after the show was over, at a party or any social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other that was it, that was the end of the night, you just sat with that person all night long," Perry said to his co-stars.

He published a memoir titled, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, recounting his life and career in late 2022.

The memoir openly discussed his troubles with drug and alcohol dependence, including his addiction during the filming of Friends.

He also revealed that he nearly died at the age of 49 when his colon burst from opioid overuse.

Doctors gave him only a two per cent chance of survival and he was in a coma for two weeks followed by months more in the hospital.

The actor required 14 surgeries to help repair all of the abdominal damage, and he admitted to having gone to rehab 15 times over the years in hopes of kicking his drug addiction.

In life, Perry was candid about his struggles with addiction, which he battled even at the height of his career.

Perry died on October 28, 2023, at age 54, after an apparent drowning.

His cause of death is still yet to be determined.

Perry was reportedly found dead in a jacuzzi in his home in LA.

He was 54.

READ MORE: 'The world will miss you': Matthew Perry's Friends co-star's touching tribute