Matthew Perry Dies at 54 — 'Friends' Star Victim of Apparent Drowning

Update: Perry's autopsy results were "inconclusive," pending toxicology results. His official cause of death could take weeks to determine.

"Friends" star Matthew Perry has died at 54.

TMZ reports the troubled star, who had recently released a tell-all memoir highlighting his battles with substance abuse, was found dead Saturday at his L.A.-area home after an apparently drowning.

The site reports Perry had played pickleball, returned home, and sent his assistant on an errand. He was found by them unresponsive a couple of hours later.

TMZ quotes law enforcement sources as saying Perry was found in a jacuzzi after a call went out to 911 for a possible cardiac arrest. No drugs were found at the scene, and his exact cause of death has not yet been determined.

An investigation is underway.

In November of last year, Perry published his book "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir." In it, he discussed battling his addiction to painkillers, including Vicodin, and alcohol for years as he struggled to cope with the pressures of being overnight-famous thanks to the meteoric success of "Friends."

Promoting the book, he told Diane Sawyer it was "hard to watch" certain episodes of "Friends" because "in this weird way, I feel sorry for that guy. Because that's a guy that's out of control. I didn't know what was going on with me. I weighed 155 lbs. on my way to 128 lbs. I feel to sorry for that guy, he's going through too much and... it's me. And I remember that. And I didn't understand what's going on."

He went on to say, "I'm so grateful to not be that anymore that it's hard to watch that."

He also angered readers with thoughtless comments about Keanu Reeves, for which Perry publicly apologized.

Perry was born August 19, 1969, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. After his parents — his mom was Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau's press secretary, his father  is actor John Bennett Perry — split, she married future "Dateline NBC" reporter Keith Morrison.

He was raised in Canada until the age of 15, when he moved to L.A. and began his journey as a performer.

Perry's first TV appearance was on a 1979 episode of "240-Robert." He guested on "Charles in Charge" (1985), "Silver Spoons" (1986), "The Tracey Ullman Show" (1987), and appeared in the TV movie "Morning Maggie" (1987).

In 1987, he made debut as a series regular on "Second Chance," later retitled "Boys Will Be Boys." His first movie was 1988's "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon," starring River Phoenix.

Perry continued making guest spots, including recurring on "Growing Pains" (1989) and memorably popping up on "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1991). He landed two more series before his breakthrough on "Friends" — "Sydney" in 1990 with Valerie Bertinelli and "Home Free" in 1993 with Diana Canova.

In 1994, he hit the big-time as Chandler Bing on "Friends," the snarky metrosexual who winds up falling for Courteney Cox's Monica Geller, and who had to deal with his offbeat upbringing and the unwanted affections of the ubiquitous Janice (Maggie Wheeler).

Perry's delivery as Chandler became a thing — could he have been any funnier?

The series ran an incredible 234 episodes, becoming a pop cultural phenomenon and making each cast member — Perry was joined by Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston — a household name and impossibly wealthy. It also afforded him several shots at movie stardom, including the films "Fools Rush In" (1997), "Almost Heroes" (1998), "Three to Tango" (1999), "The Whole Nine Yards" (2000), "The Kid" (2000), "Serving Sara" (2002), and "The Whole Ten Yards" (2004).

But TV remained his domain, and Perry had demons to conquer that kept him from moving on to greater success.

He anchored the series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (2006-2007) and "Mr. Sunshine" (2011), recurred on "The Good Wife" (2012-2013), and starred in and produced the series "Go On" (2012-2013).

His most successful post-"Friends" show was "The Odd Couple" (2015-2017), with Perry as sloppy Oscar and Thomas Lennon as fastidious Felix.

His last movie was the Zac Efron vehicle "17 Again" in 2009, and his final performance in any medium was as Ted Kennedy in the miniseries "The Kennedys After Camelot" in 2017.

Perry joined his old "Friends" castmates in 2021 for the highly rated HBO Max reunion special. Fans were alarmed by how he looked and sounded on the special, but Perry said he had only recently undergone emergency dental surgery. "It sounded like my voice was off," he said, but he felt he had to be there, echoing the famous "Friends" theme song, the Rembrandts' "I'll Be There for You."