Matthew Perry: 'Friends' star passes away at 54

Matthew Perry, the actor best known for playing the lovable and goofy Chandler Bing on the smash hit TV show Friends, has died, according to the @FriendsTV X account and Warner Bros Television.

The blockbuster TV series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions and Warner Bros.

The Los Angeles Times and celebrity news site TMZ were among the first to break the news, citing anonymous sources.

They reported that first responders found Perry unconscious in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. They were unable to revive him. The investigation is ongoing and details about his death were not immediately available.

There was no indication of foul play, the media outlets said. 

Perry was 54.

Perry received one Emmy nomination for his role in Friends and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on the The West Wing.

Last year, Perry released his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, talking about his battle with alcohol and addiction. 

He spent more than half his life in rehab and treatment centres, detoxing more than 65 times and paying millions trying to get sober.

He also wrote about his near-death experience in 2018, when his colon burst.

Born in 1969, Perry grew up between Montreal and Los Angeles after his parents separated when he was a baby, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Perry first tried his hand at playing tennis and he was successful at a young age, but he left the sport to pursue a career in acting.

He began acting young and appeared in hits like Beverly Hills 90210 and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon alongside actor River Phoenix.

But his big break came on Friends, which premiered in 1994 and where he starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer.

Perry played the role of Chandler Bing, a character known for his witty one-liners, on the 90s' TV sitcom which followed the lives of six single New Yorkers navigating adulthood.

The last episode of Friends aired in 2004, after a 10-year run that turned Perry and his cast mates into global celebrities. The show remains one of the most popular TV shows to date.