Matt LeBlanc bio, net worth, age, height, filmography, young, daughter 2024

Matt LeBlanc Biography

Matt LeBlanc is an American actor who gained fame for his role as Joey Tribbiani in the popular sitcom "Friends". He has been nominated for the Golden Globe award several times, but won it for another leading role - playing himself in the series "Episodes" by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik. Later, he became a producer and portrayed the main character Adam Burns in the sitcom "Man with a Plan".

Childhood, Youth, Family

Matthew Steven LeBlanc (full name of the actor) was born in the summer of 1967 to Patricia Grossman and Paul LeBlanc, who lived in Newton, a city in the United States. His mother, of Italian descent, worked in an office, while his father, whose ancestors were French, Irish and English, worked as a car mechanic.

From the age of eight, Matt began to slowly understand mechanics, learned to ride a motorcycle, a gift from his father, and started to participate in races. Patricia didn't like her son's dangerous hobby and, to distract the boy, suggested he take up carpentry.

According to Matt, his mother had a great sense of humor, which she passed on to him:

I love laughter. When the atmosphere becomes awkward or tense, whether it's a business or family conversation, and everyone's on edge or at a funeral, I'm always the first to joke. I like to laugh - I think I got it from my mom. She has a great sense of humor. I think comedy (I don’t know how to better express it) for humanity - is like a first aid kit: it helps to build bridges, relieve tension and fix a lot of things.

Despite his humor, LeBlanc took everything he did seriously. He won motocross races, and having learned to work with wood and make household items from it, once won the "Golden Hammer" award, given to the best masters in their field.

In his youth, he became interested in a theater studio, but after graduating from high school, Matt decided to enter the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. He might have become an engineer, if not for a trip to New York during his holidays, which completely changed LeBlanc's life:

I went to New York, to a friend in Bronxville. She was studying at Sarah Lawrence College. I decided to wander around the city, and it so happened that I ended up in an office with a manager who offered me a five-year contract to shoot commercials. I said, 'Okay,' took the contract home, thought about everything - and signed.

Acting Career

Matt landed his first roles in the early 90s, advertising famous brands like Coca-Cola and Levi’s.

Matt LeBlanc in a Coca-Cola Commercial

A Heinz ketchup commercial featuring LeBlanc won a Cannes "Golden Lion", after which Matt began to be invited to shoot in celebrity music videos, including those of Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Seger, and Alanis Morissette.

Matt LeBlanc in a Heinz Ketchup Commercial

At the same time, he landed his debut role in film, playing Chuck Bender in the TV show "TV 101", but the project was cancelled despite already filmed material. The early nineties brought LeBlanc the role of Vinnie Verducci in the TV series "Married... with Children". Although the comedy itself was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe, the character of Vinnie was secondary and did not bring the actor significant success.

Matt LeBlanc in the TV series 'Married... with Children'

Later Matt appeared in Zalman King's erotic series "Red Shoe Diaries" with David Duchovny in the main role, and then played Terhune in the horror film "The Killing Box".

Matt LeBlanc in the series 'Red Shoe Diaries'

He embodied his first leading character in the crime drama "Lookin’ Italian". His filming partner was Jay Acovone.

Matt LeBlanc in the movie Lookin’ Italian

The breakthrough in LeBlanc's career was the central role in the cult series "Friends". Interestingly, his character, the handsome Joey Tribbiani, was not initially included in the main six characters.

Recalling his auditions for the film, Matthew told the following:

I went to the audition, got a callback, went again, and so it happened about five times. In the end, the last auditions were with Courteney Cox - for compatibility. I found it strange because there were no relationships between Monica and Joe in the script. But they needed to see how we would play together because at that time they only hired her. She was the first because she was already famous then. At the last audition, it was just me and another guy. In the role description, where the hero's age and everything else was, it said: an Italian-American, a budding actor in New York. And my competitor was dressed like a cowboy. And I thought, 'One of us was given the wrong directions.' Fortunately, everything worked out in my favor.

Along with the charming Matt and the sparkling Courteney (neat cook Monica Geller), Jennifer Aniston (daddy's girl Rachel Green), Lisa Kudrow (hippie masseuse Phoebe Buffay), Matthew Perry (complexed office worker Chandler Bing), David Schwimmer (divorced paleontologist Ross Geller) were approved for the youth series. This sextet first appeared on screens in 1994 and kept the attention of viewers in many countries for more than a decade.

As for Matt, all fans remember Joey Tribbiani's catchphrase: "How you doin'?", which was once among the top twenty phrases from TV shows.

Top 10 Funniest Joey Quotes on Friends

LeBlanc's character was so loved by the audience that after the end of the series, an attempt was made to bring Joey back to the screens in the spin-off "Joey" (2004), but it did not even approach the success of "Friends".

In parallel with filming in "Friends", the actor managed to appear in several famous films. Thus, he worked with William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, and Gary Oldman in the sci-fi action film "Lost in Space" (1998), and with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu in the spy thriller "Charlie's Angels" (2000).

Matt LeBlanc in the movie "Lost in Space"

LeBlanc himself enjoyed filming in the series "Episodes". He got into it after a long break between film shoots and played himself. It was "Episodes" that brought the actor the long-awaited Golden Globe, for which he had been nominated several times, filming in "Friends".

In an interview, Matt said:

It was fun filming in 'Episodes.' It was a chance to make fun of myself and our business. It is interesting and funny. I am often told that it was so brave to play myself and show myself in such a light. I don't know about bravery - the script was amazing. I always say that I don't mind being the butt of the joke if it's funny.

An interesting experience for LeBlanc was participating in the car show Top Gear, where he managed to outrun other race participants in his car. In 2016, he was invited to this project, which Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May had just left, as a co-host. For four seasons, Matt enthusiastically filmed the show with Chris Harris and Rory Reid. But in the summer of 2018, he announced that he had to leave the project because he could not devote enough time to his family due to constant travel.

A few years later, LeBlanc returned to film as a producer and lead actor in the sitcom "Man with a Plan". He brilliantly played the father of a large family, Adam Burns, and revealed why the series was named that way, describing the project's storyline:

We were considering different options. The idea was: here is a character, he has his own construction company, a wife, three children. The youngest daughter went to kindergarten, and the wife wants to return to work, to build a career. And the man, because he loves his wife and wants to maintain a good atmosphere in the family, agrees: 'Okay, let me unload you, I will take care of the house, take the children to school, to the garden.' And he tries to organize everything in life. That's probably what this title is about.

In 2021, along with the other actors who played the main characters in "Friends", LeBlanc happily participated in the filming of the movie "Friends: The Reunion".

Matt LeBlanc on the set of 'Friends: The Reunion'

The project was not a continuation of the famous series, but a meeting and reminiscences of actors about the filming process and its interesting episodes.

Matt LeBlanc Auditions to Play Himself - Episodes

Matt LeBlanc's Personal Life

The popular actor's string of romances began in his youth. He has often admitted to being quite amorous, although he tries not to share all his love conquests.

In the early nineties, he met model Tanya Poole, a relationship that resembled a roller coaster. Over three years, they would date and then part ways, and towards the end of the relationship, Matt was spotted at a café with a young Kate Hudson, who was 17 at the time.

The couple did not comment on their meetings, and rightly so. Soon, LeBlanc was seen in the company of Brandi Glanville, a reality TV star. There were also rumors that the actor had been dating his "Friends" co-star Jennifer Aniston for a while, although both denied any romantic involvement. Matt's father insisted on this version, claiming that he knew for sure that his son had had a brief affair with the actress. According to rumors, this strained the father-son relationship.

The string of romances temporarily halted in the early 2000s when LeBlanc met model Melissa McKnight. After several years of dating, the couple married in Hawaii. In 2004, their daughter Marina Pearl was born.

Doctors diagnosed the girl with a rare form of cortical dysplasia, which is prone to frequent epileptic seizures, and Matt did everything he could to improve his daughter's health. Melissa's two children from her first marriage, Jacqueline and Tyler, also lived with them.

Two years after the wedding, LeBlanc fell back into old habits. His affair with stripper Stephanie Stevens became public, and he publicly asked for forgiveness for his indiscretion. Melissa did not forgive him and filed for divorce in 2006, but the actor regularly visits his daughter.

Since then, Matt has not remarried, but he lived under the same roof with actress Andrea Anders for eight years. In the series "Joey", she played one of the main character's girlfriends.

In 2016, a new woman entered LeBlanc's life - car show producer Aurora Mulligan. She was 17 years younger than the actor and managed to keep his interest for a full six years, after which this relationship also ended.

Matt LeBlanc Now

Recently, Matt LeBlanc has hardly been filming and rarely appears on television.

The sudden death of his friend and "Friends" series co-star Matthew Perry was a big blow to him. LeBlanc mentioned that the moments filming with his friend were some of the best during the series. He also said:

It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life. It was an honor to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never. Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free. Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.

Interesting Facts

LeBlanc recalled that before he was cast in "Friends," he was so poor that he greeted the joyful news with only 11 dollars in his pocket – that was all the money he had.

In those years, he was attending auditions and saving money on absolutely everything, even dental care. Before taking photos for his first professional portfolio, the photographer told Matt that one of his front teeth was longer than the others, which could ruin the overall impression. Matt found a dentist he knew, who estimated the work at 80 dollars. The aspiring actor didn't have that kind of money, so he bought three packs of sandpaper and filed the tooth down himself.

There were plenty of interesting stories on the set of "Friends." For instance, after filming the pilot episode, director James Burrows took all six actors to the "Caesars Palace" restaurant, seated them at a round table in the middle of the room, and declared that this would be the last day each of them could go out and dine peacefully in a restaurant without being stared at. Matt didn't believe him, but after the huge success of "Friends," he realized he was right.

Since childhood, Matt LeBlanc loved to tinker with cars and motorcycles. Now, his collection includes about twenty cars, not only sports cars but also pickups, SUVs, and vintage cars. But according to the actor, he has more motorcycles in his collection than cars.

Paul Avalos editor