Matt LeBlanc Net Worth, Money and More
NET WORTH: $60 Million
PROFESSION: Televison Actor
Matt LeBlanc was born on July 25 1967 in Newton, Massachussetts. His mother, Patricia, is from Italian origin, and worked as an office manager, and his father, Paul LeBlanc, who had a French-Canadian background, was a mechanic. He was raised and schooled in Massachusetts. He went onto college there but dropped out before completion opting to pursue a modelling job in Florida. One of his jobs involved posing for a gay travel guide. After working as a photo model in Florida for sometime, he moved to New York where he took drama classes.
He did television commercials while he was training as an actor in New York. At one time he was known as the king of the commercials. As well as a 1987 Heinz ketchup commercial that won top prize at Cannes, he appeared in slots for Levi’s 501 jeans, Doritos and Coca-Cola. After he did a few small roles on stage and TV, he became very popular for his role ‘Joey Tribiaani’ in F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
Career
His first TV role was on the drama TV 101, in 1988. In the early nighties, LeBlanc started appearing in music videos. Some of these music videos included Jon Bon Jovi’s “Miracle”, Alanis Morisette’s “Walk Away”, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ “Into the great wide open” and Bob Seger’s “Night moves”. In 1991, he also starred in a spin-off series of Married.. with Children which was called Top of The Heap.
In 1994, he started playing ‘Joey’ on F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and went on to play that character for a little more than a decade. His portrayal of ‘The One who is Big-hearted, Simple-minded, Womanizing, In and Out of Work Actor who has an Eating Disorder’ endeared him to viewers. His lack of understanding of any given situation, and of virtually any sentence (that didn’t involve sex) gave him the majority of punch-lines in every show. He found huge success in the role and gained wide recognition.
Matt has also guest starred on a show called Just Ten of Us (1988). His F.R.I.E.N.D.S. co-star Matthew Perry has also made a guest appearance on the show, although not in the same episode.
He starred in a feature film called Lookin’ Italian, in 1994. Some of his other films around that time are Ed (1996), Lost in Space (1998), Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2000) and All the Queen’s Men (2001).
In 2001, he did another music videos for Jon Bon Jovi which was “Say It Isn’t So.” After the immense popularity of his F.R.I.E.N.D.S.’s character ‘Joey Tribiani’, the creators of the show did a spin-off series with him called Joey which went on for two seasons (2004-2006). Gone were LeBlanc’s days of earning a million dollars an episode. But the irony was, as the series slipped in popularity, the character of ‘Joey’ gained more successful roles.
LeBlanc has since found a successful show Episodes. It is a comedy show, which started in 2011, and had LeBlanc playing himself. It is about a British TV show being remade into a US one starring Matt LeBlanc in the lead. The show is written by F.R.I.E.N.D.S co-creator David Crane. It returned for a second series in May 2012.
Personal Life
LeBlanc married model Melissa McKnight in May 2003. They met through Melissa’s friend Kelly Philips; wife of actor Lou Diamond Philips, in 1997. LeBlanc got engaged to Melissa McKnight in November 1998. They gave birth to a daughter, Marina, in 2004. She suffered seizures at the age of eight months and was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder. LeBlanc filed for divorce in March 2006, mentioning irreconcilable differences. Despite the couple’s divorce, the pair continue to jointly care for their daughter.
Matt LeBlanc is seeing his Joey co-star Andrea Anders since.
Fun Trivia
LeBlanc is fluent in French.
He has three dogs named Lady, Shadow and Jay.
He is trained as a carpenter.
He is the only cast member of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. not to have appeared on the show Saturday Night Live.
His role of “Maj. Don West” in Lost in Space (1998) was originally offered to his F.R.I.E.N.D.S. co-star Matthew Perry.
He is a motorcycle enthusiast and hosted his own TV Show The 5 Coolest Things (2003). The show was based on the 5 coolest things in each motorcycle speciality.
LeBlanc scored the fastest lap on Top Gear for the ‘Star In A Reasonably Priced Car driving’ the Kia Cee’d at 1:42.1 beating Rowan Atkinson and Michael Fassbender.
Awards and Accolades
He won the Screen Actors Guild Award in 1995 for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series”.
In 2002, he won the Teen Choice Award for “TV Choice Actor” for his work in F.R.I.E.N.D.S..
For the spin off series Joey, he won the People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Male Television Star” in 2005.
The most recent award that he won was in 2012. He won a Golden Globe Award for “Best Actor- Televison Series Musical or Comedy” for his work in Episodes.
Quotes
On F.R.I.E.N.D.S. coming to an end: “On I had quit smoking for four years, and in that final two weeks I started again because we were so aware that our time together was coming to an end. We would steal away these little moments. ‘Hey, let’s go hang out. Let’s go sit in my room’. It was really… a lot of Kleenex.”
“It’s funny – nowadays people that are famous get chased by paparazzi. They have this fame, but they don’t have the money to hide from it.”
