Matthew Perry
Man of the year for: Television Comedy Actor

Perhaps its the devil may care way Matthew Perry checked out of Cedars-Sinai last may, plowed his porche into a house, then issued the "What Me, Worry?" statement: "Matthew is fine, and the porch was released later that day." Or maybe because his Friends character Chandler Bing, has lived every guy's Thursday night fantasy of giving Courteney Cox Arquette's Monica the loving she so richly deserves. Whatever the reason, this 31-year old Everydude has come a long way since his early work opposite Scott Baio on Charles in Charge.

The biggest misperception is that Matthew Perry begins where Chandler Bing ends; however, Perry says, "I'm not as funny as Chandler is. Because Chandler has thirty people writing for him." He has also been maturing in a way that would make for boring tv. In June he preserved the shows all for one, one for all camaraderie by removing his names from the leading man emmy ballot.

And though he made a relatively seamless transition to the big screen-bringing a touch of Jack Lemmony zest to his portrayal of a nervous dentist in The Whole Nine Yads-his personal life remans a work in progress. In 1997 he spent time in rehab kickin a Vicodin addiction. "It was a good lesson for me, the stay in the hospital." He says. "And the lesson was, you just have to slow down. You're 30. You play, you pay, kind of. So I got this stomach ailment from eating badly and drinking too much, and it had really woke me up."

Still its not all run-throughs and no play for Perry.  Sure he graced the Aniston-Pitt nuptials solo. But romantic comedy is his fore, and with more movie offers, vote him the least liekly to spin off his own series-even if Joey loves Chandler has a nice ring to it.