James Michael Taylor is an American actor. He is best known for his role as “Gunther” on the hit American television sitcom Friends (1994-2004).
Wiki/Biography
James Michael Tyler was born on Monday, May 28, 1962 (Age at death: 59) was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States. His star sign is Gemini. He was named after his uncle. His hometown is in Winona, Mississippi. After the death of his parents, 12-year-old Tyler moved to Anderson, South Carolina with his sister. He attended TL Hannah High School in Anderson. In 1982, he graduated from Anderson University (then Anderson College) with a two-year degree. In 1984, he received a degree in geology from Clemson University in South Carolina. At Clemson, he was a member of the university theater group “Clemson Players”. In 1987, he received an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree in acting from the University of Georgia.
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 11″
Eye Color: Blue
Hair color: Brown
family
Parents and siblings
He is the son of DeWitt Eugene Taylor and Mary Sue Pullen. His father was an Air Force pilot during World War II. After completing his military service, he was elected Sheriff of Anderson County. On April 13, 1973, at the age of 10, he lost his father, who died from injuries sustained in a car accident. Before his death, his father was a sales representative for Illinois Tooling Company. Prior to that, he worked for JA Olson for 18 years as a sales manager.
James Michael Taylor’s father
On November 28, 1973, when he was 11 years old, his mother died of breast cancer. Both his parents were Methodists. He has three siblings and he is the youngest. He has an older brother named Captain John DeWitt Taylor Tommy Taylor, who worked at Columbus Air Force Base and died in 2019. He has two older sisters named Linda Clark and Brenda Keenan.
wife
Taylor married Barbara Chadsey in 1995. The two filed for divorce in 2014, citing irreconcilable differences. He later married Jennifer Cano.
James Michael Taylor and Jennifer Cano
Profession
In 1988, he went to Los Angeles to start his film career. He became a production assistant on the American film Fatso and Little Boy (1989). He also worked as an assistant film editor before getting an acting role.
Movie
In 1992, he made his debut in the American short film “The Roommate”, playing the role of “Bar Owner”.
He made his film debut in the American film Blue Motel (1997) as “Oscar Bevins”.
James Michael Tyler, Blue Motel (1997)
He later appeared in the American feature films Dinner Riot (1998), Foreign Correspondent (1999) and Jason’s Big Trouble (2009). He also appeared in the American short films Acceptance of Reality (2008), Processing (2020) and Gestures and Words (2020).
television
He made his television screen debut in the American television series Just Shoot Me! (2000), playing a doctor.
He then appeared in the television series Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2001). He rose to fame with his recurring character “Gunther” on the American television series Friends (1994-2004), a barista at the Central Perk Café who is known for his deep secret love for Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston). In several interviews, he admitted that he got the role of “Gunther” because he had worked as a barista before and the show’s producers asked him if he would be interested in being an extra on the show. He accepted the role due to financial issues, but his role grew in prominence as the show progressed. As the show progressed, he became a notable character on the show. Speaking about being chosen for the role in an interview, he said,
I was working as a barista at the Bourgeois Pig in Los Angeles. He (the assistant director on Friends) knew I was working there and that they had the Central Perk café scene, so he called me and asked if I wanted to go because they had an espresso machine on set. Of course, in those 10 years, I had never made real espresso because it was too noisy, but I did have experience before that.”
James Michael Taylor, Friends (1994)
He then appeared in the television series Scrubs (2005) and Episodes (2012). In 2010, he played the role of “Chase” in the TV short film Keeping Up.
In 2013, he made his debut in the American TV series Modern Music as the lead character ‘Chad Levitz’.
In 2021, he guest-starred in Friends: The Reunion, a television special in which the main cast of Friends revisited the sets of the original show, met with guests, performed table reads, and reenacted episodes of Friends.
other works
He voiced many characters in the 2005 video game Friends: A Whole Lot of Trivia.
In 2007, he appeared in the music video for “Come Tommorow” by British musician Chicane.
He co-founded the collaborative jam band Red Felt Pig with Keith King.
Favorites
- Actresses: Connie Stevens, Sylvia Sidney
- Baseball team: Chicago Cubs
- Video Game: Rocket League
die
He passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles on October 24, 2021. In 2018, Taylor was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, which later spread to his bones.
Facts/Trivia
- In his free time, he enjoys traveling, playing video games, recording music, and photography.
- Before moving to Los Angeles, Taylor sold cars in Olympia, Washington. After arriving in Hollywood, he worked in the service and entertainment industries to make ends meet. He worked as a bartender at the Hollywood Palace, sold keyboards at Guitar Center, and worked as a barista at the Bourgeois Pig.
- Taylor is known for his blonde hair on Friends, but according to him, it was actually accidental. The day before the audition for Friends, an acquaintance of Taylor who was studying hairdressing tried his hairstyle. During the audition, the show producers liked his hair so much that they decided to keep it for Gunther.
- In 2009, on the 15th anniversary of the release of Friends, Taylor launched a temporary replica of the Central Perk Café in London, where fans could get free coffee and see memorabilia from the show with their tickets. The replica was open for two weeks from September to October. In 2014, on the 20th anniversary of the release of Friends, Taylor appeared in a replica of the Central Perk Café in Soho, Manhattan.
- He is an active philanthropist, supporting the Lily Claire Foundation (which provides programs and services for children with neurogenic birth disorders) and the AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA; a nonprofit AIDS service organization in the United States).
- Taylor won the Best Actor Award at the Birmingham Film Festival in 2020 for his short film Gestures and Words.
- In 2021, Taylor revealed that he had metastatic prostate cancer. Since being diagnosed with cancer in 2018, he has been undergoing hormone therapy, which worked well for a year, but eventually the cancer spread to his bones and spine, causing paraplegia or paralysis of the lower body. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer that had spread to my bones. I’ve been living with this diagnosis for the past three years. … It’s now stage 4. Advanced cancer. So, you know, it could eventually take my life.”
- Tyler prefers to be called by his middle name, Michael.
- Taylor loves animals and has a pet dog and a pet cat.
James Taylor talks about his pet dog in an Instagram post
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education