James Michael Tyler (May 28, 1962 – October 24, 2021) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Gunther on the NBC sitcom Friends. Prior to acting, he was an assistant film editor and production assistant. His early works included being the production assistant for Fat Man and Little Boy. He also portrayed Oscar Bevins in the 1997 thriller film Motel Blue. Early life James Michael Tyler was born on May 28, 1962, the youngest of five children, in either Greenwood, Mississippi or Winona, Mississippi. When Tyler was ten years old, his father, a former USAF captain, died. Just one year later, when Tyler was age eleven, his mother passed away. Afterwards, Tyler moved to Anderson, South Carolina to live with his sister. Tyler graduated from T.L. Hanna High School in 1980. He graduated from Anderson College (now Anderson University) in 1982 with a two-year Associate's degree and subsequently graduated from Clemson University with a degree in geology in 1984. During his time at Clemson, he was a member of a student theatre group, the Clemson Players. This experience sparked his interest in becoming an actor. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1987. Career In 1988, he moved to Los Angeles and became an assistant film editor and production assistant. The same year, he was a production assistant on the film Fat Man and Little Boy. In L.A., he also worked at Guitar Center and a coffee shop called the Bourgeois Pig. It was here that he met his first wife, Barbara Chadsey, whom he married in 1995. From 1994 to 2004, James Michael Tyler played Gunther on the sitcom Friends. Gunther was a coffee shop worker at Central Perk who had unrequited love for Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston. His real-life experience as a barista gave an assistant director on Friends the idea to put him behind the counter of Central Perk to make the set seem more "authentic". This led to a ten-year career with appearances in 148 of Friends' 236 episodes; he is the show's most-frequently-appearing recurring character actor. The night before his first appearance on Friends, a hair stylist friend asked if he could practice bleaching on Tyler's hair. Tyler agreed, and the makers of Friends loved it so much that what should have been a one-off look ended up becoming part of his character.