James Michael Tyler

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James Michael Tyler
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Born	May 28, 1962 Winona, Mississippi

James Michael Tyler (born May 28, 1962 in Winona, Mississippi) is an actor, best known for playing Gunther on the hit NBC sitcom Friends.

Gunther was a coffee shop worker at Central Perk who had a crush on Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston. Tyler was an extra who was cast as Gunther because he was the only extra who knew how to operate an espresso machine. (Tyler used to work in several coffee shops before acting.) This casting behind the coffee bar led to the semi-recurring speaking part of Gunther.

Tyler's signature peroxide blonde hair was actually accidental. The day before the Friends audition, one of Tyler's acquaintances, who studied to become a hairdresser, experimented on his hair. When Tyler showed up for the audition, the producer liked it so much they decided to keep it.

Tyler is from Anderson, SC and graduated from Clemson University with a degree in geology.

He would appear after the series finale of Friends in the unaired pilot satire sitcom Nobody's Watching, playing himself as a present from the studio executives on the set of Central Perk.