Straight Outta Newton: Famous Faces from Your Hometown

Matt LeBlanc is best known for playing the role of Joey Tribbiani on the hit sitcom Friends and its spinoff, Joey, but before he became one of the faces in TV’s most famous sextet, he was a 1985 graduate of Newton High School.

He was born in Newton and moved to Florida after high school, where he pursued a career in modeling. Later he returned to the northeast, where he took bit parts as an actor in New York City. Sound familiar?

LeBlanc was catapulted to stardom when he landed the role of perpetually-unemployed actor Joey on Friends in 1994. The show ran for ten seasons and made household names out of the six leads - or at least their TV counterparts.

Since the end of Friends and its spinoff, LeBlanc has starred as himself on the Showtime series, Episodes. He was named one of the new hosts of the British gearhead show Top Gear in 2016.

Did you know? Both LeBlanc and comedian Louis C.K. are members of the Newton North High School Class of 1985.