1. He Was Down to His Last Eleven Dollars
When LeBlanc auditioned for the role of Joey Tribbiani in 1994, he was a struggling actor on the brink of absolute financial ruin. He notoriously had exactly $11 to his name. When the cast finally received their first paychecks for the pilot episode, the actors celebrated in vastly different ways. While Courteney Cox went out and bought a brand-new car, LeBlanc used his very first paycheck to finally buy himself a hot dinner.
2. He Trained to Be a Carpenter
Before the bright lights of Hollywood came calling, LeBlanc was working with his hands. Growing up in Newton, Massachusetts, he attended the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston with the strict intention of studying building construction and carpentry. While he eventually dropped out to pursue acting, his carpentry skills remained incredibly sharp, and he frequently built his own furniture during his early days as a struggling actor in New York.
3. He Filed His Own Tooth to Save Money
During his early modeling and acting days, a photographer told him that he needed to get a slightly uneven tooth fixed before he could get professional headshots. When LeBlanc visited the dentist, he was quoted eighty dollars for the simple cosmetic filing. Because he was completely broke, he went to a local pharmacy, bought a three-pack of emery board nail files, and carefully filed his own tooth down in his bathroom mirror.
4. He Won an Award for a Ketchup Commercial
Before Friends, LeBlanc was the king of late-1980s television commercials. In 1987, he starred in a highly memorable commercial for Heinz Ketchup, where he set a ketchup bottle on the ledge of a tall building and ran downstairs to catch it on his hot dog. The clever advertisement was a massive hit and actually won the highly prestigious Gold Lion Award at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.
5. A Severe Shoulder Dislocation on Set
In the classic Friends episode “The One Where No One’s Ready,” Joey and Chandler fiercely battle over a comfortable armchair. During filming, LeBlanc had to jump over the coffee table and land in the chair. He landed awkwardly, severely dislocating his shoulder. Filming had to be suspended, and the writers were forced to write his real-life arm sling into the show’s script for the next few episodes, claiming Joey injured himself jumping on his bed.
6. He Was Going Gray During Friends
While Joey Tribbiani was known for his thick, perfectly styled dark hair, LeBlanc was actually hiding a secret from the audience. He began going gray prematurely in his early twenties. By the second season of the show, his hair was heavily peppered with gray. He had to constantly dye his hair dark for the entire ten-year run of the series, eventually embracing his natural “silver fox” look as soon as his spin-off ended.
7. He Is a Highly Skilled Mechanic
Unlike Joey, who knew absolutely nothing about cars, LeBlanc is a massive gearhead and an incredibly skilled mechanic. His father was a mechanic by trade, and LeBlanc grew up rebuilding engines and fixing cars. He possesses a deep, encyclopedic knowledge of automotive engineering and maintains a massive private collection of rare cars and high-performance motorcycles.
8. Setting a Top Gear Track Record
Years before he officially joined the cast of the legendary British motoring show Top Gear, LeBlanc appeared as a guest for the famous “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” segment. Driving a standard Kia Cee’d around the test track in 2012, he set an absolutely blistering time of 1:42.1. He officially held the record as the fastest celebrity to ever complete the lap in that specific car, remaining completely unbeaten.
9. The First Non-British Host of Top Gear
LeBlanc’s genuine passion for motoring and his massive success as a guest led to a historic television moment. In 2016, following the controversial departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, the BBC officially announced LeBlanc as one of the new lead presenters of Top Gear. He made history as the very first non-British host in the show’s nearly 40-year run.
10. He Retreated to a Cattle Ranch for Five Years
Following the massive, ten-year grind of Friends and the subsequent critical failure of his spin-off Joey in 2006, LeBlanc was completely burned out. He deliberately walked away from Hollywood, retreating to a massive cattle ranch he purchased in California. For over five years, he effectively retired from acting, refusing to read scripts, fire his agent, or speak to the press, simply enjoying life as a fiercely private father.
11. He Stepped Away for His Daughter
His five-year hiatus was not just about Hollywood burnout; it was deeply tied to a terrifying family crisis. When his daughter, Marina, was an infant, she was diagnosed with cortical dysplasia, a severe neurological condition that caused frequent seizures. LeBlanc paused his entire career to be by her side and ensure she received the best medical care. Fortunately, her condition successfully resolved as she grew older.
12. He Played a Terrible Version of Himself
When LeBlanc finally decided to return to television in 2011, he took a massive, hilarious risk. He signed on to star in the Showtime comedy series Episodes, where he played a highly fictionalized, arrogant, and manipulative version of “Matt LeBlanc.” The risky meta-comedy paid off brilliantly, completely reinventing his career and earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.
13. He Turned Down the Role of Phil Dunphy
LeBlanc was famously offered the role of the goofy, lovable dad Phil Dunphy on the massive ABC hit Modern Family. After reading the pilot script, LeBlanc realized the show was brilliant but recognized that he was entirely the wrong actor for the part, feeling he would be doing the script a massive disservice. He politely declined the role, which ultimately went to Ty Burrell, who won multiple Emmys for the performance.
14. He Kept the Famous Magna Doodle
Fans of Friends fondly remember the Magna Doodle board hanging on the back of the door in Joey and Chandler’s apartment, which featured different drawings in almost every single episode. When the series finally wrapped in 2004, LeBlanc stole the physical Magna Doodle from the set. He later gifted it to Paul Swain, the specific electrical crew member who actually drew all the daily pictures on it for the show’s entire run.
15. A 1990s Music Video King
Before he became a sitcom legend, LeBlanc was a highly sought-after face for music videos in the early 1990s. He famously starred as the lead heartthrob in Jon Bon Jovi’s music video for the song “Miracle” in 1990. He also played the rebellious protagonist in Bob Seger’s classic video for “Night Moves” in 1994, mere months before he booked the role of Joey Tribbiani that would change his life forever.
