James Michael Tyler (born May 28, 1962 in Winona, Mississippi) is an actor, best known for playing Gunther on the hit NBC sitcom Friends.
James Michael Tyler was born the youngest of five children on 28 May 1962 in Winona, Mississippi, USA to a retired Air Force captain and a homemaker. When he was eleven years old, his parents died and James moved to Anderson, South Carolina to live with his sister. He studied at Clemson University and graduated with a degree in Geology. During this time, he was a member of a student theatre group, the Clemson Players. This experience sparked his interest in becoming an actor. In 1988 he moved to Los Angeles and became a production assistant for “Fat Man and Little Boy� and an assistant apprentice film editor.
From 1994 till 2004 John Michael Tyler played 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.
