'''Lisa Marie Diane Kudrow''' (born July 30, 1963) is an Emmy Award and SAG-winning American actress best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the sitcom ''
Friends''.
Biography
Early life
Kudrow was born in Encino, California to Jewish parents, Lee Kudrow and Nedra Stern, and has one sister and two brothers: older sister Helene Marla Kudrow, and older brothers David Kudrow and Derrick Kudrow. After having attended Portola Middle School in Tarzana, California, she went on to graduate from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, and then later received her A.B. from Vassar College in Biology. She's also fluent in French.
Career
Kudrow began her comedic career as a member of The Groundlings, joining the ranks of those such as Will Ferrell and Janeane Garofalo. She tried out for ''Saturday Night Live'' in 1990, but the show chose Julia Sweeney instead. She was hired to play the role of Roz in the TV show ''Frasier'', but was fired during the filming of the pilot episode. Her first major television role was Ursula Buffay, the eccentrically silly waitress on ''Mad About You''. Despite the previous lack of success, this role led to her starring role on ''
Friends'' as Ursula's identical twin sister, Phoebe Buffay, a role for which she won the 1998 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. (Ursula Buffay appeared in a couple of episodes of ''
Friends'', making that series arguably a spin-off of ''Mad About You''.) She was the most Emmy-nominated cast member of the show, totalling six nominations. She and Jennifer Aniston were the only two to win.
Her film credits include ''
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'', ''
The Opposite of Sex'', ''
Hanging Up'', ''
Marci X'', ''
Analyze This'' and its sequel ''
Analyze That''. She has also starred in the biopic ''
Wonderland'' about the late porn star John Holmes.
Kudrow portrayed Valerie Cherish, the main character on the HBO original series ''
The Comeback''. The series premiered on HBO on June 5, 2005. She also served as co-creator, writer, and executive producer. The show was not renewed for another season. The show was about a has-been sitcom star trying to make a comeback in television. Ironically, "The Comeback" starred famed sitcom star Kudrow who received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show. Kudrow was the first "Friends" castmember to receive a major award nomination since being on "Friends".
Kudrow also guest starred in ''The Simpsons'' episode "Lard of the Dance" as Alex
