Lisa Marie Diane Kudrow was born on July 30, 1963, in Encino, California, although she was raised in Tarzana, California, in a very secure and happy household with her parents Lee and Nedra Kudrow. For this reason and many others, Lisa could not be further from the character she played for 10 years on the hit NBC sitcom Friends, ditzy New Age musician/masseuse/taxi driver, Phoebe Buffay.
Lisa Kudrow's father Lee Kudrow is a renowned headache specialist, while her mother Nedra Kudrow is a travel agent. Although Lisa Kudrow was a hard worker and studied intensely while in elementary school, she started to show an interest in acting at an early age. She would lip synch to the soundtrack from Fiddler on the Roof, pretending to be one of the musical's characters. Lisa Kudrow performed her Fiddler routine in several classes; a teacher caught a glimpse of her act and was fully impressed.
After graduating from William Howard Taft High School in 1981 -- where she played tennis in her free time -- Lisa Kudrow studied biology at Vassar College in New York. When she graduated in 1985, Lisa Kudrow initially hoped to pursue a career in medical research and returned to Los Angeles to work with her father.
As luck would have it, comedian Jon Lovitz, a friend of Lisa Kudrow's brother's, had just been cast on Saturday Night Live, which reawakened the little girl in her who loved to act. Jon Lovitz encouraged Lisa Kudrow to audition for the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings in order to follow her real passion in life: performing. She was referred to a well-known improvisation teacher after having been rejected for the Groundlings, and in 1989, she finally became an official member of The Groundlings team.
After gaining experience and recognition as a member of the popular comedy troupe, Lisa Kudrow landed a role in a small production called The Ladies Room. Her next move as a comedienne was on the small screen with appearances on shows such as Cheers, Coach, Newhart, and Life Goes On.
In 1993, Lisa Kudrow was cast as the character that ultimately led to her Emmy win on Friends. She was cast as Ursula, the ditzy waitress on the NBC sitcom Mad About You. NBC was so impressed with her performance that they encouraged her to audition for a more substantial part on another NBC show.
She first tried out for the part of Roz on Frasier, but was turned down. It turned out for the best, as the role of Phoebe on Friends fit Lisa Kudrow like a charm, so much so that people often think that Phoebe's personality is similar to the real Lisa. Phoebe Buffay is actually the twin sister of Ursula Buffay, Lisa Kudrow's Mad About You character, which she continued to play every so often while the show was on the air.
Over the next few years, Lisa Kudrow appeared in the following movies: Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), Clockwatchers (1997), The Opposite of Sex (1998), 1999's Analyze This (costarring Robert De Niro), Hanging Up (2000), (costarring Meg Ryan), Lucky Numbers (2000), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), and Analyze That (2002).
One of People magazine's Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997, Lisa Kudrow received a lot of recognition for her acting skills, including the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role on Friends, an Independent Spirit Award nomination (as Best Supporting Female) for her role in The Opposite of Sex and an American Comedy Award (Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series) for Friends. She has received a total of six Emmy nominations for Friends -- one of which resulted in a win -- but this still marks more nods (for Friends) than her female costars, Courteney Cox Arquette and Jennifer Aniston.
Although Friends came to an end after 10 years on the air in 2004, Lisa Kudrow continued to be on our radars. Her movies Marci X (2003), Wonderland (2003) and Happy Endings (2005) were relatively successful but not extremely so. She also made her return to TV in 2005, as the star, writer and producer of The Comeback about a one-time television star who tries to revive her career.
In 2007, Lisa Kudrow had a role in the hit flick P.S., I Love You, which she followed up in '08 with Powder Blue and Will.
