Best known for playing Phoebe Buffay on Friends for ten years, Lisa Kudrow was born in Encino, California and nearly didn’t become an actor at all. Instead, she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and attended Vassar, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts (Biology). But after graduating, she joined the Groundlings troupe at the urging of Jon Lovitz, and five years later was cast in Friends. Famously, this role came after she had already begun playing the recurring character of Ursula on Mad About You. Eventually, the creators of the two shows made the two characters twin sisters, and Kudrow continued to play both roles, occasionally doing double duty as Phoebe and Ursula in some episodes of Friends.
Since the end of Friends in 2004, Kudrow has become a sought-after character actor, appearing in numerous films and tv series as one off or recurring characters. She has also branched out into production, and played lead roles in two shows she created herself, Web Therapy and The Comeback. BUt of course, her greatest role was that of Michele Weinberger in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
