From IMDB.com
Kudos for Kudrow! Not the dumb blonde of "Romy
and Michele's High School Reunion." Lisa Kudrow was born
in Encino on July 30, 1963. Her father Lee Kudrow was a physician,
and her mother Nedra a travel agent.
Lisa was raised in Tarzana. Lisa played varsity-level
tennis in high school and college and is a pool shark who
has mastered some of the more difficult trick shots (so beware).
Lisa graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York,
with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.
At first she wanted to pursue a career in research,
so she returned to Los Angeles to begin working with her father.
However, Lisa got inspired to perform by one of her brother's
friends, comedian Jon Lovitz.
And so the tall (5'9") blond-haired, green-eyed
beauty entered show biz. Lisa auditioned for the improv theater
group The Groundlings, based in Los Angeles. Cynthia Szigeti,
a well-known improv teacher, took Lisa under her wing.
In that class, Lisa became a friend of Conan
O'Brien. Graduating with honors, in 1989 Lisa became a full-fledged
member of The Groundlings. Breaking into TV, Lisa got a recurring
role as Ursula, the ditzy waitress on "Mad About You."
This led to Lisa's starring role on "Friends."
In the debut season (1994-95) of "Friends, " Lisa
earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Comedy Series; in 1998 she won that award for her role
as Phoebe, the ditzy but lovable folk singer.
Lisa has also been nominated for Golden Globe,
Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Awards for her performances.
Lisa made the transition to the silver screen with a lot of
success. In 1997 Lisa starred opposite Oscar winner Mira Sorvino
in the hit comedy "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion."
Lisa garnered more praise for her work in movies
when she got the New York Film Critics Award for her starring
role in "The Opposite of Sex." Lisa married Michael
Stern, an advertising executive on May 27, 1995. On May 7,
1998, they were blessed with a son, Julian Murray; they live
in Los Angeles.
From Biography.com
Actor. Born July 30, 1963 in Encino, California. Kudrow
began her studies at Vassar College in Biology, but she became
interested in acting, and soon after she began auditioning,
she became a member of the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improvisational
comedy group.
She landed a range of small parts in television,
but the first in which she became known for was her role as
Ursula in the Helen Hunt-Paul Reiser sitcom Mad About You
(1992). She went on to even greater success as Phoebe Buffay
in the immensely popular television series Friends.
In 2000, after a widely publicized battle with
NBC, Kudrow and costars Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox-Arquette,
Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer made headlines
when they negotiated a salary of $750,000 per episode, becoming
the highest paid television stars in history.
Some of her roles in feature films include Mother
(1996); Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion (1997), in
which she costarred with Mina Sorvino; The Opposite of Sex
(1998); and Hanging Up (2000), with Walter Matthau and Meg
Ryan.
Kudrow married advertising executive Michael
Stern in 1995. Together they have a son, Julian Murray.
From AllMovieGuide.com
Lisa Kudrow first made her name playing Phoebe, the
ditzy, New Age member of the titular close-knit pals on NBC's
highly successful sitcom Friends. Since then, she has bridged
the gap between television and film with undeniable success,
winning particular acclaim for her role as an uptight school
teacher in Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex (1998).
Born in Encino, California on July 30, 1963,
Kudrow earned a degree in biology from Vassar College before
beginning her acting career. After college, she joined the
Los Angeles improvisational group, The Groundlings, at the
urging of family friend Jon Lovitz.
Improv paved the way for more work, and Kudrow
was soon appearing in bit roles in a number of films. Her
first real break didn't come until 1993, when she began appearing
on the TV sitcom Mad About You as Ursula, the waitress from
hell. Real fame came in 1994, when the actress was cast as
Phoebe on Friends; the enormous success of the show gave her
both wide recognition and a steady day job.
Kudrow's first leading role on the big screen was as one of
the titular heroines (alongside Mira Sorvino) of the 1997
comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion; unfortunately,
her character was little more than a film version of Phoebe.
Fortunately, Kudrow got to widen her range a little further
that same year with a starring role in the independent drama
Clockwatchers, portraying a struggling actress alongside the
likes of Toni Collette and Parker Posey.
The following year, Kudrow won raves and critical
respect for her turn in The Opposite of Sex, a scathing black
comedy in which she gave a comic and poignant performance
as an embittered woman coping with the death of her brother,
the presence of her best friend's malicious little sister
(Christina Ricci), and the romantic attentions of Lyle Lovett.
The acclaim she received for her portrayal was
complemented the same year with an Emmy Award for her work
on Friends. In 1999, Kudrow shared the screen with Robert
DeNiro in the comedy Analyze This, and later that year she
starred with Diane Keaton and Meg Ryan as three sisters dealing
with the imminent death of their irritating father (Walter
Matthau) in the comedy Hanging Up, directed by Keaton and
written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron.
From AskMen.com
Lisa Kudrow could not be further from the character
she plays on the hit NBC sitcom Friends, ditzy New Age musician/masseuse/taxi
driver, Phoebe Buffay. For starters, the character she plays
is in her twenties, while Lisa was born July 30th, 1963, in
Encino, California. While Phoebe only discovered her biological
parents a couple of years ago, Lisa comes from a secure household,
where she was raised in Tarzana, California.
Lisa's father Lee Kudrow is a renowned headache
specialist, while her mother Nedra Kudrow is a travel agent.
Although Lisa 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 sync to the soundtrack form
Fiddler on the Roof, pretending to be one of the musical's
characters. Lisa 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 Lisa played tennis on her free time,
she attended Vassar College in New York where she majored
in Biology. When she graduated in 1985, Lisa 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's brother's, had just been cast on Saturday
Night Live which reawakened the little girl in her who loved
to act. Lovitz encouraged Lisa to audition for the improvisational-comedy
troupe the Groundlings, to follow her real passion in life:
performing. She was referred to a well-known improvisation
teacher after having been rejected for the Groundlings, but
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 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, Life Goes On, and The
Simpsons.
In 1993, Lisa received the role that ultimately
led to her Emmy winning role as Phoebe 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 tried out for the part of Roz on Frazier,
but was turned down as the role did not suit Lisa's character.
But the role of Phoebe fits Lisa like a charm, so much so
that people probably think that that's how she is in real
life. Phoebe Buffay is actually the twin sister of Ursula
Buffay, Lisa's Mad About You character, which Lisa continued
to play.
Lisa can add roles in the following movies to
her resume: Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Clockwatchers,
The Opposite of Sex, 1999's Analyze This, co-starring Robert
De Niro, and Hanging Up, also starring the beautiful Meg Ryan.
One of People Magazine's Most Beautiful Women
in the World in 1997, Lisa has received a lot of recognition
for her acting skills, including the Screen Actor's Guild
Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy
Series for her role on Friends, an Independent Spirit Award
Nomination for her role in The Opposite of Sex and a nomination
for an American Comedy Award for her role in Analyze This.
This broad recognition shows that Lisa is not typecast as
the flaky girl she plays on Friends.
Lisa and her husband Michael Stern have a son
Julian Murray. She can still be seen every Thursday night
on Friends with her fellow beautiful cast mates, Courteney
Cox Arquette and Jennifer Aniston.
-- Back to top |
Lisa
Kudrow first made her name playing Phoebe, the ditzy, New Age
member of the titular close-knit pals on NBC's highly successful
sitcom Friends. Since then, she has bridged the gap between
television and film with undeniable success, winning particular
acclaim for her role as an uptight school teacher in Don Roos'
The Opposite of Sex (1998).