Lisa Kudrow was born on July 30, 1963 in
Encino, California and raised in Tarzana. She is the daughter of headache
specialist. Kudrow expected to follow in her father's footsteps when she
graduated from Vassar College in New York State with a B.S. in biology and
returned to California to work with him. However, Kudrow's career in research
was cut short when a friend of her brother, Jon Lovitz (Saturday Night Live
alum), suggested that she audition for the comedy troupe, The Groundlings.
Kudrow was not accepted the first time because of her lack of experience but
after working with Cynthia Szigeti, a well-known comedy teacher, she got in in
1989. During that time, Kudrow entered a romance which evolved into an enduring
friendship with then-unknown late night host, Conan O'Brien.
On Kudrow's road to success, she suffered
a few disappointments before winning the role of Phoebe Buffay. Kudrow was
originally cast as radio producer, Roz Doyle, on Frasier, but was
replaced by Pery Gilpin before the pilot episode was filmed. Kudrow also had
high hopes that her recurring role as waitress Ursula on Mad About You
would turn into a steady gig. Fate, however, had other plans. The next pilot
that Kudrow read for and cast in was Friends. The character of Phoebe was
never written as a twin, but the producers of Friends found this as an
opportunity to do a little crossover with Phoebe and Ursula. This can be seen in
The One With The Two Parts - Part One And Two.
Kudrow earned an Emmy nomination as
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her work during the show's debut
season. She's been busy fighting off the advances of Hollywood movie-makers and
advertising representatives ever since.
So far, Kudrow's extracurricular
activities have included hosting the VH1 Honors Awards, a high profile milk
print ad, both with Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), and the Friends infamous
Diet Coke campaign.
Right now, Kudrow is enjoying life with
her French husband, Michael Stern and her baby son, Julian Murray.
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