Biography
Lisa Kudrow was born in Encino, California, on July 30. She was raised in Tarzana, California in a house that had a pool table and it was only a matter of time before she had learnt some of the most difficult trick shots! As well as being a pool-shark, she played varsity level tennis at high school and later at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

 Kudrow expected to follow in her father's footsteps when she graduated froege in New York  Vassar CollState 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.

In her free time, she performs with the Transformers improv group and also teaches. Kudrow is pregnant and enjoying life with her French husband, Michael Stern.

Filmography:

     Opposite of Sex, The 1998 movie (Lucia)
     Clockwatchers 1997 movie (Paula)
     Romy and Michele's High School Reunion 1997 movie (Michelle)
     Mother 1996 movie (Linda)
     The Crazysitter 1995 movie (Adrian Wexler-Jones)
     Friends 1994 TV Series (Phoebe Buffay)
     In the Heat of Passion II: Unfaithful 1994 movie (Bank Employee)
     Bob 1992 TV Series (Kathy Fleisher)
     Mad About You 1992 TV Series [Ursula, waitress at Riff's (1993-)]
     In the Heat of Passion 1992 movie
     The Unborn 1991 movie (Louisa)
     L.A. on $5 a Day 1989 movie (Charmer)

Other guest stars include:

     Saturday Night Live
     Duckman (voice)
     Hope & Gloria
     Coach
     Flying Blind
     Cheers
     Life Goes On

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