Lisa Kudrow Biography

Lisa Valerie Kudrow (born July 30, 1963) is an American actress, writer, comedian and producer. She gained worldwide recognition for her ten-season run as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades, including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

She went on to produce, write and star in the short-lived HBO series The Comeback, and is currently starring in Web Therapy which is in its third season on Showtime. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class - Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program for the show in 2012. She is also one of the executive producers of the NBC reality program Who Do You Think You Are. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Program for the series in 2012.

Away from television, Kudrow has also appeared in many films, including Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), The Opposite of Sex (1998), Analyze This (1999) and its sequel Analyze That (2002), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Wonderland (2003), Happy Endings (2005), P.S. I Love You (2007), Bandslam (2008), Hotel for Dogs (2009), and Easy A (2010).

Throughout her career she has received nine Emmy Award nominations, twelve Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and a Golden Globe Award nomination.

Early life

Lisa Kudrow was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Nedra S. (née Stern), a travel agent, and Dr. Lee N. Kudrow (born 1933), a headache specialist and physician. She has an older sister, Helene Marla (born 1960), and an older brother, Santa Monica neurologist David B. Kudrow (born 1957). Kudrow was raised in a middle-class Jewish family. Her ancestors emigrated from Belarus and lived in the village of Ilya, in the Minsk area, and her great-grandmother was murdered in the Holocaust.

Kudrow attended Portola Middle School in Tarzana, California. In 1979, at the age of 16, she underwent rhinoplasty to reduce the size of her nose. She graduated from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. She received her BA in Biology from Vassar College, intending to follow in her father's footsteps and research headaches. Kudrow worked on her father's staff for eight years while breaking into acting, earning a research credit on his study on the comparative likelihood of left-handed individuals developing cluster headaches.

Career

At the urging of her brother's childhood friend, comedian Jon Lovitz, Kudrow began her comedic career as a member of The Groundlings. Briefly, Kudrow joined with Conan O'Brien and director Tim Hillman in the short-lived improv troupe Unexpected Company. She was also the only regular female member of the Transformers Comedy Troupe. She played a role in an episode of the NBC sitcom Cheers. She tried out for Saturday Night Live in 1990, but the show chose Julia Sweeney instead. She had a recurring role as Kathy Fleisher in three episodes of season one of the Bob Newhart sitcom Bob (CBS, 1992"1993), a role she played after taking part in the memorable series finale of Newhart's previous series Newhart. Prior to Friends, she appeared in at least two produced network pilots: NBC's Just Temporary (also known as Temporarily Yours) in 1989, playing Nicole; and CBS' Close Encounters (also known as Matchmaker) in 1990, playing a Valley girl.

Kudrow was hired to play the role of Roz Doyle in Frasier, but the part was re-cast with Peri Gilpin during the filming of the pilot episode. Kudrow said in 2000 that when rehearsals started, "I knew it wasn't working. I could feel it all slipping away, and I was panicking, which only made things worse". Her first recurring television role was Ursula Buffay, the eccentric waitress on the NBC sitcom Mad About You. Kudrow would reprise the character on the NBC sitcom Friends, in which Kudrow co-starred as massage therapist Phoebe Buffay, Ursula's twin sister.

For her ensemble starring role as Phoebe on Friends (NBC, 1994"2004) Kudrow won the 1998 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. According to the Guinness Book of World Records (2005), Kudrow and co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox became the highest paid TV actresses of all time, earning $1 million per episode for the ninth and tenth seasons of Friends. Her film credits include comedic roles in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Hanging Up, Marci X, Analyze This and its sequel Analyze That. Kudrow has also starred in dramatic roles, including the biographical Wonderland about the late porn star John Holmes. She had dramatic roles for writer-director Don Roos in the films The Opposite of Sex and Happy Endings. In 2008, she acted in Hotel for Dogs alongside Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin.

She has been a vocal performer on episodes of animated television series, including as Aphrodite on Hercules: The Animated Series, and as Springfield Elementary School student Alexandra Whitney on The Simpsons. She was the voice of the female grizzly bear Ava in the live action movie Dr. Dolittle 2. She also voiced the Ghost of Christmas Past in the American Dad Christmas Special: The Best Christmas Story Never Told. Kudrow starred as protagonist Valerie Cherish on the single-season HBO series The Comeback (premiered June 5, 2005), about a has-been sitcom star trying for a comeback. She also served as co-creator, writer, and executive producer. Kudrow received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on The Comeback. She has also appeared, alongside her niece, in a television commercial for Nintendo's Personal Trainer: Cooking, as well as in the Nintendo DS commercial for Professor Layton and the Curious Village with Lynn Brown Kogen.

Kudrow served as the executive producer for the American version of the UK television series Who Do You Think You Are? for NBC, in which celebrities trace their family trees. The subjects of the first series included Kudrow herself, in which it was discovered her great-grandmother died in the Holocaust. On March 19, 2010, Kudrow's search for her roots in eastern Europe was broadcast. Kudrow co-created an improvised comedy web series, Web Therapy on Lstudio.com. The improv series, which launched online in 2008, has earned several Webby nominations and one Outstanding Comedic Performance Webby for Kudrow, who plays therapist of unspecified credentials Fiona Wallice. She offers her patients three-minute sessions over iChat. In July 2011, a reformatted, half-hour version of the show premiered on Showtime. Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox reunited on Cougar Town in 2009. Kudrow played an accomplished dermatologist whose services become addictive to Jules (Cox), despite the doctor's impatient temperament. Kudrow's episode was aired during November sweeps. Kudrow's character was also a love interest for Bobby, the divorced husband of Jules played by Brian Van Holt.

Personal life

On May 27, 1995, Kudrow married Michel Stern, a French advertising executive. They have one son, Julian Murray, who was born on May 7, 1998. Kudrow's pregnancy was written into Friends (seasons 4 and 5), with her character Phoebe having triplets as a surrogate mother for her brother and his wife because they were not able to have children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	L.A. on $5 a Day	Charmer
1989	Married to the Mob
1989	Just Temporary	Nicole	TV movie
1989	Murder in High Places	Miss Stich	TV movie
1991	To the Moon, Alice	Friend of Perky Girl	TV movie
1991	The Unborn	Louisa
1992	Dance with Death	Millie
1992	In the Heat of Passion	Bank Teller	aka Heat of Passion
1994	In the Heat of Passion 2: Unfaithful	Bank Teller
1995	The Crazysitter	Adrian Wexler-Jones
1996	Mother	Linda
1997	Romy and Michele's High School Reunion	Michele Weinberger
1997	Clockwatchers	Paula
1997	Hacks	Reading Woman
1998	The Opposite of Sex	Lucia DeLury
1999	Analyze This	Laura MacNamara Sobel
2000	Hanging Up	Maddy Moell
2000	Lucky Numbers	Crystal
2001	All Over the Guy	Marie
2001	Dr. Dolittle 2	Ava	Voice
2002	Bark!	Dr. Darla Portnoy
2002	Analyze That	Laura Sobel
2003	Marci X	Marci Field
2003	Wonderland	Sharon Holmes
2005	Happy Endings	Mamie
2007	Kabluey	Leslie
2007	P.S. I Love You	Denise
2009	Hotel for Dogs	Lois Scudder
2009	Powder Blue	Sally	Direct-to-video
2009	Paper Man	Claire Dunn
2009	Bandslam	Karen Burton
2010	Easy A	Mrs. Griffith
2011	The Other Woman	Carolyne	aka Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
2013	Miss You Already	Danielle	Post-production
2014	Neighbors	Carol Gladstone	Post-production

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Cheers	Emily	Episode: "Two Girls for Every Boyd"
1990	Newhart	Sada	Episode: "The Last Newhart"
1990	Life Goes On	Stella	Episode: "Becca and the Band"
1992	Room for Two	Woman in Black	Episode: "Not Quite... Room for Two"
1993"1999	Mad About You	Ursula Buffay	23 episodes
1993	Flying Blind	Amy	Episode: "My Dinner with Brad Schimmel"
1993	Bob	Kathy Fleisher	3 episodes
1993"1994	Coach	Lauren/Nurse Alice	2 episodes
1994"2004	Friends	Phoebe Buffay/Ursula Buffay	Main Cast; 236 episodes
1996	Hope & Gloria	Phoebe Buffay	Episode: "A New York Story"
1996	Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man	Female Beta Maxians (voice)	Episode: "The One with Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role"
1996	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: "Lisa Kudrow/Sheryl Crow"
1997	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Lisa (voice)	Episode: "Reunion"
1998	The Simpsons	Alex Whitney (voice)	Episode: "Lard of the Dance"
1998"1999	Hercules: The Animated Series	Aphrodite (voice)	3 episodes
2001	King of the Hill	Marjorie Pittman (voice)	Episode: "The Exterminator"
2001	Blue's Clues	Dr. Stork (voice)	Episode: "The Baby's Here!"
2004"2005	Father of the Pride	Foo-Lin (voice)	Episode: "The Siegfried and Roy Fantasy Experience Movie"
2005	The Comeback	Valerie Cherish	Main Cast/Producer/Writer; 13 episodes
2005	Hopeless Pictures	Sandy (voice)	2 episodes
2006	American Dad!	The Ghost of Christmas Past (voice)	Episode: "The Best Christmas Story Never"
2008"present	Web Therapy	Fiona Wallice	Web series Main Cast/Producer/Writer
2010	Cougar Town	Dr. Amy Evans	Episode: "Rhino Skin"
2010"present	Who Do You Think You Are?	Herself	Episode: "Lisa Kudrow", Also Producer
2011"present	Web Therapy	Fiona Wallice	TV Series Main Cast/Producer/Writer; 31 episodes
2011	Allen Gregory	Sheila (voice)	Episode: "Mom Sizemore"
2013	Wendell and Vinnie	Natasha	Episode: "Swindel & Vinnie"
2013	Hollywood Game Night	Herself	Episode: "The One With the Friends"
2014	Scandal		Season 3

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title of work	Result
1995	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Friends
1995	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Mad About You
1996	American Comedy Award	Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series	Friends
1996	Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie	Friends
1996	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Friends
1996	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
1997	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Friends
1998	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Friends
1998	New York Film Critics Circle Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Opposite of Sex
1998	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical	Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
1999	American Comedy Award	Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series	Friends
1999	American Comedy Award	Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	The Opposite of Sex
1999	American Comedy Award	Funniest Female Guest Appearance in a TV Series	Mad About You
1999	Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Opposite of Sex
1999	Chlotrudis Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Opposite of Sex
1999	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Friends
1999	Independent Spirit Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Opposite of Sex
1999	Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Opposite of Sex
1999	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Friends
1999	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
2000	American Comedy Award	Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series	Friends
2000	American Comedy Award	Funniest Female Performer in a TV Special	Friends
2000	American Comedy Award	Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Analyze This
2000	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Friends
2000	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Friends
2000	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
2001	American Comedy Award	Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series	Friends
2001	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Friends
2001	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical	Friends
2001	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
2002	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical	Friends
2002	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
2003	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
2004	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Friends
2004	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Friends
2006	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	The Comeback
2006	Gracie Allen Award	Outstanding Female Lead in a Comedy Series	The Comeback
2006	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical	The Comeback
2008	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical	Kabluey
2009	Streamy Award	Best Female Actress in a Web Comedy Series	Web Therapy
2009	Webby Award	Special Achievement: Outstanding Comedic Performance	Web Therapy
2010	Streamy Award	Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series	Web Therapy
2010	Webby Award	Best Individual Performance	Web Therapy
2010	Golden Derby TV Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	Cougar Town
2011	Webby Award	Best Individual Performance	Web Therapy
2012	Emmy Award	Outstanding Special Class " Short-format Live-action Entertainment Program	Web Therapy
2012	Emmy Award	Outstanding Reality Program	Who Do You Think You Are