Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Valerie Kudrow[1] (/ˈkuːdroʊ/; born July 30, 1963)[2] is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. After making guest appearances in several television sitcoms in the 1980s, Kudrow came to international prominence in the 1990s for portraying Phoebe Buffay in Friends, which earned her Primetime Emmy and Screen Actors Guild awards. Kudrow also portrayed Phoebe’s twin sister Ursula on the television sitcom Mad About You. Kudrow has received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series from six nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Awards from 12 nominations, and a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her Friends character was widely popular while the series aired and was later recognized as one of the greatest female characters in American television.

Lisa Kudrow
Kudrow at the film premiere of The Other Woman in 2009
Born	Lisa Valerie Kudrow (1963-07-30) July 30, 1963 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	William Taft High School
Alma mater	Vassar College
Occupation	Actress • writer • comedian • singer • producer
Years active	1983–present
Known for	Mad About You (1992–1999) Friends (1994–2004) Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) The Opposite of Sex (1998) The Comeback (2005, 2014) Web Therapy (2008–2014) Web Therapy (2011–2015)
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Spouse(s)	Michel Stern (m. 1995)
Children	1

Kudrow starred in the cult comedy film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) and followed it with an acclaimed performance in the romantic comedy The Opposite of Sex (1998), which won her the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress and a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female. In 2005, she went on to produce, write and star in the HBO comedy series The Comeback, which was revived nine years later for a second season. Kudrow was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for both seasons.

In 2007, Kudrow received praise for her starring role in the film Kabluey and appeared in the box office hit film P.S. I Love You. She produced and starred in the Showtime program Web Therapy (2011–2015), which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She is a producer on the TLC reality program Who Do You Think You Are, which has garnered her five Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Kudrow has also made several notable film appearances, including roles in Analyze This (1999), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Bandslam (2008), Hotel for Dogs (2009), Easy A (2010), Neighbors (2014) and its sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), The Girl on the Train (2016), The Boss Baby (2017), Long Shot (2019) and Booksmart (2019). Her films have grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

Early life

Lisa Kudrow was born in Encino, Los Angeles, California, to Nedra S. (née Stern, born 1934), a travel agent, and Lee N. Kudrow (born 1933), a physician who specialized in the treatment of headaches.[3] She has an older sister, Helene Marla (born 1955), and an older brother, Santa Monica neurologist David B. Kudrow (born 1957). Kudrow was raised in a middle-class Jewish family and had a Bat Mitzvah ceremony.[4][5] Her ancestors emigrated from Belarus, Germany, Hungary and Poland, and some of them lived in the village of Ilya, in the Minsk area.[6] Kudrow's paternal grandparents were David Kudrow (born in Mogilev, Belarus) and Gertrude Farberman (born in Ilya, Belarus).[6] Her paternal great-grandmother, Mera Mordejovich, was murdered in Ilya during the Holocaust. Her paternal grandmother emigrated to Brooklyn, where her father grew up.[7]

Kudrow attended Portola Middle School in Tarzana, California.[8] She graduated from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles where then N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Eazy-E and actress Robin Wright also attended. Kudrow received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Vassar College, intending to become an expert on headaches like her physician father.[9] 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.[10]

Career

Kudrow visiting her alma mater Vassar College in 2004

1989–1994: Early career

At the urging of her brother's childhood friend, comedian Jon Lovitz,[4] she began her comedic career as a member of The Groundlings, an improv and sketch comedy school in Los Angeles. Kudrow has credited Cynthia Szigeti, her improv teacher at The Groundlings, for changing her perspective on acting, calling her "the best thing that happened, on so many levels."[11][12] 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.[13] She tried out for Saturday Night Live in 1990, but the show chose Julia Sweeney instead.[14] 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 series finale of Newhart's previous series Newhart.[15] 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.[3]

Kudrow was cast to play the role of Roz Doyle in Frasier, but the role was re-cast with Peri Gilpin during the taping 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."[4] 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.[16]

1994–2004: Breakthrough

Kudrow was the first Friends cast member to win an Emmy Award with her 1998 honor as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her starring role as Phoebe on Friends (NBC, 1994–2004).[17] 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.[18]

During her tenure on Friends Kudrow appeared in multiple comedic films such as Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Hanging Up, Marci X, Dr. Dolittle 2, Analyze This and its sequel Analyze That, and dramatic films, such as Wonderland and The Opposite of Sex. She also guest starred on numerous television series during Friends, including The Simpsons, Hope and Gloria, King of the Hill, and hosting Saturday Night Live.

2004–present: Post-Friends

Kudrow at the 1st Streamy Awards

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. Nine years after the original season, HBO revived the series in 2014 for an abbreviated second season. Kudrow received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on The Comeback.[19]

Kudrow serves as the executive producer for the American version of the UK television series Who Do You Think You Are?, in which celebrities trace their family trees. The subjects of the first series included Kudrow herself, in which it was discovered her great-grandmother was murdered in the Holocaust.[20][21]

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 Fiona Wallice. She offers her patients three-minute sessions over iChat.[19] In July 2011, a reformatted, half-hour version of the show premiered on Showtime,[22][23] before being cancelled in 2015 after four seasons.[24] Kudrow has guest starred on multiple television series such as Cougar Town, BoJack Horseman, Angie Tribeca, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Scandal.[25]

Following Friends, Kudrow has also appeared in films such as Easy A, Hotel for Dogs (film), Happy Endings, and Neighbors. In 2016, she reprised her role as Carol Gladstone in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,[26] and co-starred in the thriller film The Girl on the Train.[27]

Kudrow played Hypatia of Alexandria in season 4 episode 12 of The Good Place "Patty".[28]

She is currently, along with Mary McCormack, an executive producer of the syndicated game show, 25 Words or Less; sometimes, Kudrow herself is one of the two celebrity guests playing with a contestant on the show.

On April 8, 2020, it was announced that Kudrow was cast as Maggie Naird in the upcoming Netflix comedy series, Space Force.[29]

Personal life

On May 27, 1995, Kudrow married French advertising executive Michel Stern. They have a son, Julian Murray Stern, who was born on May 7, 1998. [30][31][32] Kudrow's pregnancy was written into the fourth season of Friends with her character, Phoebe, having triplets as a surrogate mother for her younger half-brother Frank (Giovanni Ribisi) and his wife Alice (Debra Jo Rupp).[33] In 2019, during an interview with Marc Maron, Kudrow revealed that she experienced body dysmorphic disorder while working on the show.[34]

Filmography

Kudrow at the 2009 Streamy awards

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Overdrawn at the Memory Bank	Extra
1986	America 3000	Warrior Women Leader	Uncredited
1989	L.A. on $5 a Day	Charmer
1991	To the Moon, Alice	Friend of Perky Girl	Short film
1991	The Unborn	Louisa
1992	Dance with Death	Millie
1992	In the Heat of Passion	Esther
1994	In the Heat of Passion 2: Unfaithful	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 Mozell
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
2009	Paper Man	Claire Dunn
2009	Bandslam	Karen Burton
2009	The Other Woman	Dr. Carolyn Soule
2010	Easy A	Mrs. Griffith
2014	Neighbors	Carol Gladstone
2016	El Americano: The Movie	Lucille (voice)
2016	Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising	Carol Gladstone
2016	The Girl on the Train	Martha
2017	Table 19	Bina Kepp
2017	The Boss Baby	Mrs. Templeton (voice)
2018	Lovesick Fool – Love in the Age of Like	Ozma (voice)	Short film
2019	Long Shot	Katherine
2019	Booksmart	Charmaine Antsler
2020	Like a Boss	Shay Whitmore

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Married to the Mob		Pilot
1989	Cheers	Emily	Episode: "Two Girls for Every Boyd"
1989	Just Temporary	Nicole	Television film
1990	Newhart	Sada	Episode: "The Last Newhart"
1990	Life Goes On	Stella	Episode: "Becca and the Band"
1991	Murder in High Places	Miss Stich	Television film
1992	Room for Two	Woman in Black	Episode: "Not Quite... Room for Two"
1993–1999	Mad About You	Ursula Buffay	24 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	Main role, 236 episodes
1995–1997; 1999–2001		Ursula Buffay	Recurring role, 8 episodes
1996	Hope & Gloria	Phoebe Buffay	Episode: "A New York Story"
1996	Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man	Female Beta Maxians (voices)	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)	4 episodes
2001	King of the Hill	Marjorie Pittman (voice)	Episode: "The Exterminator"
2001	Blue's Clues	Dr. Stork (voice)	Episode: "The Baby's Here!"
2005	Father of the Pride	Foo-Lin (voice)	2 episodes
2005	Hopeless Pictures	Sandy (voice)	2 episodes
2005, 2014	The Comeback	Valerie Cherish	21 episodes; also co-creator, writer and executive producer
2006	American Dad!	The Ghost of Christmas Past (voice)	Episode: "The Best Christmas Story Never Told"
2008–2014	Web Therapy	Fiona Wallice	132 episodes; also co-creator, writer and executive producer
2010	Cougar Town	Dr. Amy Evans	Episode: "Rhino Skin"
2010–present	Who Do You Think You Are?	Herself[35]	Executive producer; Episode: "Lisa Kudrow"
2011–2015	Web Therapy	Fiona Wallice	44 episodes; also co-creator, writer and executive producer
2011	Allen Gregory	Sheila (voice)	Episode: "Mom Sizemore"
2013	Wendell and Vinnie	Natasha	Episode: "Swindel & Vinnie"
2013	Scandal	Congresswoman Josephine Marcus	4 episodes
2015	BoJack Horseman	Wanda Pierce (voice)	7 episodes
2016	Angie Tribeca	Monica Vivarquar	Episode: "Pilot"
2016	Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows	Herself	Television documentary
2016–2019	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	Fairy Godmother (voice) / Lori-Ann Schmidt	3 episodes
2017	RuPaul's Drag Race	Guest	1 episode
2018–present	25 Words or Less	Herself	Recurring guest, also executive producer
2018	Grace and Frankie	Sheree	3 episodes
2018	Bright Futures	Narrator	Unsold television pilot
2019	Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas	Executive producer	Television movie
2020	The Good Place	Hypatia of Alexandria	Episode: "Patty"
2020	Feel Good	Linda	Main role
2020	Space Force	Maggie Naird	Recurring role
2020	The One Where They Got Back Together	Phoebe Buffay	HBO Max special; also executive producer[36]

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Lisa Kudrow

Kudrow has been honored with numerous accolades over her career. For her role in the sitcom Friends, she received six nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning in 1998 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Kudrow has also received twelve nominations and two wins at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as one win and eight nominations at the American Comedy Awards.

References

1. "Lisa Kudrow says her middle name". Retrieved August 8, 2013 – via YouTube.
2. Family Tree Legends According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905–1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Archived October 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
3. "Lisa Kudrow (1963–)". FilmReference.com.
4. Zaslow, Jeffrey (October 8, 2000). "Balancing friends and family". USA Weekend. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
5. Harris, Rob. (June 26, 2012) Oh, what a tangled ‘Web’ Lisa Kudrow weaves. The Times of Israel. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
6. https://www.imdb.com/name /nm0001435/bio
7. Grobel, Lawrence (November–December 2013). "Lisa Kudrow: The versatile comedian (and former science nerd) reflects on high school bullies, motherhood, and life after Friends". The Saturday Evening Post. Indiana. Archived from the original on November 7, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
8. Susman, Gary (October 23, 2002). "Here's what the cast of Friends were up to this week". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 25, 2019. In the November issue of Allure magazine, Kudrow reveals a secret she's kept for 23 years: When she was 16, she had a nose job. 'I had a hook nose, and now it's certainly smaller,' she says. 'But I'm not even sure I love how that turned out. I think plastic surgery looks weird – like plastic surgery.'
9. Justine Elias. "Lisa Kudrow: No Problem Playing Two Roles." Indiana (PA) Gazette, August 21, 1982, p. TV 7.
10. Messinger, HB; MI Messinger; L Kudrow; LV Kudrow (1994). "Handedness and headache". Cephalalgia. 14 (1): 64–67. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2982.1994.1401064.x. PMID 8200028.
11. Barnes, Mike (August 19, 2016). "Cynthia Szigeti, Groundlings Improv Teacher and 'Seinfeld' Actress, Dies at 66". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
12. "Lisa Kudrow interview: Part 2 of 4". Archive of American Television. December 22, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
13. Bolesroor (May 5, 2011). ""Cheers" Two Girls for Every Boyd (TV Episode 1989)". IMDb.
14. Shales, Tom; James Andrew Miller (November 16, 2008). Live From New York (First eBook ed.). New York: Little, Brown. pp. 273, 386. ISBN 978-0316045827.
15. Kovalchik, Kara (July 15, 2009). "The Early TV Appearances of Seven Big Stars". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012.
16. "Fast Chat: Lisa Kudrow". Newsday. January 18, 2009.
17. Lisa Kudrow Emmy Nominated. Emmys.com. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
18. Carter, Bill (February 12, 2002). "'Friends' Deal Will Pay Each Of Its 6 Stars $22 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
19. "Lisa Kudrow- Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
20. Hunt, Stacey Wilson (August 24, 2012). "Emmys 2012: Lisa Kudrow's Own Holocaust Surprise On 'Who Do You Think You Are?' (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
21. "Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker And Susan Sarandon Star In NBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' Premiering April 20" (Press release). NBC. January 28, 2009. Archived from the original on February 19, 2010.
22. "'Web Therapy' Renewed: Lisa Kudrow's Showtime Series Get A Season 3". HuffPost. November 16, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
23. Hale, Mike (July 28, 2011). "Analyze This: A Webisode's Id Meets Its TV Ego". New York Post. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
24. Amanda N'Duka (August 11, 2015). "Lisa Kudrow's 'Web Therapy' Cancelled By Showtime After 4 Seasons". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
25. O'Connor, Mickey (October 27, 2009). "Lisa Kudrow Will Guest-Star on Cougar Town". TV Guide.
26. "Neighbors 2 Cast Photos from the Atlanta Set". ComingSoon.net. September 18, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
27. Kit, Borys (November 3, 2015). "Lisa Kudrow Joins 'The Girl on the Train' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 8, 2016. She has also starred recently on The Good Place as Hypatia of Alexandria.
28. "Patty" – via www.imdb.com.
29. Turchiano, Danielle (April 8, 2020). "Lisa Kudrow Joins Steve Carell in 'Space Force,' Netflix Sets Premiere Date". Variety. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
30. "Lisa Kudrow Son:Julian Murray Stern". August 13, 2020.
31. Michaelson, Judith (June 17, 1997). "Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press". Los Angeles Times.
32. Bloom, Nate (August 21, 2012). "Interfaith Celebrities: Lisa Kudrow; Tavi Gevinson, Oracle of Girl World; Olympic Results and Raisman's Rabbi". Interfaith Family. I also learned that her husband, French advertising executive Michael Stern, whom she married in 1995, is not Jewish, as many assume. Stern and Kudrow have one child, a boy named Julian Murray, who is now 14.
33. "20 TV Pregnancies So Impossible To Hide, They Were Just Written into The Show". BabyGaga. February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
34. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JonnuDgpa2o
35. "About the Show". Who Do You Think You Are. NBC. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
36. Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (February 21, 2020). "'Friends' Reunion Special Officially A Go At HBO Max With Cast Returning". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 24, 2020.

External links

• Lisa Kudrow on Twitter
• Lisa Kudrow at AllMovie
• Lisa Kudrow at Emmys.com
• Lisa Kudrow on IMDb
• Lisa Kudrow at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

Preceded by Samuel L. Jackson	MTV Movie Awards host 1999	Succeeded by Sarah Jessica Parker