Lisa Kudrow's Real Name: Lisa Kudrow

Quick answer: Lisa Kudrow's professional and public name is Lisa Kudrow. She was born on July 30, 1963, in California. Biography.com and a Library of Congress note place the birth in Encino; Britannica gives Los Angeles. Longer forms of the name appear in catalog notes that do not agree, so this page uses the public name. She won an Emmy Award in 1998 as Phoebe Buffay on Friends (1994–2004) (Britannica; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

She was born on July 30, 1963. Her father, Lee, was a physician who specialized in headaches, and her mother, Nedra, was a travel agent. She is the youngest of three children and grew up in a Jewish family. She played varsity tennis at Taft High School in Woodland Hills and later earned a biology degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

She returned to Los Angeles to work as a medical researcher with her father. Comedian Jon Lovitz, a childhood friend of her brother's, encouraged her to try performing. Library of Congress notes give more than one expansion of her name, including Lisa Valerie Kudrow and Lisa Marie Diane Kudrow; because those forms conflict, they are not used in the title.

Career highlights

Early television work included a part on Cheers and minor roles on Bob Newhart's series. In 1992 she began playing the waitress Ursula Buffay on Mad About You. Biography.com says she was cast as Roz on Frasier and then replaced during rehearsal. An earlier audition for Saturday Night Live, in 1990, was unsuccessful.

In 1994 she was cast as Phoebe Buffay, a folk-singing massage therapist, on Friends, alongside Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, and the rest of the ensemble. The series, set among friends in New York City, was an immediate hit. Kudrow won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1998 for supporting actress in a comedy and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2000. She also reprised Ursula on Friends as Phoebe's twin.

During the run of the show she starred in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) and appeared in The Opposite of Sex (1998) and Analyze This (1999). In 2005 she co-created, wrote, and starred in the HBO series The Comeback as Valerie Cherish, a sitcom actress trying to restart her career. Britannica lists further seasons in 2014 and 2026. She later appeared on Scandal and in the film Neighbors (2014).

Name notes for searchers

Lisa Kudrow is the name used in credits and publicity. Catalog notes that expand the name do not agree with one another. She should not be confused with other people named Kudrow in public records.