Lisa Valerie Kudrow (born July 30, 1963) is an American actress and producer, universally celebrated for her Emmy-winning role as the quirky Phoebe Buffay on the iconic sitcom Friends (1994–2004). She originally studied biology at Vassar College, intending to follow her father into headache research, but pivoted to comedy after joining the improv troupe The Groundlings, despite narrowly missing roles on Saturday Night Live and Frasier early on. Her break came when she played Ursula on Mad About You, a role cleverly reused as Phoebe's twin sister on Friends, which launched her career. After the sitcom ended, she earned critical praise for her performance in HBO's mockumentary The Comeback and starred in films like The Opposite of Sex (1998) and Booksmart (2019). She has also produced successful series like Who Do You Think You Are? (2010–2022) and continues to appear in recent hits such as Time Bandits (2024) and No Good Deed (2024).