LISA KUDROW

Emmy Award-winning actress Lisa Kudrow is distinctly different from Phoebe Buffay, the spacey but loveable folksinger and massage therapist that she brilliantly plays on "Friends."  Nominated six times (one win, 1998) by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Kudrow has also received a Screen Actors Guild Award (with two additional nominations) for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series and a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance on "Friends."

In addition to her success on television, Kudrow has received rave reviews for her feature film roles.  She won the Best Supporting Actress Award from the New York Film Critics Circle, an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination for her portrayal of Lucia in the film "The Opposite of Sex."

Kudrow also starred opposite Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro in the Warner Bros. film "Analyze This," for director Harold Ramis, for which she won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award.

In 1997, she starred in the critically acclaimed hit comedy "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," with Mira Sorvino, and starred in Albert Brooks' comedy "Mother."  She also starred in "Clockwatchers," opposite Toni Collette and Parker Posey.

Last year, Kudrow starred in the film "Hanging Up," opposite Meg Ryan and Diane Keaton, and also starred opposite John Travolta in "Lucky Numbers."

Kudrow has always been passionate about acting, but she never thought of it as a career until after college.  While growing up, she performed and reenacted many of her favorite movie scenes for family and friends.

When Kudrow returned to California after college, her passion to act and perform resurfaced.  Her brother's good friend, actor/comedian Jon Lovitz, inspired her to pursue her dream.  She began studying with improvisational instructor Cynthia Szigeti and acting teacher Ian Tucker.  In 1989, Kudrow's dream of becoming a performer became a reality when she was accepted as a member of the famed Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings.

She had the distinction of being in two outstanding television series simultaneously.  Along with her role as Phoebe in "Friends," Kudrow portrayed the lovable but waitressly challenged Ursula on the television comedy "Mad About You."  The two characters are sisters, which provided opportunities for Kudrow to go back and forth between two of the most popular series on television at the time.

Recently, Kudrow completed work on the film "Marci X," in which she plays a Jewish-American princess who is forced to take over a hardcore hip-hop record label and rein in one of its most controversial rappers, portrayed by Damon Wayans.  The motion picture is scheduled to be released in 2002.