Lisa Kudrow opens up about feeling overlooked and being called ‘the sixth friend’ on hit sitcom

Lisa Kudrow has reflected on her experience during the success of Friends, stating she often felt overlooked despite the show’s global popularity.

The actress, who portrayed Phoebe Buffay in the long-running sitcom, spoke in a recent interview with The Independent about how she was perceived during the show’s original run from 1994 to 2004.

“Nobody cared about me,” Kudrow said. “There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as ‘the sixth Friend.’”

Friends featured an ensemble cast including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry, and became one of television’s most successful comedies. Despite this, Kudrow suggested that expectations for her career were limited at the time.

“There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have,” she said. “There was just, like, ‘boy is she lucky she got on that show.’”

Kudrow won an Emmy Award in 1998 for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her performance, but said perceptions of her character influenced how she was viewed professionally.

Reflecting on Phoebe Buffay, she explained that the role required careful Development. “At first, Phoebe was very, very far from me,” she said. “It took a lot of work to justify the things she would say and do.”

She also addressed how the character was often labelled. “At the time, it was like, ‘She’s such a ditz. How is it that you only play ditzes?’ And I thought, Is she a ditz? To me, she wasn’t.”

Kudrow added that aspects of the character gradually influenced her over time. “Over the course of 10 years, a little bit of her came into me,” she said.

The actress is currently promoting the final season of The Comeback and continues to reflect on her career and evolving roles in the industry.

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• Lisa Kudrow opens up about feeling overlooked and being called ‘the sixth friend’ on hit sitcom