‘Friends’ star Lisa Kudrow opened up about her experience before landing the hit series. The actress recalled being told she wasn’t ‘gorgeous’ enough for certain sitcom roles.
Lisa Kudrow, best known for playing Phoebe Buffay in Friends, shared details about her early days in Hollywood during an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Kudrow said, “I didn’t look like women who were getting cast as series regulars on sitcoms.” She recalled that casting teams wanted more conventionally appealing faces for sitcoms, saying, “They still wanted a certain look — very pretty and appealing and all of that — and not that funny, right, except for Shelley Long… I was told, ‘It’s very hard because you’re not gorgeous, and they want gorgeous.’”
The actress said casting was not only about appearance but also about how someone carried themselves. “And I’m like, ‘Okay’… I don’t think that’s ridiculous. I got it. Also, it’s not just how you look; it’s how you act, too. I’m not ‘cute.’ And God, I didn’t want to be cute,” she added.
Earlier, during an interview with The Independent, Kudrow recalled receiving less attention than her co-stars. She said, “Nobody cared about me” while discussing her early experience on Friends.
Despite those early judgments, Kudrow landed the role that changed her career. She was cast as Phoebe Buffay and became one of the sitcom’s six main stars alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.
Kudrow played Phoebe across all 10 seasons of Friends from 1994 to 2004, according to PEOPLE.
Her comments highlight how casting expectations can shape an actor’s opportunities in Hollywood.
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This story originally appeared on Realitytea
