Lisa Kudrow Quotes

Her role as Phoebe on NBC's Friends (1994-2004)

There was a time there when I thought going out was so fun. I don't know how it happens, but suddenly that's not a priority anymore. I think it's very easy to get caught up and think that how many hits you get in a magazine because you were seen out somewhere has anything to do with a director's opinion of you, and whether they could use you or not. Now, unless someone's, like, 50 or older, they're meant to behave like girls. And it's a broad stroke: It's not just a moment of being vulnerable and girlish. I don't even know if it's possible, but if it were, I'd like to make those kinds of old movies where the women were articulate and intelligent and flawed and witty. I just want to start writing, whether or not any of it is useable or marketable. One thing I really want to explore is writing. From elementary school on up through junior high school, I loved to perform. But I put it all away during high school and college. I thought, 'That's not actually something you do with your life.' But then I was compelled to try it after college. I just got overcome. To be able to let you know who someone is in just a couple of words, I'd have to pick the most pronounced features of a character's personality. And I always feel like I'm leaving out so many important little ones. I have trouble describing characters because there is just too much going on in human beings. I don't think that I ever thought of myself as a nerd. In college I castrated 21 rats, and I got pretty good at it. I always felt like I could be funny, but there was a part of me that always judged actors so harshly... I thought all actors were dumb-that they must have serious emotional problems. Even if they don't, that's the perception I had of them. I didn't want anyone to see me that way. Life's a lot easier when you're dumb. I hate cosmetics companies. They get you addicted to the perfect lipstick or nail polish and then, six months later, they discontinue it. You have to buy your favorite colors like you're storing up for the Apocalypse. You can't help but just be aware that things might not always be as good as they are, because people's feelings about others can turn on a dime. I like when there are complicated relationships, that there's a little bit of self-serving parts of it as well as a devotion to a person, and that there's a mixture of both in there. It's just I think that's a little more true to life. It's not always purely one way or the other. My hair got lighter, and I gradually went blonde. I liked it. Had more fun. But my image of myself in my head is this dark-haired person. You become a celebrity, not because of your work or what you do, but because you have no privacy. I'll accept being Phoebe to people for a while longer, given how much fun it was. That's totally fair. We treat sex so casually and use it for everything but what it is-which is ultimately making another human being with thoughts and feelings and rights Blonde is dumb comedy, red hair is smart, sexy comedy. I'd played dumbasses a lot. On Mad About You, I played a very dumb waitress and they saw me. We wanted to do a woman on a reality show because that's what's happening right now-it's part of our culture. This is who I am. Not everybody has to like it. You can't pursue something and be committed to it if you're apologizing for it at every party. Is it me? Is it like I have a beacon that only dogs and men with severe emotional problems can hear? [Detractors] are just wrong, and that's okay. They just don't see it yet. That's what I would tell myself to keep those moments of doubt, only moments. You have to surrender to the fact that you are of too many in a highly competitive field where it is difficult to stand out. Over time, through your work, you will demonstrate who you are and what you bring to the field. Just stay with it and keep working. I have no affectation when I speak I knew an actor's career goes up and down and back up again. Your standing in this business can't be your whole identity; otherwise, you're doomed

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