Lisa Kudrow says she was “lucky” to have landed a role in Friends.
In a new interview with Today, the actress, 61, reflected on her time on the beloved NBC sitcom — which aired for 10 seasons between 1994 and 2004 — and how it shaped the trajectory of her career.
The immense appeal of the show was undoubtedly due to the chemistry of its charismatic stars: Kudrow as Phoebe, David Schwimmer as Ross, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, Courteney Cox as Monica, Matthew Perry as Chandler and Matt LeBlanc as Joey. The group had a special bond both on and off the set, Kudrow said.
“We loved each other,” she told Today. “Going to work every day was heaven. It was too good to be true, but it really was.”
Over its long run, Friends earned six Primetime Emmys, including an award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Kudrow in 1998. The sitcom, considered one of the most popular TV shows of all time, is still being discovered today and capturing the hearts of new viewers who catch reruns on TBS or stream it on Max. For Kudrow, it's the gift that keeps on giving — and the role of a lifetime.
“I won a lottery being on Friends,” Kudrow told the outlet. "Anything else I got to do was icing.”
She said being a part of the massively successful show went “above and beyond” anything she had ever hoped for, paving the way for a career she calls "lucky," "privileged" and "fortunate."
“All I ever wanted to do was be able to support myself as an actor. That was the goal,” she said. “Not only that, but I was working with people I loved.”
The show also opened up many doors for Kudrow, including the chance to pursue her own projects, such as Showtime's Web Therapy, two seasons of the HBO mockumentary The Comeback and Who Do You Think You Are?, an emotional ancestry documentary produced by Kudrow, which sees well-known celebrities go on journeys to trace their family tree.
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"Because I was on Friends, I got to create my own shows that didn't have to be as big as Friends, so I could do something like The Comeback or Web Therapy, and that was really fulfilling,” she told Today.
Kudrow's latest acting role sees her starring alongside Ray Romano in the Netflix series No Good Deed, a dark comedy that follows three very different families as they angle to buy the same 1920s Spanish-style villa that they think will solve all their problems.
The two actors, who play married couple Lydia and Paul Morgan in the series, are both '90s sitcom legends. Romano, 67, famously starred in Everybody Loves Raymond. The pair have enjoyed connecting on the set of No Good Deed.
During a recent exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Kudrow and Romano revealed that they had immediate chemistry with each other while working on the series.
"It was just there," Kudrow said, while Romano added, "You get lucky, and as two actors sometimes you just have that chemistry. And I think we had it right off the bat."
"Lisa was not cast when I signed on, and I was drawn to it because the writing was great, the people involved were great," Romano noted. "And when they told me Lisa was on board, I got frightened only because I'm insecure. But then it all worked out."
Added Kudrow: "I did know that my husband would be Ray Romano and I'd always wanted to work with Ray and just didn't think it was ever going to happen. So it was like, well, that's kind of like a dream come true. Oh my gosh. And Linda Cardellini, I also knew, was going to be in it. There was no way to say no."
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