It is not uncommon for celebrities to be mistaken for entirely different stars, from Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman to Claudia Winkleman and Davina McCall. However, when Friends star Lisa Kudrow was mistaken for a very famous singer, she struggled to see the resemblance.
Kudrow Recalls Bizarre Fan Encounter
The 62-year-old actress revealed in a recent interview that a fan approached her during the height of her Friends fame, believing she was Dionne Warwick, the Grammy Award-winning singer known for hits like “Walk On By.” Now 85, Warwick is a music legend. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter to recall the “most bizarre” fan interaction she has ever had, Kudrow shared the story during the Comedy Actresses roundtable.
“I have my favourite,” Kudrow said. “It was during Friends, and I was going to Jerry’s Deli or something and the hostess had an accent. She was from somewhere in Eastern Europe and just went [whispering], ‘I know who you are.’ I went, ‘Aw, yeah.’ And she said, ‘You are Dionne Warwick.’ I just went, ‘No, I’m not. I am not.’”
Surrounded by her surprised fellow panellists, including Ashley Padilla, Quinta Brunson, Rachel Sennott, Hannah Einbinder, and Keke Palmer, Kudrow continued: “I kind of felt this, ‘She doesn’t know who I am?’ And then it was, wait … Dionne Warwick? I said, ‘She’s a legendary singer!’ I just thought it was the funniest thing ever.”
Kudrow’s Career and Reflections
Warwick is best known for her 1966 track “Alfie” and her 1971 single “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” which won her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance that year. Kudrow played Phoebe Buffay on the hit sitcom Friends throughout its entire 10-year run, originating the role in 1994. She went on to star in the cult comedy Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and the mockumentary The Comeback, which returned for a third series earlier this year.
Kudrow recently claimed that “nobody cared” about her while she was on Friends, telling The Independent in April: “There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as ‘the sixth Friend.’” When asked about that comment by The Hollywood Reporter, she elaborated: “That was what the talk among the business folk was. But I really didn’t care because it didn’t matter. I did a movie right after the first season, an Albert Brooks movie. Yay! And then the next season, I did two movies: Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and Clockwatchers. I just thought it doesn’t matter, does it, what anyone thinks? I have to do what I do.”
In April, she also revealed that the women within the show’s cast faced “intense” scrutiny from its mostly male writers’ room, saying that there was “mean stuff going on behind the scenes.” “Don’t forget we were recording in front of a live audience of 400, and if you messed up one of these writers’ lines or it didn’t get the perfect response, they could be like, ‘Can’t the bitch f***ing read? She’s not even trying. She f***ed up my line,’” she told The Times.
