United Kingdom, June 9 -- Lisa Kudrow found Friends to be "a lot of work".

The 61-year-old actress became a household name playing Phoebe Buffay in the sitcom, which ran from 1994 to 2004, but the role didn't come easy to her because she and her alter ego were such different people and she was determined to be a "good student".

Speaking to Parker Posey for Variety's Actors on Actors series, she said: "It became fun. It was fun the whole time because the cast had fun.

"Phoebe was so far from who I was as a human being, it was work - I needed to justify everything she was saying in my head so that it felt like she meant it and it was real to her. It was a lot of work.

"I remember Season 2 or 3, I went, 'Oh my God, I'm not doing the work...