Phoebe Buffay

Phoebe Buffay (Now Buffay-Hannigan) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Lisa Kudrow. Her twin sister Ursula Buffay, played by the same actress, was a recurring character in the sitcom Mad About You.

Phoebe has a rather strange past, and an equally strange present existence. Her biological mother, a real estate agent named Phoebe Abbott, gave her and her twin sister up to be raised by her father and his wife, her best friend. Her biological father, a pharmacist named Frank Buffay, left when she was very young. Lily, the woman she believed to be her birth mother, worked on a barge during Phoebe's childhood, but during Phoebe's early adolescence, Lily killed herself, leaving Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula in the care of their stepfather, who for unknown reasons ended up in prison.

Here Phoebe's past becomes hazy; for example, it is not revealed how she came to be separated from her twin sister Ursula, as the two grew up together until at least their early teens. The two grew apart and now don't speak unless necessary. Ursula is rather callous toward Phoebe; for example, she ...