The first thing I ask Lisa is to tell us about her role in her new film, 'The Opposite Of Sex'. She replies thus: "My character is uptight and annoying. I play the best friend of Martin Donovan, who's a gay teacher in a relationship with a young lover. Everything's fine until his half sister, played by Christina Ricci, comes to live with him and causes one problem after another." What attracted Lisa to this role then? "It was a good script from start to finish, and I knew Christina Ricci was going to be in it. She's amazing, the most professional actor I think I've ever met. You can be chatting with her and when they call action, she's right there. There's no drama with her."

In this new film, Lisa gets off with country singer, Lyle Lovett, the ex-husband of movie star, Julia Roberts (he plays a gentle-natured cop, with a huge crush on her, in the film). What was it like doing love scenes with him? "I've been where Julia Roberts has been!", she laughs. "He's so cool and the biggest Southern gentleman I've ever met in my life. Like the minute you walk in the room, he gets up. I didn't grab his hair, but I was tempted!"

Now, those of you that know anything at all about 'Friends', know that it's a hugely successful show worldwide. Every cast member has also gone on to make movies, with varying degrees of success, with each still being better known for their 'Friends' role. Is there pressure on Lisa, being in such a big hit TV show, to be in a hit film, as well? "I decided early on that I don't know anything about movies. I was just learning about TV. I'm not going to pretend that I know what's going to be the script for me," she adds. "For me, 'Romy & Michelle' was about gathering information and getting experience, and I feel pretty lucky that it came out fine. It wasn't a blockbuster, but it opened at Number Two and it made money for the studio. Then you read the US press and they say that all the movies by 'Friends' cast members bombed, except for 'Scream' (co-starring 'Friends' star, Courteney Cox). So, it's like there's big blockbuster or bomb. Nothing in between. I don't understand big-film pressure," she concludes. "Like if you're going to make a film, it has to be great and it has to make $200 million...? It's just unrealistic. I didn't know that it was presumptuous for an actor to be in a film."

The global success of a TV show like 'Friends' not only means movie roles and big pay, but also worldwide fame, and the relative loss of your previously private life. How did this affect Lisa - was her head spinning when the show first took off? "Yeah," she says, "but I was trying to get some perspective. All I could think was, 'OK, we're not this good.'. None of us knew how much press we were supposed to do. It was part of the job. The studio was saying, 'We need to do this', but we were really thinking, 'Do we really need to do this?'. Some of us were more savvy about it. I was not one of the real savvy ones." Did it ever get to the stage were she felt a backlash? "Yeah, I felt that, as unreasonably loved as we were, we were also unreasonably despised at some point. Especially with the movie stuff." Well, that said, as you may have guessed, the bonuses for being on 'Friends' still far outweigh the disadvantages. I asked Lisa to give us an example of one of her biggest thrills when she hit it big. "Where do I start?", she says. "One of the first great experiences was before the show even aired. Jim Burrows, who directed the show, thought it would be a good idea for Warner Bros. to let us use their jet to fly the six of us to Las Vegas. He took us to dinner at 'Spago' (top posh restaurant and haunt of many a star!). We gambled and then flew home. If you forgot money, Jim had some for you. At dinner, he looked at us like we were all his children and said, 'This is the last time you'll be able to go out together to a place like this'." Was he right? "Yes. If we all hit 'Spago' tonight, somehow autograph people and photographers would show up. A couple of weeks ago, me, Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston went out to lunch. As we were leaving the restaurant, we saw cameraman outside. Soon after, in the 'National Enquirer', there was this story about how Courteney and Jennifer had a baby shower for me! It was the three of us just having lunch, but now, since I'm showing, I guess it became a baby shower! Funny how that works..." So, where's the strangest place that Lisa's ever been recognised, then? "At night, in a hotel jacuzzi by an older woman and her husband. She said, 'Oh, you're that one! You're on that show!' Then they got it wrong and said, 'Do that 'Alley Cat' song!', instead of 'Smelly Cat'." Obviously being a big TV star is going to lead to plenty of star-struck fans approaching, but has Lisa ever been star-struck herself? "Oh yeah," she admits. "Shirley MacLaine stopped by the set of 'The Opposite Of Sex' and said 'You're so funny', then gave me a hug. Everything went white. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see. I thought I was going to pass out, because it was too good to be true. She moved in closer to me and said, 'You know, the wonderful thing about you and what you do is...' Then she said nothing! She just paused for about 20 seconds. Just as it was about to come out, someone walked up to her and said, 'Hello Shirley!' She turned and talked to them... She never told me and I didn't know how to get it out of her, but that's OK. She asked me to be in a movie she's directing, but the character needs to have a really great body and stuff and I'm not right for it right now with the pregnancy." One thing that sets Lisa apart from her 'Friends' co-stars is that she is married and is expecting a child - she is the only cast member to have taken the trip up the aisle to date. Her husband is Frenchman, Michel Stern. I ask her what it's like being married to someone from France. She replies: "He's really honest and kind, and if he doesn't like something, he tells me in a delicate way," she says. "When he does like something, then I know he really likes it. It's grounding." "Everything he says is a sweet nothing," she continues (aaah!). "It all comes out romantic, because he'll throw in a 'mon amour' at the end. He hardly ever says my name, just when he's mad. So, if I hear 'Lisa', I get nervous!" Finally, having come to the end of our chat, I ask her if she has any future film plans, besides the two movies she'll appear in this year? "No, none," she replies. "I feel so guilty. I read a script and hope it's going to suck, so I won't feel badly about saying 'You know what? I'm busy having my baby'". Lisa Kudrow can be seen every week on TV in 'Friends' and will be gracing your big screens later this year in the films 'The Opposite Of Sex' and 'Clockwatchers' - and in between all that, she'll be giving birth this summer to the first 'Friends' baby!