Phoebe Buffay (later Buffay-Hannigan) (born February 16, 1967) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Lisa Kudrow. She is well known for a number of reasons, including her guitar playing in Central Perk, and elaborate improbable stories about her previous life.

Family

Phoebe's bizarre family history is reflected in her current chaotic existence. Her biological mother Phoebe Abbott, now a real-estate agent, gave birth to Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula while still a teenager, then gave them up to her best friend Lily to bring up. Lily's husband, a pharmacist named Frank Buffay, was the girls' biological father. Frank left when they were very young. Lily, the woman Phoebe believed to be her birth mother, worked on a barge during Phoebe and Ursula's childhood, but Lily committed suicide when the twins were adolescent, leaving them in the care of their stepfather, who was imprisoned (for reasons unknown) shortly after.

Phoebe and her twin sister were thus left alone, and at 12 years old Phoebe left their home town in upstate New York, and moved to New York City to earn a living. She did not succeed, spending several years homeless on the street before moving in with Monica, where she stayed until 1993, then moving in with her grandmother, Lily's mother (played by Audra Lindley). At some point during this time period she earned a license as a massage therapist and joined a practice. Her grandmother dies during season five, and at the memorial service, Phoebe finally meets her father Frank Buffay (played by Bob Balaban).

During the running of the show, Phoebe lives in her grandmother's apartment, first with her grandmother, then with her friend Denise for an unknown amount of time (Denise is never depicted), before Rachel moves into the apartment. In season six Rachel's hair straightener malfunctions and the apartment is destroyed by fire, prompting Phoebe to return to live temporarily with Chandler and Monica. When her own apartment was rebuilt, it only had one bedroom (prior to the fire a partition had been built making it into a two-bedroom), and she lives there alone until she marries Mike in season ten.

Phoebe eventually meets up with her biological mother, Phoebe Abbott, who was played by Teri Garr. Abbott's first appearance was in the episode The One at the Beach.

Apparently Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula separated ways at some point, though precisely when this happened is never fully explained (Phoebe once states, "It's just stupid sister stuff" and cites various incidents, including Ursula stealing her possessions). As adults they remain distant, only speaking when necessary. Ursula is shown to be callous toward Phoebe, or at least exceptionally thoughtless with no concept of what people might or might not find upsetting. For example, she sold Phoebe's birth certificate (which is why Phoebe doesn't know her middle name), forgot to tell her that their mother had left a suicide note (which Ursula subsequently misplaced), and performed in pornography using her sister's name. Ursula was revealed to be the waitress from Mad About You (Phoebe once described her as "career-driven"), which is the show that Lisa Kudrow was appearing on when Friends began. Lisa Kudrow played both Phoebe and Ursula at the same time using the split screen effect. However, on shots where the back of one head is seen - Lisa Kudrow's real life sister Helena Sherman plays the role of the unseen sister.

Phoebe also has a half-brother, Frank Buffay Jr., named after their father. Phoebe discovered Frank during one of her attempts to find her father, who, as noted, walked out on her when she was a child, and subsequently walked out on Frank Jr. and his family. After marrying his (much older) home economics teacher, Frank Jr. asked Phoebe if she would act as a surrogate mother for them, as they are desperate to have children but are not able to do so. Phoebe agrees and in The One Hundredth gave birth to triplets: a boy, Frank Jr. Jr. (prompting Chandler to quip "Shouldn't he be Frank the Third?") and two girls, Leslie and Chandler. The baby Chandler was originally thought to be a boy, alluding to the ongoing question of Phoebe's friend Chandler (whom the baby was named for) sexuality (see Chandler Bing).

Homelessness

Phoebe became homeless soon after the departure of all her caregivers (and sister, apparently) and by age 14 she was living on the streets of New York, residing in an AMC Gremlin with a man called Sidney who talked to his hand; she spent her "Sweet Sixteenth" being chased around a tyre yard by an escaped mental patient who in his own words wanted to "kill her or whatever". Another of her temporary homes was a burned out Buick LeSabre, which she shared with an albino who killed himself. At one point during her homelessness, she wrote a letter to Sesame Street, but was disappointed when they sent her back a keyring (she was living in a box at the time, and therefore "didn't have keys"). She never attended college, but she ostensibly met behind a dumpster with a small group to learn French. She has also displayed the ability to speak Italian.

She occasionally resorted to mugging to survive. At one point, when they were fourteen, she mugged Ross, though neither of them knew each other at the time. A pimp spat in her mouth when she lived on the street, which apparently resulted in her developing hepatitis, but she "got over it." Phoebe has also mentioned that she lived in Prague.

She often alludes to having once been in prison; for example, she proclaims, "No, no! I won't go back to that hellhole!" when she misunderstands a security guard when he says that he has to escort her out of a casino (The One In Vegas, Part Two). She also suggests mailing a carton of cigarettes as a gift "so he can trade it for protection," but soon casually corrects herself: "Oh no, that's in prison." She often refers to prison as part of a joke, such as when she once separated Monica and Rachel from fistfighting; holding them up by the earlobes, she comments, "You know, if this were prison, you two would be like my bitches." In The One With The Ball, her boyfriend Gary, a police officer, takes her into an interview room and when they leave it, she goes to the glass 'hey you! Behind the glass! What are you looking at?' and then to Gary 'Ive always wanted to do that, everytime I was in one of these rooms - which was never' she adds.

Her previous lifestyle and wild stories shocks her friends. When she tells the story of the time when she stabbed a cop, their obviously surprised looks caused her to retort, "But he stabbed me first!" Phoebe picked up an impressive talent for boxing at a YMCA, where, according to her, the guys "weren't being Christian enough".

Phoebe later moves into her grandmother Frances' apartment, and inherits her yellow taxi after her death; since Frances was the mother of Lily and not of Phoebe's birth mother, she was technically not related to Phoebe at all, but this evidently never became a sore point between the two after Phoebe learns of it. The taxi appears many times during the series, and Joey discovers that Phoebe stores her grandmother's cremated ashes under the front seat.

Somewhere along this road, she 'found' aromatherapy as well as massage, which became her profession. She moves in with Monica after this, apparently answering a roommate ad. Phoebe could have been a stockbroker upon a massage client's urging, but declines because at the time she believes everything that rhymes is true. Therefore, if she worked in stocks, she would have to live in a box, only eat lox, and have a pet fox. In The One That Could Have Been, Phoebe sees herself as a high-powered, chain-smoking stock broker who is eventually fired because she "loses" thirteen million dollars. She also experiences more than one heart attack from the overwhelming amount of stress.