'Friends' star Lisa Kudrow has been spotted in New Zealand

Friends star Lisa Kudrow is in New Zealand, enjoying the culinary delights of Wellington.

Kudrow, 59, known for her role as Phoebe Buffay, was seen in the capital at a restaurant on Cuba St.

Claudia Redmond, from Loretta, confirmed to the Herald that Kudrow had dined there on Friday night.

Redmond declined to give any further details, saying "I would like to respect her privacy."

Kudrow's reason for being in the country is unclear.

Photo / NZME.

Kudrow is producing the new 11th season of Who Do You Think You Are? for NBC. The show traces celebrities' family histories and often takes Hollywood stars back to their homelands.

Kudrow has recently defended the lack of racial diversity in Friends amid a flurry of criticism of the all-white cast.

Looking back at the show, critics point to the lack of diversity as being unrealistic for a show set in New York City's Greenwich Village.

The show's producer Marta Kauffman made headlines for donating $6 million ($4m USD) to her old university's African and African American studies department as a personal reconciliation.

Kudrow said Friends' writers had "no business" writing about "being a person of colour".

Speaking to The Daily Beast, Kudrow said, "I feel like it was a show created by two people who wrote about their lives after college... When it's going to be a comedy that's character-driven, you write what you know."

Kudrow also recalled Jerry Seinfeld taking credit for Friends' success. After greeting the Seinfeld star at a party, Kudrow said he said, "you're welcome".

Confused, Kudrow asked what he meant and he said, "[Friends is] on after us in the summer, and you're welcome."

She did acknowledge that Friends' ratings "exploded" when the show was played immediately after Seinfeld reruns.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.