Jennifer Coolidge is one of Hollywood’s truly funny ladies, with a career spanning 30 years. Coolidge played supporting roles in several comedy movies and guest roles on television, making her first appearance on television in the Seinfeld episode “The Masseuse.” As a voice actress, she played Luanne’s beauty school teacher, Miss Kremzer, for a few episodes on King of the Hill. A few years later, she appeared on Nickelodeon’s As Told By Ginger as a con artist in the series finale episode and most recently, voiced an alien on Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. At age 61, even if Coolidge isn’t on screen, we can pinpoint her voice by her airy and funny delivery.

In 1999, Coolidge got her big break playing Jeanine Stifler, or “Stifler’s mom” in American Pie, reprising the character in the subsequent sequels. A few years later, Coolidge played yet another iconic character, Paulette Bonafonté, Elle Woods’ manicurist in the Legally Blonde movies. Over the next two decades, Coolidge played other supporting characters in film and television including 2000’s Best In Show, 2004’s A Cinderella Story, 2006’s Date Movie, the 2 Broke Girls series and Netflix’s The Watcher.

Coolidge really made waves when she starred in the first two seasons of HBO’s The White Lotus as Tanya McQuoid. Her insanely rich, totally oblivious and troubled character earned her critical acclaim and recently won her a Golden Globe for the role. Though her character was ultimately killed off in the second season, we can’t wait to see what the future has to hold for Coolidge. Her latest work is in the Amazon Prime rom-com Shotgun Wedding alongside Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel and Lenny Kravitz. Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) gather their families for a destination wedding, but the ceremony gets put on hold when the entire wedding party gets taken hostage. In the film, Coolidge plays Tom’s mother. Shotgun Wedding is available to stream on Prime on January 27.

Take a look at Jennifer Coolidge’s best movie and tv roles below:

• 10. As Told By Ginger

  Coolidge voiced a character by the name of Nicholas “Nikki” LaPorte, a conman who lived in a trailer park paid off to break up the marriage of Lois Foutley and Doctor Dave. Nikki dresses up as his ex-girflriend from medical school, Diane Francis, by wearing a blonde wig and fools the Doctor.

• 9. Pootie Tang

  Coolidge played Ireenie in the ridiculous 2001 comedy flick. In the movie, Lecter (Robert Vaughn) encourages his right-hand lady, Ireenie, to seduce Pootie Tang (Lance Croother) into signing an agreement with LecterCorp that would stop Pootie Tang’s influence on America’s children. Pootie Tang falls for Ireenie’s tricks and subsequently falls apart.

• 8. 2 Broke Girls

  In the sitcom, Coolidge plays Sophie Kaczyńska-Golishevska, who owns a cleaning company called Sophie’s Choice and lives in the apartment directly above Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs). Sophie is always trying to help the girls, but sometimes her richness is overbearing.

• 7. Rick and Morty

  In season 5 episode 3 (“A Rickconvenient Mort”), Coolidge voices Daphne, an alien who Rick falls in love with during an Apocalypse party. In an effort to break them up, Summer stops the impending asteroid heading for the planet and Daphne no longer wants to be with Rick.

• 6. The Watcher

  In Ryan Murphy’s television series based on 657 Bouldvard New Jersey home plagued by ominous letters, strange neighbors and sinister threats, Coolidge plays realtor Kathryn Calhoun of Darren Dunn realty. Throughout the thrilling mysery series, Kathryn is one of the many people who is thought to have something to do with the intimidation of getting the Brannock family out of the house.

• 5. A Cinderella Story

  Coolidge plays Hilary Duff’s wicked stepmother Fiona in this 2004 rom-com. She tans, she botoxes, and she lipos. Though she is terribly mean and unfair, we can’t help but love what ridiculous things she says to Duff’s Sam, like when she really wanted to get something off her chest: “You’re not very pretty, and you’re not very bright.”

• 4. American Pie

  https://youtu.be/YfraJuuI-ts

  Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) is flabbergasted when he meets Stifler’s mom (Coolidge) when he strays from the party. She asks him if he’s lost and lights up a cigarette while he tries his best to flirt with her. When Finch asks for liquor, Coolidge tells him she’s got scotch, aged 18 years, just how she likes it.

• 3. Best In Show

  In this 2000 mockumentary starring alongside Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard, Coolidge plays Sherri Ann Cabot, one of five entrants in a prestigious dog show. Sherri Ann is the trophy wife of the elderly Leslie Ward Cabot, her sugar daddy. She’s in it for love, though, as she lists all the things they have in common: they both love soup, the outdoors, snow peas, talking and not talking. As a former two-time winner of the show, Sherri Ann receives help with her Standard Poodle Rhapsody in White, also known as Butch.

• 2. Legally Blonde

  As Elle Woods’ (Reese Witherspoon) friend and manicurist, Paulette Bonafonté(Coolidge) tries to give her relationship advice even though her own love life is a mess. In the most iconic scene of the movie, Elle goes to the nail salon and teaches everyone her fail-proof plan to land a man: the bend and snap.

• 1. The White Lotus

  Jennifer’s Tanya McQuoid is our favorite (and only recurring character) of the HBO comedy-drama. In the first season, we loved how obsessed she was with Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) and drove her nuts. In the show’s second season, Tanya now drags her assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) along with her as a crutch for when her new husband Greg (Jon Gries) abandons her. Though Tanya was killed off in the series, she went out with a bang (literally).

Sign Up For The Magic 98.3 Newsletter

Get the latest celebrity and music buzz, info on events you need to know about, plus exclusive contests, game and more!

Email *

Subscribe

By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.