Jennifer Coolidge

Known for playing ditzy blondes and the mother of all MILFS, the 61-year has transformed into a revered character actress. Maddy Mussen charts her ascent.

Coolidge is set to reprise her role as Tanya McQuoid in season two of The White Lotus, airing October 30. “In many ways her recent success was all about timing — there has long been a lack of ‘good’ parts for woman over 50 and only recently has that shifted.” Coolidge’s performance as the entitled and grieving Tanya McQuoid was described by critics as “exceptional” and a “raw triumph.” With all the buzz around Coolidge’s inate understanding of her character and gleaming performance, you’d assume she knew what she was doing was magic. When talking about her role in Promising Young Woman, she said: “I felt like a novice by comparison [to Carey Mulligan and director Emerald Fennell.] At times I was like: ‘Oh my God, she thinks I suck.’” It was far from her first crack at a serious role — she appeared as Carey Mulligan’s muted mother in critical success Promising Young Woman just the year before — but Coolidge just kept going until something stuck. “People that I could never get in the door,” she told Variety, “all of a sudden they’re asking me to be part of their things.” The reality of Coolidge being just 30 years old and playing the mother of an 18-year-old boy didn’t bother her at the time. She’s credited it with helping her sleep with 200 people — a claim which made headlines in just about every news outlet at the time — but also helping her break into the wider film industry. Then came 1999, when Coolidge played a part in a film that would reach cult status and make her a star in the process: “Woman at football game” in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. She played a “hottie cop” in Night at the Roxbury, a sexy nun in Plump Fiction, a Pulp Fiction parody film, and a role simply titled “Stupid Girl” in a budget 1995 TV movie called Bucket of Blood. They’re calling it a “comeback”, but Coolidge never had anything to come back from, rather, the industry has finally taken notice.