While Ariana Grande and gay men the world over have known of the legend, the genius, the icon that is Jennifer Coolidge for several decades, the rest of the world is finally catching up thanks to her award-winning star turn in The White Lotus.
Her role as Tanya McQuoid has won her a legion of new fans and awards since the first series debuted in 2021, and the self-deprecating star has gifted us with 10/10 soundbites, headline-making speeches and meme-able moments galore since her long-overdue “Jenaissance” kicked in.
Here are 19 bend-snapping reasons why we can’t get enough of J-Cool…
Because her first ever TikTok was an instant classic
Her debut clip featured a (ahem) “poem” and one seriously A-list cameo.
Because she inspired this year’s go-to Halloween costume
Because as manicurist Paulette Bonafonté in Legally Blonde 2, she uttered one of cinema’s all-time great comedy lines…
And then trumped it in season 2 of The White Lotus…
(And yes, she is aware of the dance remix)
Because she’s always down for a night out on the tiles (just ask Sarah Michelle Gellar)
The Buffy star recalled one particularly memorable night out with J-Cool after initially meeting at a Christian Siriano fashion show.
Jennifer left after the event, but Sarah had dinner with the designer and the two ended up at a club afterwards where he made a pretty ridiculous suggestion.
‘We should call Jennifer!’ Sarah recalled him saying to her, adding: “And I’m like, ‘It’s 1 in the morning.’ He’s like, ‘Well, let’s just try!’”
So, the two gave her a call.
“She was in her hotel room, asleep. And she was like, ‘OK, I’ll come!’” Sarah said.
She continued: “You can’t get me out past 9 if I’m home ― forget it. She got dressed, came to the club, danced all night ... She’s awesome.”
(Yep, she’s definitely not a morning person. Or just daytime, full stop)
Because her fellow thesps don’t have a bad word to say about her
(Neither does Ariana Grande)
Not only did the US singer get Jennifer to reprise her Legally Blonde character Paulette in her video for Thank U, Next...
...but the US singer also paid homage to her Best In Show appearance by impersonating her character Sherri Ann Cabot for Halloween, much to Jennifer’s delight.
“This is fucking great,” Jennifer remarked. “I was gonna go as the young boy’s pet weasel from The Watcher but now I think I’m gonna go as Arianna’s dog Toulouse.”
Because she is a bona-fide gay icon and has proved it at least 26 times
Because playing a MILF in American Pie got her laid (a lot) and she doesn’t care who knows (she later admitted she was kinda joking, but still…)
Because as the evil stepmother in A Cinderella Story she looked like this as she told her stepdaughter: “You’re not very pretty, and you’re not very bright. I’m so glad we had that talk.”
Because a machine-toting J-Cool is the only good thing about Shotgun Wedding
Because she refused to leave the stage at The Emmys when they tried to play her off mid-acceptance speech and did a little jig instead
Because we could watch her trying to get into car on a loop all day long
Because when most Hollywood stars wang on about “authenticity” she’s, you know, actually authentic
After winning a Critics Choice award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her performance as Tanya McQuoid in The White Lotus, she admitted that she still doesn’t feel at home in Hollywood despite her lengthy acting career.
“I’ve been around forever, since I was 30 — that’s a long time,” she told Page Six.
“But when I go to a party with my other actor friends, I don’t know any of the people. I live a secluded life in New Orleans and I only know the people I meet on the job and my friends from The Groundlings.”
Asked why she doesn’t hold herself in as high regard as her fans hold her, Jennifer cited her dating life.
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, my dating life, I’ve never found anyone quite right for myself,” she said. “I haven’t found the love of my life.”
“I think I made some bad decisions. It makes you insecure and you don’t think you’re great,” she continued, adding that, although people in Hollywood sometimes told her they liked her work, “the only way you know they mean it is if [they] give you a job.”