Jennifer Coolidge continued to earn the respect she deserves on the awards circuit last night, taking home a prize at the Screen Actors Guild (Sag) Awards in California.
The actress broke down in tears when accepting the award for best performance by a female actor in a drama series for her role in The White Lotus, emphasising how ‘grateful’ she was on stage.
‘I want you all to know that I am just so grateful. So grateful, because this could be it,’ the 61-year-old said.
She then remembered a touching experience from her childhood, when her father, who died in 2015, helped her skip school before sparking her interest in acting.
Jennifer emphasised that her parents were incapable of ever lying… except in this one case, when her father, Paul Constant Coolidge, brought her up from school while claiming his daughter was ill.
When he drove Jennifer to a Charlie Chaplin film festival in Massachusetts, he pledged that he would never lie again.
‘I swear to god, seeing Charlie Chaplin for the first time and having that experience… it’s my love of film, it’s my love of actor. All of that came from my first grade,’ as the audience in attendance at the awards ceremony applauded.
Jennifer went out once again in her address to thank The White Lotus creator Mike White for providing her the opportunity to portray Tanya in the first two seasons, a role developed just for her.
‘You can give money to friends, and do nice things for them, but… and people love money, you know? And I do it whenever I can. When your friends are broke, whether you can give them money and stuff,’ she said.
‘Really, the best gift you can give someone is to change someone’s perspective for the better and view life in a different way, and that’s what Mike White did for me.’
Numerous followers expressed their joy at Jennifer’s accomplishment and voiced hope that it will continue.
‘I hope this is just the beginning of great roles. She was so undervalued in Hollywood!’ one person tweeted.
‘I’m so glad that after all these years in all of those wonderful roles no matter how small they were in the past, that she’s finally getting the attention that she deserves. Now let’s all do the “bend and snap” for Jennifer,’ another said, referring to her famous scene from Legally Blonde.