Jennifer Coolidge filmography and biography
Date of birth: 28 August 1961, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Jennifer Coolidge biography
Jennifer Coolidge is a versatile character actress and experimental
comedienne, best known for playing Stifler's mom in
American Pie.
She was born on August 28, 1961, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Her
father, Paul Coolidge, was a plastics manufacturer. Young Coolidge was
dreaming of becoming a singer. She attended Norwell High School and
Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and earned her bachelor's
degree in theatre in 1985. She moved to New York and joined the Gotham
City improv group. Then, she headed to Los Angeles where she became a
long-running member of "The Groundlings" comedy troupe. Coolidge made
her television debut in a guest role on NBC's Seinfeld,
playing a voluptuous masseuse who won't offer her professional services
to boyfriend Jerry in a 1993 episode. The following year, she had a
regular gig on ABC's short-lived sketch series She TV,
then briefly became a cast member and writer on another short-lived
sketch comedy series, Fox's Saturday Night Special
produced by Roseanne. Coolidge made her big screen debut as a
nurse in Not of This Earth, then in the courtroom comedy
Trial and Error. Then, she appeared in small roles in
several more feature films, and also continued her television work.
Coolidge had her breakthrough role in American Pie, as a
boozed-up and sultry mom who seduces her son's classmate with the
comment that she liked her scotch and men the same way: aged 18 years.
She recreated the character in the sequel American Pie 2.
Then, she reprized her role as "Paulette" opposite
Reese Witherspoon in the "Legally Blonde" franchise. Although,
she lost the part of "Lynette Scavo" on
Desperate Housewives to Felicity Huffman,
Coolidge graced several TV comedies as well, with major guest
appearances on Frasier and
Sex and the City. Then, she landed a recurring role in
the NBC sitcom Joey, as "Bobbie Morgenstern", Joey's
agent, appearing in 37 episodes over two seasons.
Eventually, Coolidge emerged as a versatile character actress with her
no-holds-barred approach to comedy and her vanity-free comfort with
playing uninhibited, unappealing characters, and delivering lines with
sexual innuendo. Her talent shines in a range of characters, from a
gold-digging dog owner in Best in Show, to a scheming
wife of an elderly mogul in Down to Earth, to an
opportunistic mother in American Dreamz. Coolidge's gift
for altering her appearance and manner, as well as her mastery of
timing, shines in her perfectly hideous performance as "Fiona", a
wicked stepmother in A Cinderella Story opposite
Hilary Duff, for which Coolidge won a 2005 Teen Choice Award.
Her lasting collaboration with director Christopher Guest (I)
continues in For Your Consideration.
Jennifer Coolidge has been in a longtime relationship with
writer-producer Banks McClintock. She has been sharing her time
between her two homes, one is in Hollywood, California, and one in New
Orleans, where she bought a historic mansion before the Hurricane
Katrina hit the city, and then became involved in its restoration.
Jennifer Coolidge trivia
- Yearbook quote: "There is no sacrifice too great for man's art."
- Did improv in New York City before moving to L.A.
- Was a member of the Groundlings comedy troupe
- Attended Norwell High School in Norwell, Massachusetts and spoke at
graduation in 2002.
- Attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
- For A Cinderella Story, her fake fingernails had to be
attached with tape because she is allergic to glue.