Jennifer Audrey Coolidge (born August 28, 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actor and comedian. Active since 1993, she initially took on small roles, before finding fame as Jeanine Stifler in American Pie, a role she would reprise for the sequels, and Paulette Bonafonte in Legally Blonde. Since then, she has mostly stuck with small roles in film and television.
Notable roles
Film
- American Pie series as Jeanine Stifler
- American Pie (1999)
- American Pie 2 (2001)
- American Wedding (2003)
- American Reunion (2012)
- Legally Blonde series as Paulette Bonafonté
- Legally Blonde (2001)
- Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
- Zoolander (2001) as American designer
- A Mighty Wind (2003) as Amber Cole
- A Cinderella Story (2004) as Fiona Montgomery
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) as one of the White-Faced Women
- Robots (2005) as Aunt Fanny (voice)
- Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty (2005) as Aunt Fanny (voice)
- Click (2006) as Janine
- Igor (2008) as Jaclyn (voice)
- The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) as Genevieve
- Austenland (2013) as Elizabeth Charming
- The Emoji Movie (2017) as Mary Meh (voice)
- Promising Young Woman (2020) as Susan
Television
- Gravity Falls (2012-2016) as "Lazy" Susan Wentworth (voice)
- Joey (2004-2006) as Bobbie
- 2 Broke Girls (2012-2017) as Sophie Kachinsky
- The Loud House (2018) as Myrtle (voice)
- The White Lotus (2021): Tanya Mc Quoid
Tropes found in her work include:
- Cool Big Sis: Paulette in Legally Blonde to Elle and as an Sophie who acts as a surrogate big sister to Millennials Max and Caroline in 2 Broke Girls.
- Large Ham: Her characters in comedies usually tend to be larger-than-life in their expressions and mannerisms, the most notable exception being as Jeanine Stifler in American Pie wherein she plays a subdue, straight woman to her son and his friend's wild shenanigans, especially as she has a casual affair with Finch.
- Ms. Fanservice: Quite a bit of her roles fall into this category and for very good reason as she’s a very beautiful woman.
- Silver Vixen: Is currently in her 60's, and is just as sexy as ever.
- Stacy's Mom: The term "MILF" saw a rise in popularity and entered the mainstream popular culture lexicon due to the success of the American Pie movies wherein she played Stifler's Mom.
- Statuesque Stunner: 5 feet and 9 1/2 inches of gorgeous.
- Typecasting: She tends to play hammy, comedic blondes.
