We’re officially in Jenaissance—aka a Jennifer Coolidge revival. Comedy legend since 2021, in the role of legally blonde Paulette and Stifler’s mom Famous) American Pie , occupies not one, but two ground-breaking characters on our TV screens. In September, she won for playing mourning heiress Tanya McQuoid in Mike White’s The White Lotus and Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s The Watcher For the Emmys, released on Netflix earlier this month, she’s a scene stealer, playing Karen Calhoun, a real estate heroine with mysterious motives.
Fans must have noticed her hilarious work lately. “Jennifer Coolidge’s Renaissance should be taught as a big part of American history,” one Twitter user wrote. “How Jennifer Coolidge didn’t have EGOT,” another mused, sharing a passage of Coolidge as a very angry Fragment of Karen. And she’s not done: In October 30, Coolidge will reprise her beleaguered (but lovable) Tan in The White Lotus Season 2 The role of Nia , co-starring Aubrey Plaza and Will Sharpe.
Ahead of the highly anticipated premiere of the HBO series, Vogue chats with Coolidge about two of her big projects, Finding humor in the dark, filming in Sicily, and the Hollywood role she hopes to play next.
Vogue: Hi, Jennifer. how are you today?
Jennifer Coolidge : Good Yes – a sunny day in beautiful LA!
So, I gotta tell you: I’ve been binge eating Watchmen All week. I’m curious what attracted your character, Karen, who is a real estate agent. This is a special role.
A lot of my friends in New Orleans are real estate agents. I don’t know if I actually stole something from them, but one thing I noticed about them was that they were sooptimistic. When you meet them, you say, “I don’t feel good like that .” They become the energetic cheerleaders of your life. Of course, what they sell is big and expensive, so they have to be good at it. It’s kind of scary when they tell you something. You’re like, I hope it’s true. Then you will find that the driveway does not come with the house. I do believe that some real estate agents are very genuine and love finding those amazing homes. My favorites are open days: I stop at any open day. I love looking at the layout or someone’s yard. This is limited for me though, because I love old stuff and there aren’t a lot of old stuff in LA
