Before becoming an international icon as a blonde bombshell in teen comedy 'American Pie', Jennifer Coolidge had worked as a waitress and trained as a beautician before making her mark on Hollywood. Over the last few years, the 'Legally Blonde' star has enjoyed an unprecedented career resurgence with an awards season-sweeping role in 'The White Lotus.' From the girl who skipped school to go to the movies to becoming the woman who stars in them, this is the life of Jennifer Coolidge...

Jennifer Coolidge was born on August 28 1961 to Gretchen and Paul Constant Coolidge, a plastics manufacturer and was raised in Massachusetts. During her childhood, she became enamoured with the big screen and recently admitted that it was her father allowing her to skip school to go to the cinema that inspired her to pursue a career in acting. She said: "What I really wanna say is I have these amazing parents and they had this incredible gift. I think It was impossible for them to lie, they just couldn’t do it, except that my father one day the school principal came to my first grade class and said I had to be called to the office. "I went and she said my father’s here and he said ‘Yeah, Jenny we have to go,’ and the principal said ‘Jennifer get well.' I didn’t know what that meant but we got in the car and my father said, 'I’m never gonna tell a lie again but we’re going somewhere really cool.' We drove to Massachusetts and it was the Charlie Chaplin film festival and I swear to god having that experience, it’s my love of film, my love of actors, all of that came from that first grade experience."

Jennifer went on to study acting at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York after initially training as a beautician and made her TV debut in an episode of 'Seinfeld' in 1993. But it was not until 1999 that she got her big break, playing the role of Jeanine Stifler, better known as Stifler's Mom in 'American Pie'. The role catapulted Jennifer to global fame and she later joked: "I was so happy for 'American Pie' and the M*** thing. I got a lot out of that and I got a lot of action from 'American Pie'. "There were so many benefits to doing that movie. There would be like 200 people that I would never have slept with had I not done it." Jennifer went on to reprise the role of Stifler's Mom three times more and admitted she would do it again if the movie were to be adapted into a Broadway show.

Hot on the heels of the 1999 comedy, Jennifer took on the role of unlucky-in-love manicurist Paulette Bonafonte in 'Legally Blonde', who became a sidekick to Reese Witherspoon in the lead role of sorority-girl-turned-lawyer Elle Woods. Despite having received acclaim for the role, Jennifer was asked to audition for the part once more when the musical version of the film came to London's West End in 2006. The part eventually went to British soap actress Jill Halfpenny and Jennifer later said: "I said to my agent, what do you mean, audition?!' Look, if I got up onstage and farted, and that’s all I did, it would still be the lady from the movie!"

Jennifer reprised the role of Paulette for 'Legally Blonde: Red, White and 2' in 2004 and gained herself a catchphrase when her character told Elle: "You look like the Fourth of July! Makes me want a hotdog real bad!" However, Jennifer has grown to loathe the saying as the years have gone by. She said: "All day long and all night. Y'know, just so many people like say it on a plane, for f**** sake! It's exhausting, this hot dog story! But I have to go with it. I have to go with it and say, 'Oh my God, you sound just like me when you say that!'"

In 2004, Jennifer switched up roles once again as she took on the role of evil stepmother Fiona Montgomery in 'A Cinderella Story' alongside 'Lizzie McGuire' star Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray. Despite it being a switch from her 'Legally Blonde' part, she said: "I was so relieved because I thought I'd be the fairy godmother after 'Legally Blonde', I'd been the nice girl. I really never thought I'd be offered something like this."

Over the next few years, Jennifer appeared in 'Friends' as well as its spin-off 'Joey'. Even though Jennifer "dreamed of being like Meryl Streep" at drama school, she became famous for comedy roles which meant that she was typecast by some filmmakers. She said: "This is what happens. I got to play a serious, alcoholic drug addict in 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans' in 2009 but that's the last serious role I played. It's really hard to get those roles, because people don't see you that way. Either that or my agent is lying to me!"

In 2011, Jennifer reprised her role as Stifler's Mom in 'American Reunion' and made guest appearances on 'Kath and Kim' and 'Glee', with her biggest role being that of Sophie Kaczynsky in '2 Broke Girls' from 2012 until 2017. But by 2019, Jennifer felt her career had "flatlined" and believes she has Ariana Grade to thank for helping her revive it, when the pop megastar asked her to recreate her 'Legally Blonde' role for her music video 'thank u next'. Jennifer told Ariana: " I think if you hadn't put me in 'Thank u, next,' and done that imitation, I don't think I would be here where I am! I was kind of flatlining and you got things going for me!"

Following Jennifer's appearance in Ariana's megahit, she was offered the role of eccentric socialite Tanya McQuoid in new series 'The White Lotus', which focused on a group of vacationers at a Hawaii resort. The role was written for her by creator Mike White, but she initially considered turning it down after convincing herself she was too big following the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. She said: "I was like, 'I just don't think I can do that.' I had no time, I can't work out!' It was sort of weird, it was not that big a difference from what I usually looked like, but somehow it became my excuse not to do it. For whatever reason, I didn't feel like I was in fighting shape. “A girlfriend just gave me this pep talk and said, 'You are out of your mind. I don't even think you know what this is. This is self-sabotage. I've been your friend all these years, this is incredible opportunity for you. Are you really going to f*** this up, Jennifer?"

'The White Lotus’ was a success all over the world, and Jennifer has already won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for her role. Outside of 'The White Lotus', she has appeared in a major role in Netflix hit 'The Watcher' and stars alongside Jennifer Lopez in 'Shotgun Wedding' but after being honoured as 2023 Woman of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Club, Jennifer admitted there were times that she doubted that she would ever make it as an actress. She said: "I was a hostess at a restaurant here in Cambridge for a long time when I was in my teens. I think I was like 18, or whatever. To be walking by, you know… all these great Harvard buildings and knowing that my dad went here… There was some times when I felt like ... It wasn’t going to go very well… I don’t know, it just has this whole thing of… my feelings as a young person and being extremely hopeful and having giant dreams and having very, very low moments too and then to be here tonight… I don’t know - it was all worth it, it was all worth it!"

Reflecting on her massive career resurgence, Jennifer mused that perhaps people liked that she was the "underdog" in Hollywood for a number of years and joked that she "cannot even walk down the street" now without being recognised. She said: "I was recently walking in the North End in Boston, and I couldn't make it down the street. I think it's so interesting. "I guess it's the Internet. I don't know - or maybe I have a weird walk. I think people liked that I was the underdog. I played a lot of strange women, and people were amused by the comedies I've done. Then Mike White put me in 'The White Lotus' and it was a drama and comedy at the same time - I never really had that."