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Highlights

• Jennifer Coolidge had an intimidating experience on Friends, feeling excluded and unable to provide her creative input on the serious set.
• She lied about her acting experience to land a role on Seinfeld, only having lies on her resume before booking the job.
• Coolidge nearly turned down The White Lotus due to lockdown blues and feeling insecure about her appearance, but was persuaded to take the role by a persistent director and ended up receiving a Golden Globe and a career resurgence.

Since Jennifer Coolidge starred in the music video for Thank You, Next by Ariana Grande, she's had a career renaissance in Hollywood that brought us her iconic role as Tanya in HBO's The White Lotus.

Before the hit series, she was most known for her cameo in the movie, American Pie and her part in Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde. Then there's her quirky character in Two Broke Girls, as well as notable appearances on Friends and Seinfeld, which weren't as fun as they seemed.

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Jennifer Coolidge Had An "Intimidating" Experience On Friends

Coolidge previously shared that her creative input was unheard when she played Amanda Buffamonteezi as a guest star on Friends. "Sometimes I think people want to hear my ad-libs when I get on a show, and they really don't," she said per our previous report.

"Sometimes I come in and throw some lines, and they come up and say, 'You know, Jennifer, we're just going to stick to the script.' That was a serious show," she continued. The A Cinderella Story alum then opened up about feeling intimidated on the set of the show.

"The vibe was pretty serious," she recalled despite being friends with Lisa Kudrow. "I don’t think they wanted my input, and I could really feel that…sticking to their own stuff. So I didn't have the guts [to push]." As a result, Coolidge spent most of her time in her dressing room.

"I have to say, I was kind of intimidated, even though I knew Lisa because she was in a comedy group," the actress remembered. "But I didn't know the rest of them, and I was very intimidated because they were all so attractive and had it going on. I'm just going to do my little part and I'll be in my dressing room."

As for her lack of improv autonomy, she said: "The only thing I improvised was they wanted me to dance awkwardly, so I felt like I had a natural ability to dance that way. I think that was the only time they didn’t give me direction; they wanted me to say the lines and call it a day."

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Jennifer Coolidge Lied To Get Her Role On Seinfeld

In 1993, Coolidge landed a part on Seinfeld. But to get in, she lied about her then-nonexistent acting experience. "It was a weird day," she told GQ. "I booked Seinfeld the same day that I booked this very short-lived series called She TV, which was an all-women sketch show on ABC. I didn't really have any jobs before that. I only had lies on my resume."

She continued: "I'd gone to a school called American Academy of Dramatic Arts up in Pasadena, and I'd just named all these shows and all these different theaters at the school as if they played there. You have to do that if you have a blank resume, until you start getting jobs. Then you can slowly erase the lies. I'd love to get my hands on that resume now."

She was so excited about her Seinfeld audition that she broadcasted it in a clothing store back then. "'I'm auditioning for Seinfeld tomorrow,' And they were like, 'Oh, honey, you've got to wear better clothes than what you're wearing,'" she recounted. "So they made me buy this little outfit, and I think it got me the job! I kind of looked clueless most of the time, and these girls put me together."

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Jennifer Coolidge Nearly Turned Down The White Lotus

When director Mike White offered Coolidge her role in The White Lotus, she was going through lockdown blues and was conscious about her weight. A "really smart, savvy, very blunt friend" ended up encouraging her to do the project. "I didn't like the way I looked," she said of that time. "But did I change it for The White Lotus 2? No! I didn't change anything!"

White was also persistent in getting Coolidge for his Emmy-winning drama. "There's times where she disappears, and you're like, 'Is there meaning behind this or is this just her?'" he said of dealing with the actress. "But there was just no way she was ever going to say no, because I would have forced her by her hair. The reason I was doing this was to do it with her."

During her acceptance speech for her Golden Globe for Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Limited Series, Coolidge thanked White, saying: "You've given me a new beginning. Even if this is the end, because you did kill me off, but it doesn't matter."

"Even if this is the end, you changed my life in a million different ways," she said in reference to her character's tragic fate in the second season. "My neighbors are speaking to me and things like that. I mean it. I was never invited to one party on my hill, and now everyone’s inviting me. I just – you know, it's to you, Mike White."

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