Jennifer Coolidge
I have the improv background, but stand-up is different.
I wasn't funny. My brother was the funny one in the family.
I wasn't very good in my serious acting class. Sometimes people took our class so seriously, so I used to, sort of, make fun of people after class. And so a friend of mine said, 'Why don't you do the comedy thing.' That's how it all worked out.
I wanted to be a dramatic actress. Life doesn't go the way you think it's going to go.
The minute I started doing comedy, the doors opened.
The best thing about animated-feature people is that they are very laid-back people. You feel like you're showing up for a backyard barbecue.
I went out with seven actors in a row. There are problems with that. I've had the really good-looking dramatic actor, and that has its problems. And then I'll go out with the funny guy. It's almost like the funny guy has more to prove.
The one thing that has helped sustain my career as an actress and a comedian is that people generally view me as fundamentally stupid.
There's something about me that suggests I don't have an intelligent atom in me at all. So people say things to me that they wouldn't say to other people. Insulting, condescending things. They don't think I notice. But, of course, I'm taking it all in.
Stand-up is a weird animal. There are people who really want to know what you think about things, your opinion on life. But then there are people who think you're just that beautician in 'Legally Blonde,' who doesn't have opinions on anything. Or that I'm Stifler's mom and hot for it all the time.
When I go on 'The View,' or any of those talk shows, you really don't get to say what you want to say.
It was always the cliche of men leaving their wives for younger women. The playing field is sort of even now. Women make their own salaries. They can do the exact same thing and can have a younger man.
The British boys really, really go nuts... to them, an older woman is sexy, and it's an incredible fantasy... I think the American fantasy is still about men wanting control. Maybe American men don't feel as in control of their lives.
A lot of those good-looking girl parts aren't very fun.
I've been many people. I've been the skinny girl. I've been the fat girl. Because I've become a character actress, I sort of fell victim to 'Well, I don't have to look good anymore.'
If I wasn't an actress and I wasn't Stifler's mom, my life would be so dull.
I was like a waitress that got a job once in a while, and then Stifler's mom happened, and everything changed.
I've played a lot of weird women. I play crazy ladies, and I've played a lot of insane women and weird best friends that are not sexually desirable.
All the guys that entered The Groundlings, like Will Ferrell, already had incredible confidence, but I watched shut down women that didn't even have a personality completely become different human beings because of the training.
The odd things that people say to you are so much more hilarious than what you can come up with.
There are some people who make you feel less lonely.
Some people are really nice about it. I get Saudi princes and famous people stopping me in L.A. and saying, 'You're Stifler's mom. Can I take a picture with you?' But then you get people like her putting their camera in your face without asking. They think they can do whatever they like.
I was the cocktail waitress, and Sandra Bullock was the host, and this guy came in and persuaded me to try improv with Gotham City Improv.
I figured New York was the closest I'd get here in America to Scotland.
To be honest, sometimes I'm horrified because you don't really know what you look like. If I really knew what I was doing on-screen, I would try to stop doing it.
I don't know what I am. I guess you can call me a character actor in the sense that I'll never be an ingenue. You know, that's over. My shot was missed. I take a normal person and make them more of a character. I don't know what that would be called.
It seems almost impossible to me that the whole world doesn't know CPR.
I'm so vain, all I could think was I should have stopped at 'American Pie.'
It's a great compliment when the beautiful ones laugh.
I can't get the serious roles. People don't see me that way.
It's really hard for me to meet someone. I don't want to date actors. Been there, done that. Only one actor per household, please.
I always fall for the guy that, like, has to blow me off because he needs to go do something with his dog. I love those kind of guys.
Our secret desire as women is to have a guy who falls madly in love with us even though we're incredibly opinionated or we're not the sort of normal, polite, poised woman.
When you're on this major English estate, breathing in the English air, and it's untouched, you can feel its presence. It's a whole different feel. It really felt like we were there living it. It didn't feel modern, ever.
I know what I am capable of. I read a character, and if I can say to myself, 'I know this woman,' then I take the role.
I always feel in movies, I don't know if it's because I'm jaded, but I always feel like we don't go far enough.
I always get excited when I find out there's a sequel, because all the work is kind of done.
I do shows, stage shows all the time, and I'm so afraid that people are going to recognize themselves, and they never do. They never do. They're always like, 'Oh, that woman was ridiculous,' and yeah, they're talking about themselves.
I would say 90 percent of the scripts that show up on my door are women who have had lots of plastic surgery that are married to rich men - sort of a trophy wife.
I do have to say, there is this incredible benefit to being older. I never thought I'd say that. I've figured out that show business isn't the end-all. I thought I'd never be tired of Hollywood, of the experience, and I have to say there's some relief. As you get older, your taste changes.
With Christopher Guest films, we have a lot of say.
I'm not a prude.
I'm so lucky I got a career in my 30s because these young girls aren't allowed to have their 20s. It's all being documented.
You get the older version of women that you've played before.
When people slave over those scripts and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for them, they don't usually want you to add farts.
I think I get credit for my timing because most of the time, I really have no idea where I'm going with it.
Hugh Grant has that magic in real life, so when he's saying these lines, 'It's always been you,' it's just devastating.
If things don't work out with one person, there's many other people to replace you with online.
I don't think men really fall in love with the outspoken girl.