Actress Jennifer Coolidge has been in some memorable roles during her career, but she says she hit a “dead zone” with nothing happening for her until something happened.
She gives credit to actress and singer Ariana Grande for “getting the ball rolling” for her career during that time.
Coolidge also gave credit to The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon because it all pretty much started with one of Ariana’s appearances on his show.
Jennifer Coolidge explains how Ariana Grande saved her career
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Coolidge got to watch several of Jimmy’s previous guests doing their impressions of her.
That included Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman and singer Ariana Grande. Coolidge said of the latter that it “was the beginning of a lot of cool things that happened” for her.
“I sort of, you know, I was going through a dead zone, and not much was going on,” she explained, adding, “Then Ariana did this imitation on your show, and you encouraged her. And then, this got the ball rolling.”
Coolidge said that a friend suggested she should send a DM to Ariana on Instagram to tell her how much she liked the imitation. Coolidge said she was hesitant at first but did it anyway.
“I was like, ‘No, she’s got 260 million followers. Those are robots. The robots answer the DMs, and we will never, ever get to her,’ Whatever. And then, I did it anyway, and this response came back. Next thing you know, I was going to her house getting fit for a wardrobe fitting for Thank U, Next,” Coolidge shared.
Coolidge had memorable roles ahead of Thank U, Next video
Ahead of Ariana Grande saving her career, Jennifer Coolidge had played several memorable roles that fans know her from. She rose to fame as Stifler’s mom in the comedy film American Pie and its sequel. She played Paulette Parcelle in Legally Blonde and its sequel, starring Reese Witherspoon.
Coolidge appeared in several sitcoms too, including her role as Bobbie Morganstern in 46 episodes of NBC’s Joey and Sophie Kachinsky in 124 episodes of CBS’ 2 Broke Girls.
The same year as 2 Broke Girls ended its run, Coolidge had a voice role in The Emoji Movie, followed by more voice work for The New Adventures of Max.
That may be around the time Coolidge refers to as a “dead spot” in her career, although it seemed brief. Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next video arrived in late 2018, with Coolidge appearing in a familiar role.
Thank U, Next video (below) parodies several classic comedies, including Mean Girls and Legally Blonde. A few of the films’ original actors appear, including Mean Girls’ Jonathan Bennett and Legally Blonde’s Coolidge. She pops up in a humorous speaking role in the video where she talks to Ariana about dating a man “with a big front tooth” and another who was toothless.
In the clever video, fans will also notice a cameo from Kardashian-Jenner mom, Kris Jenner.
The music video has tallied nearly 700 million views on YouTube. According to Coolidge, Ariana Grande’s appearance on Jimmy’s late-night program and the resulting music video role helped “get the ball rolling” with her career.
Since Thank U, Next, she’s had many TV, movie, and voice roles and is currently part of the critically-acclaimed HBO series The White Lotus. She’ll also return in the upcoming Legally Blonde 3, so Ariana may have helped resuscitate Jennifer Coolidge’s career from that “dead zone” it was in for a short time.