Call it serendipity that arguably the biggest television drama of the past two years, White Lotus, enjoyed a double win at last night’s Golden Globe awards, with its most lovable heroine, Tanya McQuoid, getting the recognition she deserved.
Actress Jennifer Coolidge has had her cult icon status restored thanks to the role, and was every inch the deserving winner for the Best Actress In a Limited Series.
Now, first and foremost, Jennifer is a comedy actor, bringing her ‘ditzy blonde with a heart of gold’ energy to everything she touches (undoubtedly one of the qualities that made Tanya so darned impossible not to fall in love with), and so her acceptance speech was suitably hilarious. Her neighbours like her now! She gets invited to parties!
But underneath the expletives and that one teeny-tiny little spoiler (although, we might argue that watching the awards ceremonies for the last season of TV is a sure-fire way to run into series-spoiling revelations, so, you know, watch at your peril) Jennifer’s acceptance speech was a powerful ode to reigniting your dreams later in life, and to the people who help along the way.
In particular, she thanks White Lotus creator Mike White for ‘giving [her] a new beginning.’
‘I didn’t know anybody [in the industry], and [my career] just was sort of this thing that wasn’t going anywhere,’ she said. ‘Then there were these people who would give me these cute little jobs and it would just be enough to get to the next one.’
Thanking the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Murphy (who cast Jennifer in The Watcher) and American Pie producers the Weiss Brothers, Jennifer thanked them for keeping her acting career afloat while she held onto the dream of a standout role.
‘I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person, but what happened is they get sort of fizzled by life and whatever,’ she went on. ‘I thought I was going to be Queen of Monaco even though someone else did it. But I had these giant ideas. And then you get older and, oh, shit’s going to happen. And, Mike White, you have given me hope. You’ve given me a new beginning. Even if this is the end, because you did kill me off, but even if this is the end, you changed my life in a million different ways.’
At 61 – yes, really – Jennifer is hardly waiting at death’s door, but in an industry famous for sexism and ageism, a role like Tanya may not have even existed not too long ago. Here’s to writing scene-stealing, award-winning parts for kick-ass older actresses, and to making dreams come for those who’ve been working hard all their lives and really, really deserve it.