Jennifer Coolidge Played Hooky for Hollywood

The beloved White Lotus star and Hollywood legend won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series on Sunday. During her acceptance, she delivered yet another knockout speech — a hallmark of Coolidge’s during her awards circuit.

"I want you all to know that I am so grateful," she told her peers to thunderous applause while she teared up. "You can give money to friends and do nice things for them… But really, the best gift you can give someone is to change someone’s perspective for the better and view life in a different way. That’s what Mike White did for me."

After she thanked the many people who brought White Lotus to fruition, Coolidge revealed she had "these amazing parents" who had the "incredible gift" to never lie. However, "one day, the school principal came to my first grade class and said that I needed to be called to the office, and I went to the office, and she said your father’s here." He told her they needed to go while the principal said "get well" as if she was sick.

She continued: "I got in the car with my dad and he was driving and he said, 'I'm never going to tell a lie again but we're going somewhere really cool.' And he drove me to this place and it was this fluky thing in Massachusetts. It was the Charlie Chaplin Film Festival."

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Because of this, Coolidge said she "swears to God" that seeing Charlie Chaplin for the first time was where she found her "love of film, love of actors. All of it came from my first grade."

Of course, it wouldn’t be an acceptance speech of Coolidge's without a hilarious punchline. Her final thanks of the night went to her date, Tim Bagley, to whom she said, "I can’t wait 'til we get home."

Prior to the SAG Awards, Coolidge won a Golden Globe for her performance in The White Lotus season two. At the ceremony in January, she said her career resurgence and Mike White’s support had "changed my life in a million different ways." She added that he is "worried about people, he’s worried about friends of his that aren’t doing well," he's even "worried about animals," and that through his art he makes "people want to live longer."

Below, watch her full acceptance speech.

Photo courtesy of Amy Sussman/Getty