Coolidge Grabs Golden Globe for ‘White Lotus’ Role

Jennifer Coolidge ’85 took Golden Globe Award for her work on the HBO series, The White Lotus Tuesday, January 10 – repeat accolades for her repeat role as Tanya in the second season of the critically acclaimed series.

Coolidge won Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series/Anthology or Motion Picture. Last year, she was nominated for a Golden Globe and took home an Emmy Award for the role in the series’ first season.

Read our list of Emerson Golden Globe nominees

In her acceptance speech – equal parts comedy and victory lap – Coolidge thanked “so many people in this room kept me going for 20 years with these little jobs,” singling out producer Ryan Murphy, who was at the Beverly Hilton to receive the Carol Burnett Award.

“I didn’t know anybody, it was just this thing that wasn’t going anywhere,” she said of her early career.

But she reserved her biggest thanks for The White Lotus creator/showrunner Mike White. “You’ve given me hope,” she told White, who was visibly moved. “I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person, but what happened is they sort of fizzle. I thought I was gonna be Queen of Monaco even though someone else did it.”

“My neighbors are speaking to me,” Coolidge said. “I was never invited to one party on my hill and now everyone’s inviting me,” she said to laughs.

A short while later, White returned the compliment when he accepted the Golden Globe for Best Limited Series/Anthology or Motion Picture. “She’s the best,” he said.

Earlier in the evening, Coolidge presented the award for supporting actor in a TV series earlier in the evening, a category for which fellow Emersonian Henry Winkler ‘67 was a nominee. Winkler lost to Abbott Elementary’s Tyler James Williams, but toward the end of the night, Quinta Brunson, creator and star of Best TV comedy Abbott Elementary, credited Winkler as one of the actors who made her love comedy.