Jennifer Coolidge gave an emotional speech while accepting her Screen Actors Guild award – thanking her “amazing parents” for encouraging her to act.
On Sunday, the White Lotus star, 61, won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Tanya in the hit HBO series.
The star broke down as she made her acceptance speech, thanking her parents for inspiring her love of the arts by taking her out of school to go to a Charlie Chaplin film festival.
The Legally Blonde star said, when she was in first grade, her father faked illness on her part to take her out of school, taking her to the festival which, in some ways, changed the course of her life.
“I had these amazing parents,” she said. “And they had this incredible gift. It was impossible for them to lie.”
But one day, Coolidge said, her father did indeed manage to tell a fib.
Jennifer Coolidge wins Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series at the #SAGAwards for The White Lotus 🥂 pic.twitter.com/YolkdOsNEl
— out of context the white lotus (@oocwhitelotus) February 27, 2023
“My father was sitting there [in her school] and saying ‘Yeah, Jenny, we have to go.’
“And the principal said, ‘Jennifer, get well’ and I didn’t know what that meant.”
The star continued: “I swear to God, seeing Charlie Chaplin for the first time, and having that experience – it’s my love of film, it’s my love of actors, all of that came from my first grade.”
The Legally Blonde actor also thanked the show’s creator Mike White, saying: “Mike White, you can give money to friends… and people like money. The best gift you can give to someone is change their perspective. And that’s what Mike White did for me.”
Elsewhere, Everything Everywhere All At Once collected almost every top accolade at the SAG Awards.
The film’s stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis all received recognition for their individual performances, as well as the award for best cast in a motion picture – the SAG equivalent of best picture.
Yeoh won the SAG award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role, acknowledging that she had been “up against titans” in the category.
“Every one of you know, the journey, the rollercoaster ride, the ups and downs. But most important, we never give up.
“This is not just for me, this is for every little girl that looks like me. Thank you for giving me a seat at the table because so many of us need this. We want to be seen, we want to be heard.
“Tonight you have shown us that it is possible. And I am grateful and my mum will be eternally grateful to you.”
Yeoh was embraced by her co-stars Quan and Curtis, before taking to the stage to collect the award.
Both Quan and Curtis also took home the SAG awards for male and female actor in a supporting role respectively.
In his acceptance speech Quan hailed the increasing diversity within the entertainment industry, thanking those who had “contributed to these changes”.
Acknowledging his achievement as the first Asian actor to win the award, he said: “I quickly realised that this moment no longer belongs to me. It also belongs to everyone who has asked for change.
“The landscape looked so different now than before. So, thank you so much to all of you in this room and everyone who contributed to these changes.”
Finishing his remarks, he added: “To all those at home who are watching and struggling and waiting to be seen. Please keep on going, because the spotlight will one day find you.
“Thank you everyone for rooting for me. I will be rooting for you.”
But it wasn’t such a successful night for Martin McDonagh’s dark Irish comedy, The Banshees Of Inisherin, which received the equivalent number of SAG nominations as Everything Everywhere…, but left empty-handed.
Wins for Quan and Curtis meant defeat for Banshees stars Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon, all of whom were nominated in the best supporting categories.
