MTV will honor the iconic Jennifer Coolidge with the “Comedic Genius” award at the 2023 “MTV Movie & TV Awards” on Sunday, May 7th.
Coolidge becomes the sixth recipient of the highly coveted award, which honors actors who have made incomparable contributions to the world of comedy, providing a major influence through their work and transforming the genre at-large. Last year, Jack Black joined the impressive roster of past comedic award recipients including Sacha Baron Cohen (2021), Melissa McCarthy (2016), Kevin Hart (2015), and Will Ferrell (2013).
Jennifer Coolidge has been a Hollywood mainstay ever since playing “Stifler’s mom” in the 1999 comedy classic American Pie. Coolidge recently garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of the wealthy, unstable, and oblivious fan favorite character “Tanya McQuoid” in HBO’s The White Lotus. Her portrayal earned her a 2022 Emmy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award, two Critics Choice Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Coolidge also recently starred in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series The Watcher opposite Naomi Watts, in Amazon Prime Video’s romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding opposite Jennifer Lopez and Netflix’s family adventure We Have a Ghost opposite David Harbour. Beloved for her role as “Paulette” in the iconic Legally Blonde franchise opposite Reese Witherspoon, and well-known for her frequent collaborations with director Christopher Guest in films such as Best In Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006), the actress and comedienne has also made scene-stealing appearances in A Cinderella Story opposite Hilary Duff, and Promising Young Woman opposite Carey Mulligan.