By Jenna Clarke
Jennifer Coolidge has made her name as the world's most desirable parent, and she's fine with that. In fact, her career oddly reflects the "art imitates life" philosophy.
"I kind of feel like Stifler's Mom when I make the movies because I am," Coolidge said of her sultry, recurring role in the American Pie teen film franchise.
Comedian Jennifer Coolidge will always be known as the sultry parent Stifler's Mom.
"The boys are all attractive and they're young. You don't have to play anything in these movies. I don't have to act."
The character of Stifler's Mom is the Mrs Robinson of the millennial generation. Coolidge's alter ego from American Pie anthology, which began in 1999, launched the unseemly acronym M.I.L.F (Mom I'd Like to F...) into the lexicon and paved the way for "cougars" like Demi Moore and Madonna.
"Now I just need to find my own Ashton [Kutcher]," Coolidge said drily.
"It's not that difficult to be Stifler's Mom, it's a pretty easy gig. You just have to be horny.
"I did have a fling with a younger guy before I got the role so that helped and I'm also attracted to younger guys so it's not an act. In the audition I just had to be me," she said of the role that changed her life.
"I've played a lot of weird women. I play crazy ladies and I've played a lot of insane women and weird best friends that are not sexually desirable. It's sort of nice that I have this one role that's steady and is desired, sexually active and attractive. It's kind of nice to have especially now that I'm single," she added.
Playing an over-sexed parent catapulted Coolidge's career from TV cameo roles on shows like Seinfeld and Friends to weighty supporting parts in big budget Hollywood films including Legally Blonde alongside Reese Witherspoon.
But it is improvisation and spontaneity that allows the comedienne to shine. In between filming the four American Pie films, she has also starred in a number of Christopher Guest's improv mockumentaries, including Best In Show and For Your Consideration.
The 47-year-old actress said she was done with scripts for the time being and was in town for her one-woman stand-up show, Yours for the Night, because she wanted to say something.
"It's not a clean show, I get the chance to say everything I want to say without getting into trouble for it," she said.
It's not that difficult to be Stifler's Mom, it's a pretty easy gig. You just have to be horny.
Her shtick is observatory humour, which was evident throughout our interview as she asked more questions about Perth's dating and shopping scene than she answered about her career.
She does divulge that she was in her late 30s when cast as Stifler's Mom, but was her happiest when cutting her comedic teeth at the infamous improv troupe The Groundlings and babysitting Beverley Hills brats to make a buck.
She moved to LA to join the group after discovering her true calling for comedy while studying to become a dramatic actress and working as a cocktail waitress alongside Sandra Bullock in New York.
Knowing that comedy was a notoriously tough gig for a woman she was prepared for the hard knocks.
"All the guys that entered The Groundlings, like Will Ferrell, already had incredible confidence but I watched shut down women that didn't even have a personality completely become different human beings because of the training.
"The comedy power is really not about being a lady, it's the opposite. I watched these women, like Maya Rudolph, Lisa Kudrow, Kristen Wiig [all graduate of The Groundlings] evolve and become really talented and look how well they've done.
"It was all about not being the girly girl and not having impeccable manners. It was about looking really unattractive on stage and I discovered that I could look really ugly. I'd see these really pretty girls come in and they struggled because they couldn't physically look like a hideous swamp lady," she added.
Jennifer Coolidge's stand-up show opens at the Astor Theatre on Friday, June 24.
Follow Jenna Clarke on Twitter @JennaMClarke