It can be hard enough to have the courage to take a leap of faith in your career – it’s even harder when millions of people are watching it. And beloved actress Jennifer Coolidge recently revealed that she almost never took her “dream” role in it white lotus Because she does not feel confident in her appearance.
Coolidge told a roundtable of actors and actresses at an event for Hollywood Reporter that she’s been “fed” on vegan pizza during the pandemic, so when the show came around to film the hit TV series on a beach location, she didn’t feel comfortable signing on.
She said it wasn’t until a friend called her about “bullcr-p” that she realized the opportunity she was going to miss.
This is despite building a reputation as a household name, with a distinguished role in American pie In 1999 before starring in Legally blonde in 2001 alongside Reese Witherspoon.
imposter syndrome
Coolidge isn’t alone in experiencing impostor syndrome—defined as doubting your abilities or feeling like a fraud, especially in high-achieving people—which afflicts workers outside of Hollywood and across industries. The research found that womenColorists, especially people of colour, are more likely to develop impostor syndrome in workplaces or environments that honor values such as “brilliance”.
Sarah Jane Leslie, a professor of philosophy at Princeton University who co-authored the study published in July 2022, said: Sciences: “It’s very hard to come up with examples in popular culture of women, particularly women of color, who have, like Sherlock Holmes or Doctor House, that special kind of raw brilliance.”
And this lack of representation hints at a broader cultural issue than just individual struggles — as Ruchika Tolchian and Judy Ann Bury write in Harvard Business Review that “systemic racism, classism, xenophobia, and other prejudices” were not considered during the development of imposter syndrome as a concept.
Even though Coolidge is a white woman, she still makes her way in a largely male-dominated industry. according to Research from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and FilmIn 2022, 40% of speaking characters are occupied by females. This number is held even more behind the scenes, however, as only 26% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers identify as women.
This issue is exacerbated by age. It becomes more and more difficult for women to hold onto a high-level job as they get older search from time It found that the number of roles offered to women began to decline from the age of thirty.
So it’s no wonder Coolidge, now 61, was nervous about returning to the spotlight. She’s been candid about the professional years leading up to this white lotus Broadcast – During her Golden Globes speech earlier this year, the Boston native said that as she got older she was starting to lose hope of landing another big role.
She explained, “I had big dreams and expectations as a younger person, but what happened is that they were kind of blown away by life. And then you get older and you think, Oh, what’s going to happen?”
‘are you scared?’
During that speech he thanked Coolidge white lotus creator Mike White, and it seems that between the writer and Coolidge’s close friend, there was no way the star wouldn’t be able to make it to the HBO series.
Speaking to actors including Jennifer Garner and Claire Danes in the interview released last week, Coolidge explained that White called her out on her resistance to joining the project.
“(I hear) this little ring in my bedroom in New Orleans at about 2 a.m. and I look at my phone and say, ‘Are you afraid?'” It was from Mike. He knows.
“You sit and bawl your whole life that you didn’t get the role of your dreams, and then when that comes along, you’re like, ‘Yeah, I can’t do that. I ate a bunch of pizza.”
And while it can be very difficult, experts actually suggest that the best way to overcome impostor syndrome is to put yourself in their shoes.
Talking to Harvard Business ReviewLife Coach and Founder Confident and kill him“By reframing self-promotion as an exchange of self-worth and enthusiasm, you can inspire others while alleviating your own inner fears,” said Tiwalola Ogunlisi.
For Coolidge, her remake came from an outside source, she explained: “I have a best friend that I just caught. She knew exactly what I was doing, and she was like, ‘You’re stupid. I’m not going to let you do this.'”
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t know, it was self-loathing and unpreparation.”
