Australia's Cate Blanchett won best actress and Irish film The Banshees of Ishirin took home three key gongs at the Golden Globes but Jennifer Coolidge stole the hearts of the audience when she received her 'Best Actress' award on Wednesday.
After taking out the 'Best Actress In A Limited Series' category for her portrayal of Tanya McQuoid in the comedy-drama series The White Lotus., Coolidge made a rousing speech that earned a standing ovation and later left viewers online enamoured.
With her signature animated yet nonchalant delivery, Coolidge used the moment at the 80th annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles to lament the lulls of her career, and the drain of always hustling in the industry for a job.
"There are like five people that kept me going for twenty years with these little jobs, and Ryan Murphy you were one of them... Well, it was like you Ryan," she starts before deciding: "and let's see who else was there? Well, it was just you Ryan."
"I didn't know anybody and it was sort of this thing that wasn't going anywhere," she continued. "And there were these people who would just give me these cute little jobs and it was enough to get to the next one, it kept me going for a long time."
Coolidge said she was grateful for the success of the movie American Pie, saying the sequels kept her going for a little while.
"Five different sequels of American Pie, I milked that to the bone, and I mean I'm still going for six or seven - whatever they want," she said.
The star, who is 61 and has been acting since the early 90s, has seen a surge in popularity after appearing as Tanya McQuoid in the series directed by Mike White.
Her portrayal as a troubled and eccentric woman on vacation has seen Coolidge attract a new batch of fans and a renaissance later in her career.
Now, she feels like she's no longer towing her career along.
“I just want to say I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person but they get sort of fizzled by life," she said to the crowd.
“I had these giant ideas but then you get older and I just want to say Mike White you’ve given me hope, you've given me a new beginning."
White, who smiled back tearfully, was among the many moved by the speech, which was punctuated with humour after every candid moment.
"You've sort of changed my life in a different million ways - my neighbours are speaking to me. Things like that. I mean it, I was never invited to one party on my hill and now they're all inviting me."
Among the other winners was veteran actor Michelle Yeoh who took out the top award for Everything Everywhere All at Once, saying she fought hard to be recognised for decades.
"Hollywood was a dream come true until I came here ... because look at this face," the actor, of Malaysian descent, said, noting that she was called a "minority" and was asked if she could speak English early in her career.
At the age of 60, Yeoh said winning the Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy had come after "an amazing journey and incredible fight".
"I turned 60 last year, and I think all of you women understand this, as the days, the years, and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller."
The Golden Globe Awards are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and recognise outstanding achievement in film and television.
