Ashley Tisdale Says Her Ad-Libbed Line From Failed ‘Mean Girls’ Audition Made It Into the Movie

Apparently, Ashley Tisdale is responsible for an iconic Mean Girls quote. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody star recently shared her experience auditioning for the role of Karen Smith in an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. “Gosh, it was so long ago,” Tisdale recalled. “I just remember screen testing, and it was me and Blake Lively and someone else. But yeah, I screen-tested. That was like, eons ago, obviously.” 

The role eventually went to Amanda Seyfried. But Tisdale revealed that an ad-libbed line she said during her audition made the cut, though she didn’t. “I just remember I ad-libbed — because I always like in an audition to steal the scene — and I ad-libbed one line, and they put it in the movie,” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I should have gotten a writer’s credit,” she added. “I’m kidding, but I was like, ‘Dang.’” It’s unclear which famous line she’s referring to.

Tisdale wasn’t the only major star to audition for a role in the cult classic. In her recent book So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (And Why We’re Still So Obsessed With It), author Jennifer Armstrong revealed that Lively, Leighton Meester, Haylie Duff, Kate Mara, and Megan Fox were also all in the running to play Karen. The film’s producer, Lorne Michaels, suggested Seyfried play Karen. In the book, Armstrong writes, “When they brought Seyfried back in to read for Karen, everything fell into place.”

The role changed Seyfried’s life. And she loves the character. “I think this scene in particular leaves a mark because I think we just feel how badly she wants everybody to feel better,” Seyfried said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Like, it’s just that simple,” she added. “I think we just see she’s the person with the biggest heart, and she truly believes that the best idea would be to go to Taco Bell.”

The movie, released in 2004, has since gone on to be a Broadway musical. The musical birthed another film.