Movies Ashley Tisdale says ad-libbed line from failed Mean Girls audition made it in the movie: 'I should have gotten a writer's credit' "I should have gotten a writer's credit," the actress joked. By Emlyn Travis Emlyn Travis Emlyn Travis is a news writer at Entertainment Weekly with over five years of experience covering the latest in entertainment. A proud Kingston University alum, Emlyn has written about music, fandom, film, television, and awards for multiple outlets including MTV News, Teen Vogue, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Paper Magazine, Dazed, and NME. She joined EW in August 2022. EW's editorial guidelines Published on March 6, 2024 11:31AM EST There’s a 30% chance that Ashley Tisdale may have made up one of your favorite Mean Girls quotes. The actress was asked about her experience auditioning for the role of everyone’s favorite ESPN-using mouse Karen Smith in the 2004 comedy while visiting Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday. "Gosh, it was so long ago,” Tisdale explained. "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." While the role of Karen went to Amanda Seyfried in the end, Tisdale revealed that her effect can still be felt onscreen thanks to a line that she claims the film’s writers lifted from her audition. "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," Tisdale jokingly added. "I'm kidding, but I was like, 'Dang.’” Although host Andy Cohen did not ask Tisdale to reveal her audition ad-lib, Karen delivers a whole host of unforgettable lines throughout the comedy, including the legendary, “on Wednesdays, we wear pink." Ashley Tisdale; Amanda Seyfried as Karen in 'Mean Girls'. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images; Everett Collection Tisdale was one of multiple actresses who threw their mouse ear headband in the ring for a role in Mean Girls. 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. However, it was the film’s producer Lorne Michaels who changed the game when he suggested that Seyfried play Karen. As Armstrong writes, “when they brought Seyfried back in to read for Karen, everything fell into place.” Watch Tisdale discuss almost starring in Mean Girls in the clip above. Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Related content: Mean Girls reunion ad stars Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried as their grown-up characters Tina Fey on whether both Mean Girls movies share a universe Amanda Seyfried speculates that 'Mean Girls 2 is never going to happen, is it?