Allison Janney

Janney's first role on television was in the short-lived black-and-white faux-1940s comedy Morton & Hayes; she appeared in two episodes of the 1991 CBS series as Eddie Hayes' wife.

She then moved on to soap operas; she played the short-term role of Vi Kaminski on As the World Turns, and then played the recurring role of Ginger, one of the Spaulding maids, on Guiding Light for nearly two years.

Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress.

Known for her performances across the screen and stage, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and seven Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards.

Born in Boston and raised in Dayton, Ohio, Janney received a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London following her graduation from Kenyon College.

Janney was born on November 19, 1959, in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Dayton, Ohio.

She is the daughter of Macy Brooks Janney (née Putnam), a former actress, and Jervis Spencer Janney Jr., a real estate developer and jazz musician.

She has an older brother, Jay and had a younger brother, Hal (1961–2011).

She went on to train at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York and then received a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in mid-1984.

Janney made her professional stage debut with the Off-Broadway production Ladies (1989), and followed with numerous bit parts in various similar productions, before making her Broadway debut with the 1996 revival of Present Laughter.

Janney made her professional stage debut in 1989 with an uncredited part in the Off-Broadway production Ladies.

Following minor roles in similar productions like; Prescribed Laughter In The Emergency Café, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress and Blue Window.

Janney made her film debut with a minor part in Who Shot Pat? (1989).

This was followed by a series of minor roles in numerous films throughout the 1990s, including; Wolf (1994), Big Night (1996), Private Parts (1997), The Ice Storm (1997), The Object of My Affection (1998), The Impostors (1998), Primary Colors (1998), Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and American Beauty (1999).

In the spring of 1994, she appeared in the season-four finale of Law & Order, titled "Old Friends", as a reluctant witness against a member of the Russian mob.

She was also a cast member on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion.

Janney made her Broadway debut with the 1996 revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter.

She played Liz Essendine, the estranged wife of the lead character (played by Frank Langella).

Although a minor role, her performance garnered praise and attention with The New York Times calling it "The most fully accomplished performance on the stage".

For her performance in the play, Janney won the Theatre World Award, Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Female, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and received a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

She won two Drama Desk Awards and has been nominated for two Tony Awards: for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway revival of A View from the Bridge (1997), and for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the original Broadway production of the musical 9 to 5 (2009).

Janney has also played character roles in various films, including Primary Colors (1998), American Beauty (1999), The Hours (2002), Juno (2007), Hairspray (2007), The Help (2011), Spy (2015), Bad Education (2019), and Bombshell (2019).

Janney starred in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 1998 revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridgeto positive reviews.

Janney starred opposite Anthony LaPaglia, Stephen Spinella, and Brittany Murphy.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised Janney writing, "Allison Janney is splendid as Beatrice, a loving, patient woman of backbone who looks on helplessly but not quietly as her husband heads into the darkness".

Charles Isherwood of Variety agreed describing her performance as "affecting".

For her performance, Janney won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play, and received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

After a decade of small and uncredited parts, Janney had her breakthrough when she was cast as White House Press Secretary C. J. Cregg in the NBC political drama The West Wing.

Creator Aaron Sorkin called Janney to audition for the role after seeing her in the film Primary Colors.

Loosely based on Dee Dee Myers, the press secretary during Clinton administration, C. J. is a National Merit Scholar who ultimately succeeds Leo McGarry as White House Chief of Staff.

After years of minor and uncredited film and television appearances, Janney's breakthrough came with the role of C. J. Cregg in the NBC political drama series The West Wing (1999–2006), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Awards.

She attended the Miami Valley School in Dayton, where she was named a distinguished alumna in 2005, and the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where she was named Alumna of the Year in 2016.

Janney initially aspired to a career in figure skating, but her height of 6 ft and a freak accident when she was a teenager put an end to that dream.

She attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she majored in theatre.

During her freshman year, Janney met actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward at a play for the inaugural event of the college's newly built Bolton Theater, which Newman was directing.

The couple encouraged her to continue acting and offered her guidance during the early days in her career.

Hal, who had battled depression and addiction for many years, died by suicide in 2011 at the age of 49.

For her portrayal of Bonnie Plunkett, a cynical recovering addict on the CBS sitcom Mom (2013–2021), Janney won two more Emmys.

In 2014, for her guest role of Margaret Scully, a sexually repressed 1950s housewife on Showtime's period drama series Masters of Sex, she won a fifth Emmy.

For her portrayal of LaVona Golden in the film I, Tonya (2017), Janney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.