Born: 19 November 1959, United States
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Allison Janney’s breakout role was as the iconic press secretary C.J. Cregg on the popular television show The West Wing, which premiered in 1999, the year she turned 40, and ran for seven seasons. Although she’d been acting since college, the six-foot-tall Janney struggled to win roles due to her height. “I’m not an easy fit,” she later said. “I thought, ‘I just don’t have the right look …’ I tell ya, it’s pretty awful. I’m a big girl, but I have a delicate constitution, emotionally. If I’ve been humiliated in some audition I just cry all the way home and think, “Oh my God, I suck.” Cast in minor roles in often little-seen films, she finally got her chance to shine in the beloved behind-the-scenes White House series The West Wing, going on to win four Emmys for her work on the show. Janney would later say,
She is my favorite character I’ve ever played because she’s someone that I aspire to. I wish I could be C.J. People come up to me all the time and say they changed their majors in college, they went into public service because of C.J.—and I get it. She’s a wonderful character who is not afraid to speak truth to power, and is a woman in a traditionally male-populated arena in the White House, and she was given the president’s ear.
Janney went on to steal scenes as a secondary character in popular and critically acclaimed films across different genres, as well as voice acting for popular children’s media. She also won several more Emmys for her recurring role on Masters of Sex and her starring role on the sitcom Mom.
Janney won an Academy Award for her performance as the titular character’s mother in the 2017 biopic I, Tonya about Tonya Harding. Interestingly, Janney herself had dreamed of becoming an Olympic skater in her younger years until an injury in her teens made that impossible. She’s also received multiple Tony nominations for her theater work in productions like A View from the Bridge (1997–98) and 9 to 5 (2009), playing the role originated by Lily Tomlin in the film.