Biography

Allison Janney

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Overview

Born
November 19, 1959 · Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Birth name
Allison Brooks Janney
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

Mini bio

Allison Janney is an award-winning actress who has earned a solid reputation in stage productions and in many supporting roles on screen, and who more recently has become prominent by portraying one of the major characters in the popular TV series The West Wing (1999).

Entertainment Weekly magazine described Janney's screen presence as "uncommonly beautiful and infinitely expressive." As an actress, the magazine deemed her to be "one to watch."

Janney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Macy Brooks (Putnam), a former actress, and Jervis Spencer Janney, Jr., a real estate developer and jazz musician. While studying at Kenyon College, Janney answered a casting call for an on-campus play that was to be directed by Kenyon's most famous alumnus, the legendary actor Paul Newman. During her audition/interview, Janney played upon Newman's known passion for race car driving - she explained how she cut 30 minutes off of the 130-mile journey from her home town to the college. She was chosen for the play's cast.

After earning her degree in drama, Janney took Joanne Woodward's suggestion to do further study at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

Early in her career Janney got comedic roles in the soap operas As the World Turns (1956) and Guiding Light (1952). Later, she gave memorable movie performances in supporting roles in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), American Beauty (1999) and Nurse Betty (2000), and in the made-for-TV movie ...First Do No Harm (1997), among others.

Among her stage work, Janney has played in a revival of Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" on Broadway opposite Anthony LaPaglia, which earned her a Tony Award nomination, and a Drama League Award for outstanding artist for the 1997-98 season. She played in Noel Coward's "Present Laughter" opposite Frank Langella, which earned her the Outer Critics Circle Award and an Actors' Equity award. Janney also appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Taming of the Shrew."

In 1999, Janney became part of the original cast of the acclaimed TV series The West Wing (1999), where she played the President's press secretary who eventually gets promoted to the White House Chief of Staff. Her impressive work during the seven seasons of that renowned series earned her four Emmys and two SAG Awards.

With her reputation becoming more broadly established during her work on "The West Wing", Janney won more substantive roles in feature films, as in the acclaimed The Hours (2002) where she was Meryl Streep's lesbian lover, and in How to Deal (2003) where she played Mandy Moore's mother.
- IMDb mini biography by: Roger Burns <rogerburns@pobox.com>

Family

Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Towering height
Frequently portrays the mother of the main character

Trivia

Was discovered by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward while acting in a play, directed by Newman, at Kenyon College, Ohio. They encouraged her to head to New York City after graduation in order to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
Her father is a jazz musician, and she has two brothers who are also both musicians. She had dreams of becoming an Olympic skater before a freak accident derailed that; she ran blindly through a glass door and was severely injured. She was educated at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; Neighborhood Playhouse, New York; and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London, England.
While struggling to succeed as an actress, she told people who inquired about what she did for a living that she was a photographer for "National Geographic".
She has appeared in four films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: American Beauty (1999), The Hours (2002), Juno (2007) and The Help (2011). American Beauty won in the category.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on 17 October 2016.

Quotes

[on her towering height] Years ago, one casting agent told me that the only roles I could play were lesbians and aliens.
[on staying sane and happy] Dogs tether you to the earth in some really good way. And exercise, of course. And martinis. And sexy high heels. That's it. Good work, a nice pair of heels, a martini, a dog and a man - not necessarily in that order. [Living Fit magazine]
Listen, I'm an actor. I can make anyone believe anything. I don't have to know what the hell I'm talking about.
I hate auditioning so much. I like people who go, "You know what? Allison can do this.".
[2011, on making Mr. Sunshine (2011)] Oh my God. I mean, it was just a candy store for me. I had so much fun playing her, and I wish I could've gone on playing her, because she was really fun. I love to play those absurd women. And I got to sing with James Taylor! If nothing else, I got to do that. And Matthew Perry is pretty great to work with, too. I had a great time. I'm sorry and sad it didn't go, but, geez, I'm glad I got to do that.