
Allison Janney
Department: Acting
Biography
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. In a career spanning three decades, she is known for her performances across multiple genres of screen and stage. Janney 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 following her graduation from Kenyon College. 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 The West Wing (1999–2006), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2014, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Margaret Scully on the Showtime period drama Masters of Sex. For her portrayal of Bonnie Plunkett, a cynical recovering addict on the CBS sitcom Mom (2013–2021), Janney received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won twice for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. 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. 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). Her film roles include Private Parts (1997), Primary Colors (1998), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), American Beauty (1999), Nurse Betty (2000), The Hours (2002), Hairspray (2007), Juno (2007), The Help (2011), The Way, Way Back (2013), Tammy (2014), The Rewrite (2014), Spy (2015), Tallulah (2016), The Girl on the Train (2016), Bad Education (2019) and Bombshell (2019). She voiced roles in Finding Nemo (2003), Over the Hedge (2006), Minions (2015), and The Addams Family (2019). For her performance in the black comedy I, Tonya (2017), Janney won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award, all for Best Supporting Actress.
Known For

Finding Nemo
2003

American Beauty
1999

The Hours
2002

Prop 8: The Musical
2008

Wolf
1994

Hairspray
2007

Drop Dead Gorgeous
1999

10 Things I Hate About You
1999

The Associate
1996

Juno
2007

Six Days Seven Nights
1998

Over the Hedge
2006

Pretty Ugly People
2008

Primary Colors
1998

Celebrity
1998

...First Do No Harm
1997

Strangers with Candy
2006

The Chumscrubber
2005

Margaret
2011

How to Deal
2003

Walking and Talking
1996

The Object of My Affection
1998

Life During Wartime
2010

Everything's Going to Be Great
2025

The Creator
2023

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love
2023

Big Night
1996

The Help
2011

Away We Go
2009

Winter Solstice
2004

A Thousand Words
2012

Mr. Peabody & Sherman
2014

Our Very Own
2005

Liberal Arts
2012

Struck by Lightning
2013

Julian Po
1997

The Oranges
2011

Touchy Feely
2013

The Way Way Back
2013

Trust Me
2013

Bad Words
2013

Anita Liberty
1997

Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy
2013

Tammy
2014

Brightest Star
2013

Days and Nights
2014

Spy
2015

True Love: Making The Creator
2023

The Rewrite
2014

Faithful
1996

Flux
1996

Dead Funny
1994

The DUFF
2015

Miss You, Love You
—

Get On Up
2014

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
2016

Minions & More 2
2022

Celia
2012

Minions
2015

Tallulah
2016

Another Simple Favor
2025

Binky Nelson Unpacified
2015

The Impostors
1998

David and Lisa
1998

The Girl on the Train
2016

The Cowboy Way
1994

Finding Dory
2016

Sun Dogs
2017

Nurse Betty
2000

Rooftop Kisses
2002

A Happening of Monumental Proportions
2017

The Night Is Young
2018

I, Tonya
2017

Private Parts
1997

Who Shot Pat?
1989

Piccadilly Jim
2004

The Addams Family
2019

Troop Zero
2019

Bad Education
2019

The Ice Storm
1997

Bombshell
2019

Breaking News in Yuba County
2021

Miracle on 34th Street
1994

Heading Home
1995

Ma
2019

Expedition Amelia
2019

The Heart
—

Blind Spot
1993

Rescuing Desire
1996

Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing
1997

Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018

Lazy Susan
2020

Lou
2022

Chicken Party
2003

Love and Distrust
2010

A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote
2020

The People We Hate at the Wedding
2022

It's Still Me!
2009

To Leslie
2022

Still Working 9 to 5
2022

The Roses
2025

Auto Motives
2000

Fonda
—

Minions & Monsters
2026

Weeds
2005

Law & Order
1990

The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003

Family Guy
1999

The Daily Show
1996

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
2006

King of the Hill
1997

The View
1997

Two and a Half Men
2003

Human Discoveries
2019

LateLine
1998

Frasier
1993

New York Undercover
1994

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015

Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993

Aliens in the Family
1996

The EcoZone Project
2007

Mr. Sunshine
2011

Mom
2013

The Bonnie Hunt Show
2008

The West Wing
1999

Family Guy
1999

Family Guy
1999

Comedy Bang! Bang!
2012

Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015

Chelsea
2016

Intimate Portrait
1993

The Late Late Show with James Corden
2015

Frasier
1993

The Late Late Show with James Corden
2015

Phineas and Ferb
2007

Palm Royale
2024

The Graham Norton Show
2007

Law & Order
1990

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003

Hollywood Game Night
2013

Celebrity Poker Showdown
2003

DuckTales
2017

Web Therapy
2008

Masters of Sex
2013

Who Do You Think You Are?
2010

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009

The Arsenio Hall Show
2013

Veep
2012

Curb Your Enthusiasm
2000

Saturday Night Live
1975

The Kominsky Method
2018

The Simpsons
1989

American Dad!
2005

The Oscars
1953

Lost
2004

Celebrity IOU
2020

The Megan Mullally Show
2006

Golden Globe Awards
1944

The Diplomat
2023

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014

Web Therapy
2011

In Plain Sight
2008

The Diplomat
2023

A Girl Thing
2001

LIVE with Kelly and Mark
1988

The Soup
2004

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003

People's Choice Awards
1975

People's Choice Awards
1975

The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
1995

Tony Awards
1956

Tony Awards
1956

Tony Awards
1956