Conversations with Allison Janney (2014)

Career Q&A with Allison Janney on October 7, 2014.  Moderated by Debra Birnbaum, Variety.  

In addition to starring in MOM, Emmy Award winner Allison Janney recently guest starred in the cable series "Masters of Sex." Her recent film credits include "Get on Up," "The Way, Way Back," "Touchy Feely," "Trust Me" and "Bad Words." She lent her voice to the animated film "Mr. Peabody & Sherman." Janney co-starred in the Academy Award-nominated film "The Help," for which the cast won ensemble awards from the Screen Actors Guild, National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics. Janney appeared in the Oscar-winning ensemble hit "Juno," and in the movie version of the Tony Award-winning play "Hairspray." For her role in "Life During Wartime," she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Spirit Awards. She also appeared in "Away We Go," "Strangers with Candy," and was heard as the voice of "Gladys" in the animated film "Over the Hedge," as well as "Peach" in "Finding Nemo." Janney received another Spirit Award nomination for her work in the independent feature "Our Very Own," and starred opposite Meryl Streep in "The Hours," which received a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture. Other feature credits include the Academy Award-winning film "American Beauty" (for which she won a SAG Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture), "Nurse Betty," "How to Deal," "Drop Dead Gorgeous," "10 Things I Hate About You," "Primary Colors," "The Ice Storm," "Six Days Seven Nights," "The Object of My Affection" and "Big Night." Janney is perhaps best known for her starring role as White House Press Secretary CJ Cregg in the television series "The West Wing," for which she won four Emmy Awards and four SAG Awards. While she was a freshman studying acting at Kenyon College in Ohio, Janney auditioned for Paul Newman. Soon after, Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward suggested she study at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. She followed their advice and went on to make her Broadway debut in Noel Coward's "Present Laughter," for which she earned the Outer Critics Circle Award and Clarence Derwent Award. Also, she appeared in Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge," receiving her first Tony Award nomination and winning the Outer Critics Circle Award. Janney was last seen on Broadway in the musical "9 to 5," for which she earned a Tony Award nomination and won the Drama Desk Award.