Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. She is a six-time Primetime Emmy Award winner for her television work and has won a Drama Desk Award and received two Tony Award nominations for her work in the theater. Janney studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse Theatre, from where she won a scholarship to study at RADA in the summer of 1984. She made her Broadway debut in 1996, in a revival of the Noel Coward play Present Laughter. For her role in the 1997 Broadway revival of A View From the Bridge, she won a Drama Desk Award and received her first Tony Award nomination. She played White House Press Secretary (later Chief of Staff) C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing (1999–2006), a role for which she received six Emmy Award nominations, winning four. The role also won her a Satellite Award and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2009, she was nominated for a second Tony Award, for her role in the Broadway musical 9 to 5. Since 2013, she has starred as Bonnie Plunkett on the CBS sitcom Mom, winning the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She has also played the recurring role of Margaret Scully on the Showtime series Masters of Sex, for which she won the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. Her films include Big Night (1996), Primary Colors (1998), Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), American Beauty (1999), The Hours (2003), Finding Nemo (2003), Hairspray (2007), Juno (2007), The Help (2011), The Way, Way Back (2013), and Get On Up (2014).