Allison Janney

Allison Janney is an actress known for her versatility in the roles she plays. Her career began to blossom in the mid-90s, when she won roles in several films, including "The Cowboy Way" and "Wolf", was featured in the Off-Broadway play "Fat Men in Skirts." Janney also landed a recurring role as a wisecracking maid on the "Guiding Light."

After small roles in 1997's "The Ice Storm" and "Julian Po," Janney returned to the stage in triumph where she earned a Tony nomination for her turn as a longshoreman's wife in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge". She was also seen to good effect as in "The Object of My Affection" and as a con woman in "The Imposters."

In 1998, she had a scene-stealing role as the trashy best friend of a Midwestern stage mother in the comedy "Drop Dead Gorgeous" and had similarly memorable turns in "10 Things I Hate About You" and "American Beauty" in 1999, playing a guidance counselor with romance novelist aspirations in the former and a chronically depressed middle-aged wife of a tyrannical husband in the latter.

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", 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", Janney received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won twice for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.