People

Allison Janney

Acting · follow into films and chains

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.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

Minions & Monsters

As Olivia (voice)

The Dog Stars

As Darlene

American Beauty

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Finding Nemo

As Peach (voice)

I, Tonya

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Wolf

Appears in a KinoChain journey

10 Things I Hate About You

As Ms. Perky

The Help

As Charlotte Phelan

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

The Cracks in the Picket Fence: Suburban Critique Across Generations

From the manicured lawns of 1999 to the glowing screens of today, this chain traces how cinema has dissected the suburban dream, revealing the isolation, confor...

8 films

The Art of the Fall

From viral infamy to quiet vindication: a chain of films about bold artists whose audacity is mistaken for failure, tracing the same arc that turned Raygun from...

8 films

Fur and Fangs

From the eerie moors of England to the neon streets of Tokyo, this chain of eight films reveals the werewolf as a creature of endless reinvention, embodying hor...

8 films

Signals in the Ash

From a father's vigil to a robot's devotion, eight films trace the fragile threads that hold humanity together when the world falls quiet.

8 films

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