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Allison Janney

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He has a face as unique as it is expressive. Allison Janney is one of those actresses so well known for a single character – CJ Gregg in The West Wing of the White House – that they have a hard time breaking out of typecasting. However, she has participated in very successful movies and has amply demonstrated her talent.

Born November 19, 1959 in Bayton, Ohio, Allison Brooks Janney is the daughter of Macy, who was an aspiring actress, and Jervis, a real estate developer and occasional jazz musician. She studied at Kenyon College, where she managed to take part in a theatrical performance directed by the center’s most prestigious alumnus, Paul Newman . This actor’s wife, Joanne Woodward , noticed her potential and advised her to prepare more to be an actress. Following her recommendation, she enrolled in Drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where she had Dylan McDermott as a classmate .

He made his film debut with an irrelevant role in Sandra Bullock ‘s film Who shot Patakango? , and then she made numerous brief appearances, in titles like Miracle in the City , or Private Parties . She began to thrive in the late ’90s, after a small role in Ang Lee ‘s The Ice Storm . She was the boss of Anne Heche , in Seven Days and Seven Nights , and most notably stood out as Barbara Fitts, the oblivious wife of the homophobic colonel ( Chris Cooper ), in American Beauty .

He also obtained great prestige in the theater, performing productions of works such as “Panorama from the Bridge”, which he starred in with Anthony LaPaglia .

But her career changed completely when in 1999 she was chosen to play CJ Gregg, the wily press secretary in the series The West Wing of the White House . For her work, she won four Emmy Awards, apart from two other nominations.

As he continued with the series, he would occasionally appear on screen. In The Hours , she was the lover of Meryl Streep , and in Fall in Love , the mother of Mandy Moore . And although at the end of the presidential saga she has not had the same success again, she has continued to show plenty of talent, especially in maternal roles. She was the stepmother of the protagonist in Juno , adoptive mother of two powerful children destined to confront each other in the strangest and most mythological episode at the end of Lost , Lily the nerd, who is visited by the protagonists of A place to stay , and the conservative mother of the protagonist ( Emma Stone ) inMaids and Ladies (The Help) .

Although she is quite private about her personal life, she is known to be dating Andy Karl, an actor who has appeared in titles like Legally Blonde .

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