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Emmy Award winning actress Allison Janney was born Allison Brook Jenney from Mary and Jervis Spencer Janney, Jr, a former actress and real estate developer/jazz musician respectively. Allison was born on the 19th of November 1959 in Ohio. She has two older siblings, Hal and Jay. She was raised in Ohio and attended The Miami Valley School. She also attended the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut after which she entered the Kenyon College. Then she went to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London to study drama.

Her first appearance was on television. She first played Vi Kaminski in As the World Turns. Then she appeared for the next two years in Guiding Light as Ginger, one of the Spaulding maids. In 1994 she appeared in Law and Order’s season finale. She played the role of reluctant witness testifying against a Russian mobster.

In 1999, she landed the role of presidential press secretary C.J. Cregg on the hit drama The West Wing. Her role earned her four Emmy Awards. In 2000 she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for Drama Series. She won the same award from the Emmys the following year. In 2002 she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for Drama Series. Again, she won the same award from the Emmys in 2004. Emmy Awards also nominated her in 2003 for Best Actress and again in 2006 for the same category and role. She is among the six cast member of The West Wing who has been nominated for the show but she was the only one who had won more than one award.

Allison also appeared in several films of the 1990s including The Object of My Affection, Big Night, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Primary Colors, Private Parts, American Beauty, The Impostors, The Ice Storm and 10 Things I Hate About You. In 2000 she was seen in The Hours, How To Deal, Nurse Betty, Finding Nemo, The Chumscrubber and Winter Solstice. In 2006 she had notable performance in Margaret. And again she leant her voice in the animated film Over the Hedge. And in 2007 she appeared in Hairspray.

In 2002, she was nominated by the American Film Institute for Actor of the Year. The American Film Institute award is one of the most respected award giving bodies in Hollywood and a nomination is considered as a great honor. The West Wing ended in 2006 with her salary reported as $70,000 per episode.