Emmy Award-winning American actress Allison Janney was born on November 19, 1959 in Dayton, Ohio. The daughter of a real estate developer and a former actress, she also has two older brothers named Hal and Jay. After attending the Miami Valley School and Kenyon College, she went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. She then began acting in soap operas like
Guiding Light and
As the World Turns , and other television series such as Law & Order and
Frasier . She also worked on the films American Beauty, Finding Nemo, and Over the Hedge.
Claudia Jean ‘C.J.' Cregg is portrayed by Allison Janney in the Emmy Award-winning political drama series The West Wing. A native of Dayton, Ohio and the daughter of a high school math teacher, she works as the White House Press secretary, and is an imposing figure at over six feet tall. She is also a Catholic Christian and a National Merit Scholar, having earned her master's degree in political science from the University of California in Berkeley. Before she joined President Bartlet's presidential campaign and staff, she previously worked for a prominent public relations firm in California. C.J. also becomes the White House Chief of Staff much later on, succeeding Leo McGarry.
(Photo courtesy of David Rose)