Allison Janney Filmography

Juno

Actors: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons

Synopsis: When a teenage girl is faced with an unexpected pregnancy, she enlists the aid of her best friend in finding the unborn child a suitable home in this coming-of-age comedy drama from Thank You for Smoking director Jason Reitman. Juno (Ellen Page) may seem wise beyond her years, but after sleeping Read More

Hairspray

Actors: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden

Synopsis: Adam Shankman's adaptation of the stage musical Hairspray, itself an adaptation of the non-musical John Waters film of the same name, stars Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, an overweight high-school student whose only dream is to be on a local Baltimore teen dance program. While her father (Christopher Walken Read More

Strangers With Candy

Actors: Amy Sedaris, Deborah Rush, Carlo Alban, Maria Thayer, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert

Synopsis: The cult-favorite television series which offered a fun-house version of '70s "after-school specials" returns in this big-screen prequel to the show Strangers With Candy. Middle-aged ex-prostitute, former drug addict and all-around lowlife Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) emerges from prison at the age Read More

Over the Hedge

Actors: Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner

Synopsis: A group of feisty forest critters awaken following the winter freeze to discover that not only has a new neighborhood cropped up during the cold months, but living in close proximity to humans may have its benefits in this computer-animated comedy-adventure for all ages featuring the voices of Bruce Willis Read More

The Chumscrubber

Actors: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close, Rory Culkin, Carrie-Anne Moss

Synopsis: The death of a troubled teen throws a suburban neighborhood into chaos in this darkly satirical comedy. Dean (Jamie Bell) is a disaffected teenager living in a California suburb that's beautiful on the surface but populated by families who live emotionally vacant lives, with the parents often too Read More

Winter Solstice

Actors: Anthony LaPaglia, Aaron Stanford, Mark Webber, Allison Janney, Michelle Monaghan

Synopsis: A family struggles to come to terms with changes after a death in the family in this independent drama. Jim Winters (Anthony LaPaglia) is a widower living in suburban New Jersey with his two teenage sons, Gabe (Aaron Stanford) and Pete (Mark Webber). Pete, the younger of the siblings, has a Read More

Piccadilly Jim

Actors: Brenda Blethyn, Austin Pendleton, Tom Wilkinson, Allison Janney, Frances O'Connor, Hugh Bonneville, Sam Rockwell

Synopsis: Jim Crocker (Sam Rockwell) is an American ne'er-do-well living in England with his tolerant father, Bingley (Tom Wilkinson), and his snooty, social-climbing stepmother, Eugenia (Allison Janney). As the film opens, Jim has been fouling up Eugenia's efforts to obtain a peerage with his Read More

Our Very Own

Actors: Allison Janney, Keith Carradine, Cheryl Hines, Jason Ritter

Synopsis: The directing debut of actor Cameron Watson, Our Very Own chronicles the daily hopes and dreams of high schoolers and their parents in a small Tennessee town, circa 1978. Shelbyville is the real-life birthplace not only of Watson, who wrote the script from his own recollections, but also of Read More

Weeds: Lude Awakening

Actors: Lochlyn Munro, Ayla Kell, David Pressman, Joey Gray, Soledad St. Hilaire

Synopsis: A crate of soft drinks has fallen off a cargo plane and nearly destroyed the Hodes home. While Dean (Andy Milder) deals with the insurance adjuster, Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), who recently learned she has breast cancer, visits with a faith healer. Celia's bout with cancer seems to have given her a Read More

The West Wing: Season 06

Actors: Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Janel Moloney, Dule Hill, Joshua Malina, Stockard Channing

Synopsis: The crises facing the various members of the Bartlet administration at the outset of The West Wing's sixth season include the ever-escalating hostilities between Israel and Palestine, with President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) refusing to exploit the situation by staging a preemptive strike against a Read More

How to Deal

Actors: Mandy Moore, Allison Janney, Trent Ford, Alexandra Holden, Dylan Baker

Synopsis: Teen pop star Mandy Moore stars in the romantic comedy How to Deal. Directed by British filmmaker Clare Kilner, the script is based on two of author Sarah Dessen's popular teen novels: Someone Like You and That Summer. Halley (Moore) is a teenager trying to make sense of the faltering romantic Read More

Finding Nemo

Actors: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett

Synopsis: Andrew Stanton, who helped write Toy Story and Monsters, Inc., co-wrote and directed this computer-animated comedy-adventure about finding a very small fish in a very large ocean. Marlin (voice of Albert Brooks) is a more-than-slightly paranoid Clown Fish who is extremely devoted to his young son Read More

King of the Hill: Full Metal Dust Jacket

The West Wing: Season 05

Actors: Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Janel Moloney, Dule Hill, Joshua Malina, Stockard Channing

Synopsis: The administration of President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is still technically in charge of the United States as The West Wing enters its fifth season (and its first without the services of longtime producer Aaron Sorkin), but Bartlet himself is no longer commander in chief -- at least, not at Read More

The Hours

Actors: Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Toni Collette

Synopsis: Three women, separated by a span of nearly 80 years, find themselves weathering similar crises, all linked by a single work of literature in this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham. In 1923, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is attempting to start work on her Read More

The West Wing: Season 04

Actors: Rob Lowe, Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney, Joshua Malina, Stockard Channing

Synopsis: Once the fourth season of The West Wing gets past its semi-serious two-part opener, in which White House staffers Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), and Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) get lost somewhere in Indiana while campaigning for the re-election of President Jed Read More

Frasier: Three Blind Dates

Actors: Bellamy Young, Allison Janney, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Nick Kiriazis, Michael Panes

Synopsis: West Wing co-star Allison Janney appears in this episode as Suzanne, one of three blind dates set up for Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) by three different people. First, Niles (David Hyde Pierce) arranges for Frasier to meet bookstore owner Lisa (Bellamy Young) -- a meeting that may never come off. Read More

A Girl Thing

Actors: Stockard Channing, Elle MacPherson, Kate Capshaw

Synopsis: Stockard Channing stars in this made-for-cable comedy-drama as Dr. Beth Noonan, a female psychiatrist trying to hold her life together as she guides four of her patients through personal turmoil. Lauren Travis (Elle MacPherson), a respected lawyer, finds her sexual identity thrown into question Read More

The West Wing: Season 03

Actors: Rob Lowe, Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney, Stockard Channing

Synopsis: Season three of The West Wing breaks the series' established continuity with the opening episode, "Isaac and Ishmael," hastily assembled to address the terrible events of September 11, 2001. Thereafter, the principal storyline picks up where season two left off, with President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen Read More

Frasier: The Two Hundredth

Synopsis: Bill Gates guest stars on this, the 200th episode of Frasier. It so happens that this landmark event occurs on the same day as the 2000th radio broadcast of Frasier's radio call-in show. Having accumulated all but one of his broadcast tapes, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) must now negotiate with the Read More

Intimate Portrait: Allison Janney

Nurse Betty

Actors: Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Harriet Sansom Harris, Allison Janney, Aaron Eckhart, Greg Kinnear

Synopsis: After two acclaimed independent films in which he took a troubling look at male/female relations, director Neil LaBute moves on to less controversial ground in this dark comedy. Betty Sizemore (Renee Zellweger) is a woman from Kansas City who waits tables at a diner and is married to an Read More

The West Wing: Season 02

Actors: Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Dule Hill

Synopsis: Season one of The West Wing ended with a violent cliffhanger, as President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his staff were apparently targeted for assassination. As season two begins, it is revealed that the intended bull's-eye of the attack was actually Bartlet's young African-American aide, Charlie Read More

Leaving Drew

American Beauty

Actors: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper

Synopsis: Noted theater director Sam Mendes, who was responsible for the acclaimed 1998 revival of Cabaret and Nicole Kidman's turn in The Blue Room, made his motion picture debut with this film about the dark side of an American family, and about the nature and price of beauty in a culture obsessed with Read More

Drop Dead Gorgeous

Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Brittany Murphy

Synopsis: So how far would you go to win a beauty pageant? That's the burning question of Drop Dead Gorgeous, in which the citizens of Mount Rose, Minnesota gear up for the year's biggest event, the Sarah Rose Miss Teen Princess America Pageant, in which Becky Leeman (Denise Richards) and Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst Read More

10 Things I Hate About You

Actors: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, Andrew Keegan

Synopsis: As Shakespearean adaptations go, it's not quite as odd as moving The Tempest to another planet (as in Forbidden Planet) or Hamlet to a Canadian brewery (the secret subtext of Strange Brew), but it's still safe to say no one was expecting a version of The Taming of the Shrew set in an American high Read More

The West Wing: Season 01

Actors: Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, John Spencer, Moira Kelly, Richard Schiff

Synopsis: The first season of The West Wing wastes no time in plunging the fledgling administration of American president Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) into a crisis, when the commander in chief is injured by a fall from a bicycle borrowed from his chief of staff, Leo McGarry (John Spencer). Meanwhile, Deputy Read More

Celebrity

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Famke Janssen, Joe Mantegna, Melanie Griffith

Synopsis: Black-and-white Sven Nykvist cinematography highlights this Woody Allen comedy about fame and obscurity among Manhattan celebs. Journalist Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh), makes a play for actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith), subject of his current story. Lee is separated from his wife Robin (Judy Davis Read More

The Impostors

Actors: Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, Teagle F. Bougere, Elizabeth Bracco, Steve Buscemi

Synopsis: Actor Stanley Tucci made his directorial debut with a strong cast in this Depression Era farce focusing on two struggling two New York actors. In opening scenes, Maurice (Oliver Platt) and Arthur (Tucci) fabricate a fake fight at an outdoor cafe, do acting exercises, audition for a theater Read More

Six Days, Seven Nights

Actors: Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer, Jacqueline Obradors, Temuera Morrison

Synopsis: Ivan Reitman directed this romantic comedy-adventure that opens in New York where fast-paced magazine associate editor Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) and her boyfriend, Frank (David Schwimmer), leave for a week's vacation on a remote island. They've already been together for three years, so when Frank Read More

The Object of My Affection

Actors: Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Alan Alda, Nigel Hawthorne, John Pankow

Synopsis: Nicholas Hytner (The Crucible) directed this Wendy Wasserstein screenplay, adapted from Stephen McCauley's novel, about the romantic mismatch of a gay man and a young pregnant woman. When literary agent Sidney Miller (Alan Alda) and his wife Constance (Allison Janney) have a dinner party Read More

David and Lisa

Actors: Sidney Poitier, Lukas Haas, Brittany Murphy, Debi Mazar, Allison Janney

Synopsis: Oprah Winfrey co-produced this psychological drama, a TV movie remake of the acclaimed black-and-white low-budget ($180,000) 1962 David and Lisa. The original earned $1 million in its first run and also earned Oscar nominations for director Frank Perry and screenwriter Eleanor Perry, who adapted Read More

Primary Colors

Actors: John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Adrian Lester

Synopsis: Mike Nichols directed this Elaine May screenplay adapted from the 1996 bestseller by "Anonymous" (Joe Klein), who fictionalized Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. In the New Hampshire primary, Governor Jack Stanton (John Travolta) convinces Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), grandson of a Read More

First Do No Harm

Actors: Meryl Streep, Fred Ward

Synopsis: When the youngest son of a rural Midwestern family is diagnosed with epilepsy just as their insurance is set to run out, his mother dedicates her life to the illness and all of its potential treatments. Eventually she comes across the ketogenic diet, a method of limiting carbohydrates and protein Read More

Private Parts

Actors: Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Mary McCormack, Fred Norris, Paul Giamatti, Jackie Martling

Synopsis: Based on a best-selling autobiography, this comedy drama is the surprisingly sweet-natured life story of a controversial radio personality. Howard Stern, who stars as himself, is a nerdy New York kid who dreams of a disc jockey career despite being a self-loathing klutz who lacks a traditional Read More

The Ice Storm

Actors: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood

Synopsis: Set on Thanksgiving weekend of 1973, The Ice Storm looks into the lives of a wealthy Connecticut family who are calm and civil on the outside, but whose lives are quietly falling into chaos. Sixteen-year-old Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is home for the holidays from prep school; he'd just as soon Read More

Julian Po

Actors: Christian Slater, Robin Tunney, Michael Parks, Cherry Jones, Frankie R. Faison

Synopsis: A man brings new life to a small town by announcing that he's killing himself in this low-key comedy-drama that marked a significant change of pace for star Christian Slater. Julian Po (Slater) is a quiet, unassuming bookkeeper -- so quiet and unassuming, in fact, that most people hardly notice Read More

Big Night

Actors: Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Minnie Driver, Ian Holm, Isabella Rossellini

Synopsis: In this witty drama, a pair of brothers debate integrity versus compromise as they try to succeed in the restaurant business. Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) have journeyed from Italy to New Jersey in the mid-1950s, determined to make a killing with an authentic Italian Read More

The Associate

Actors: Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Tim Daly, Bebe Neuwirth

Synopsis: In this comedy, a woman discovers that it's impossible to get ahead in business without a man to guide her -- so she invents one. Laurel (Whoopi Goldberg) is an expert financial analyst with a top Wall Street brokerage; however, she keeps getting passed over for raises and promotions, and she's Read More

Dead Funny

Actors: Elizabeth Peña, Andrew McCarthy, Paige Turco, Blanche Baker, Allison Janney

Synopsis: In this independent drama, Vivian Saunders (Elizabeth Pena) comes home one day to an unusual surprise: her boyfriend Reggie (Andrew McCarthy) is lying on the kitchen table with a large sword sticking out of his body. At first Vivian thinks this must be some sort of joke, but she discovers that Read More

Heading Home

Actors: Frankie R. Faison, Margaret Welsh, Mary Alice, Allison Janney, Seth Gilliam

Synopsis: An African-American busdriver befriends a white girl in this sensitive drama set in 1970 during the height of the Vietnam-War protests. Horace Jones, the bus driver, is frustrated that he couldn't keep his son Willie from enlisting in the military. What makes it worse, is that Willie was an Read More

Wolf

Actors: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Richard Jenkins, Christopher Plummer

Synopsis: Jack Nicholson becomes a werewolf in this bizarre comedy-horror film directed by Mike Nichols. Nicholson plays Will Randall, a book editor with a testosterone deficit who has just been sacked at his publishing firm by a new boss, Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer). A colleague, Stewart Swinton (James Spader Read More

The Cowboy Way

Actors: Woody Harrelson, Kiefer Sutherland, Dylan McDermott, Ernie Hudson, Cara Buono

Synopsis: In this action comedy, director Gregg Champion relies on the premise that, indeed, "country boys can survive," as Sonny (Kiefer Sutherland) and Pepper (Woody Harrelson, always game) head off to the Big Apple in order to rescue a mutual friend's daughter from the clutches of an evil sweatshop Read More

Miracle on 34th Street

Actors: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, Mara Wilson, Robert Prosky

Synopsis: The 1947 holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street is transplanted to the 1990s with few changes in this family-oriented remake. The screenplay by the prolific John Hughes sticks close to the original outline, centering on Macy's executive Dorey Walker (Elizabeth Perkins) and her young daughter Susan Read More

Law & Order: Old Friends

Synopsis: A pedestrian is struck and killed by a truck. An accident? Not so, insist the detectives and the D.A.'s office, especially when evidence reveals a link connecting the victim, a prominent baby food manufacturer, and the Russian mafia. Assistant D.A. Stone (Michael Moriarty) promises that no harm Read More

Blind Spot

Synopsis: A tough congresswoman tries to keep her family together after her son-in-law dies in a car crash. This Emmy-nominated made-for-television drama follows her efforts and her reaction when she learns that drugs were involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Law & Order: Star Struck

Synopsis: Lucy Neven (Blanche Baker), a popular TV soap-opera actress, is nearly beaten to death. The main suspect is Jesse Unger (Bradley White), Neven's obsessive "biggest fan." Unger's defense attorney tries to get his client off the hook with a plea of temporary insanity -- and, much to the dismay of Read More