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Brook Janney (born 19 November 1960) is an American
actress, best known as C.J. Cregg on the television
series The West Wing.
Janney was born in Dayton, Ohio and
harbored dreams of becoming an Olympic figure skater
before suffering a serious childhood injury. Janney
attended Kenyon College, where she was first noticed
by director Paul Newman. She went on to study drama
at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Her first
roles on television were as comedic foils on soap
operas: she first played Vi Kaminski for a short time
on As the World Turns, following up with a two-year
stint as Spaulding maid Ginger on Guiding Light.
Janney has appeared in a number of
films with roles of various sizes, including the 1990s
films American Beauty, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Ice
Storm, Primary Colors, and Private Parts, and the
2000s films Nurse Betty, The Hours, How to Deal and
the animated Finding Nemo.
In 1999 she was cast in the role of
presidential press secretary C.J. Cregg on the television
drama The West Wing, for which she has won four Emmy
Awards. Janney has remained active in theatre; in
1998, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her role
in Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge."
On May 17, 2004, Janney's boyfriend
of two years, Richard Jenik, proposed to her in San
Francisco.
In 2004, Janney began lending her
voice to television and radio spots created by Kaiser
Permanente in the health maintenance organization's
broad "Thrive" media campaign, and in a
radio campaign for the American Institute of Architects.
She currently lives across the
street from The West Wing co-star Janel Moloney
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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