Emmys 2014: Allison Janney is seeing double
Allison Janney capped off a season of pulling double-TV duty by scoring double Emmy nominations.
The veteran actress kicked off the season in the CBS sitcom “Mom,” in which she plays a struggling alcoholic attempting to reconnect with her daughter (Anna Faris). Across the dial, she had a guest role on the Showtime drama “Masters of Sex,” where she played an unfulfilled wife who discovers her husband (Beau Bridges) is gay.
And, on Thursday, received word she had been nominated for both.
“I’m just so thrilled because both projects have just energized me so much,” Janney said Thursday by phone from Atlanta.
For the “West Wing” alum, it’s been a full-charged return to TV following a false start in 2011’s “Mr. Sunshine” on ABC.
“I love both of these women so much,” Janney said. “And I’m so very proud and grateful to have been given the opportunity to play both of them. It’s not something that anyone my age gets everyday. They are completely different characters and it’s always fun to get to show off different sides -- and when you can do it at the same time, even better.”
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“Masters of Sex” returns with its second season Sunday, and it sees Janney’s Margaret Scully continue to confront the realities of her marriage and her own happiness.
“That’s just one of those magic story lines when you think of the time period -- not only for women, but gay men as well,” she said. “It’s so tragic. And you just fall for both of these characters who can’t understand what’s wrong with them and what society wants them to be. And they’re still trying to figure it all out in the second season. And it definitely isn’t easy.”
In case TV isn’t giving viewers enough Janney, she can also be seen this summer in the big screen’s “Tammy,” as the mother to Melissa McCarthy’s titular character.
The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on NBC Monday, Aug. 25.
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