Allison Janney Quotes

It's hard to describe to people how terrible it was when you could only watch cartoons at a certain time in your life.

It's a great way to start the day, hearing you've been nominated for an Emmy. It's just thrilling.

I'm afraid of flying.

Aaron Sorkin uses a lot of the same people again and again - the people he likes. I think if there's ever a part for me, he would consider me for it. I hope so. Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt, other times it helps you. It's just amazing to work with his scripts. There's never any fat in them. It's all perfect, and there's such a rhythm to it. The musicality of his writing - it's so specific and unique to him, and such a joy to play as an actor, because there's no sentimentality.

I trust other people to tell me if it's too far or tasteless, because there's not too much that I won't do. I like to push the limits. Obviously, that's more dangerous and more fun for everybody.

It's a little weird accepting your voice coming out of an animated character. You don't buy it at first because it's your voice and none of us like our voices when we hear them recorded back.

The live aspect is so thrilling, I get nervous again. It's like going on stage.

I never watched Lost. I just thought it would be fun to be part of something that was such a big part of pop culture. But I thought I was going to be acting with more of the other people. I didn't know that I was going to be on my own on the island, doing this whole other storyline.

I guess my height has hurt me as much as it's helped me. In comedy people don't mind casting tall women next to shorter men. It adds to the humour.

I got offered that role in Transamerica that Felicity Huffman did. That was a part that I was like, "Well, maybe I should've done that." I'm at peace with it, but that is one thing that I did turn down that went on to do great things for her. I wonder what would've happened if I would've done that.

Great drama is all about conflict, and what's a better conflict than Republican-Democrat?

I always feel like a doctor who loses a patient on the operating table or something where I felt just devastated and I beat myself up until I get to try it the next night and “I'll get it better tonight.” So I'm hard on myself. I think I'm not alone in that regard with acting.

Annette Bening should've won Oscar for American Beauty. I mean, I know Hilary Swank was there, she was so great too... Annette deserves one. She better win. I'm an Academy voter, and I voted for her.

I think it was a subject matter that The Social Network didn't involve a lot of women. That's all I think it is.

If I could stomach the awful part of being a veterinarian, which involves sticking your hand up animals' behinds, I would be a vet.

I think one of my big skills is making unlikable characters likable or real in some way. No matter how hateful people are, there's always something vulnerable about them, or something that you can understand or relate to. I think that's my job as an actress - to find those.

I am lucky enough to have Aaron Sorkin write what I have to say.

I'd like to make really important movies, like American Beauty. I was really proud to be a part of that movie.

I'm kind of at the mercy of writers out there. I need a writer out there who wants to write a vehicle for me. Do it and get it to me immediately. I do want to be a lead. I want to play a lead role in a movie.

It was great to have a Republican character as likeable as Alan Alda was in the West Wing. He was one Republican I would probably vote for; he was old school.

There was a courtroom scene where my son is convicted of killing Kevin Spacey's character. I find the bloody T-shirt and realize my husband did it. I get up the courage to take the shirt and send it to the police as evidence. I go out of the house for the first time. There was all this stuff I had to do that became quite truncated, because they slimmed down the movie. I understand the American Beauty is brilliant without all that stuff, but for me, personally, it was hard to see all that go.

Someone said I wasn't attractive enough. People say those things, but they make you stronger. Then you can win an Emmy and think, ha, ha, ha.

Don’t ever underestimate the power of mentoring someone, or helping some young actor, doing a favor for them, or introducing - everyone needs somebody to help them along when they’re first starting out.

It was terrifying when Aaron Sorkin announced that he was leaving West Wing, he and Tommy Schlamme. We felt like our parents were abandoning us. It was a tremendously sad day and I'm sure I will never understand exactly all the reasons why that happened.

I just wish that I had a part in everything Aaron Sorkin wrote. Sometimes I wish I was a member of an acting troupe where we all just kept working together, the same people. I can't, unfortunately, be in everything he writes. I'm excited for him, but I'm jealous that I wasn't a part of it.

I can access emotions very easily.

The pre-shoot days are so relaxed and fun and the writers are laughing. I love the rehearsal process.

I can tell when men are threatened by my height.

I'm the worst speller on the planet. I'm so glad for spellcheck on my phone.

The wonderful thing about Crystal in Mr. Sunshine is that she doesn't have any boundaries. She's not aware socially of what's correct and incorrect. Crystal's probably the craziest character I've ever had to do and the furthest I've gone, with the only exception being Away We Go - I was pretty big in that.

One of the advantages of being an older woman in films,is that you don't care as much about so many things. There are women in history throughout the world that need to be portrayed. Women don't stop being interesting at 20, they get more interesting and more fascinating and people are going to have to write about them. We're undeniable.

I love working on the fly when the writers come up with new jokes on show nights. It's exciting. I love it so much.

I can't imagine trying to be in recovery. I mean it would be hard enough with just life going along in a nice way, but then when awful stuff happens, how you maintain the strength to get through it?

I grew up with brothers. I love men. Of course it's hard to be a woman in a man's world.

I didn't understand the reasons why I was there in the Lost episode - the mysteries of the island. I just instead made my own little reality, made it as simple as possible. I figured I was a crazy woman, just a little screw loose. I don't know how I got on that island. No one could tell me how I got there either, so I just assumed I got there on a shipwreck, and I went a little nutty.

It is a very difficult job, being the servant of two masters.

I like people trying to do two things at once.

One of the things I love about acting is other actors, looking into their eyes, and working off them, and listening and responding to them.

I never stop. I don't want to stop acting because I'm afraid it'll all end, so I never say no.

It's a challenge for me to make people like me. Maybe it's just my desperate need for people to like me, that I choose the characters I have to play. You will like me, I don't care what I've done, you're going to like me.

I love wasting time and learning to lip-sync to songs; it's a silly hobby of mine.

Comedy is a serious business. It's frustrating when I can't find the right thing that makes the crew laugh. If I don't make them laugh, I get very disappointed in myself. You don't really have a live audience, so you just depend on the crew to let you know if you're doing something funny.

I'm not very comfortable being an actorvist so to get to do something that I believe in is a much more comfortable way for me to be political.

I have the power of my height. Growing up, it was a total drawback. There was nothing good about it at all.

Aaron Sorkin wrote me one of the best female roles on television, I think. He's a wonderful writer for all people. If he chooses to write, hopefully he'll write something that involves more women next time, because I would love to do it.

One out of forty American men wears women's clothing. We've had more than forty presidents. One of these guys has been dancing around the Oval Office in a prom dress.

With John Wayne Gacy - the serial killer who dressed up as a clown - there's just something about clowns I don't trust. I don't think they're particularly funny. They're a little spooky. Not my sense of humor, I don't laugh at clowns.

An agent said he didn't know what to do with me, I wouldn't be able to play any parts but lesbians and aliens.