West Wing-ing It

Recent Emmy winner Allison Janney takes our reporter on a soul-searching journey from New York to California to D.C. and back again.

USA Weekend. Month Unknown; 2000

by Michele Hatty

Allison Janney sees the bright side of life. This is a woman whose favorite memories include cabbing around Manhattan as a kid with her glamorous grandmother and who plays the snare drum during her family's impromptu jam sessions.

West Wing director Tommy Schlamme says Janney, who played memorable characters on the big screen in such films as The Ice Storm, American Beauty and Nurse Betty, is not typical TV. "She brings a quality more of us can relate to. She feels very real."

In addition to chatting about her height and her attitude toward life, Janney sang into the reporter's tape recorder and in a move antithetical to the recent wave of waif-thin actresses -- finished off the reporter's blueberry pancakes. Definitely real.

Q: Was it tough to be tall growing up?

Yes. I never had a date till college. Most [guys] don't like their date to be taller than they are. My boyfriend is a good 5-11. Sometimes he wishes he were taller, and sometimes I do, too. But that's only because I have a closetful of high heels I never wear. I put them on and I go, "Ugh. I can't do that."

Q: You moved from New York to Los Angeles for The West Wing. Do you feel better about that now that the show's a hit?

I still don't feel settled. I thought I would by now. My boyfriend's in New York and just got a raise and a promotion, so he doesn't really feel like leaving his job. But I like the idea of buying a house [in Los Angeles] and having a yard and getting a dog and having a family. Which I have to do very quickly [laughs].

Q: So you want to have kids?

I had my first maternal instinct about a month ago. I started realizing I was looking at my friends' babies, not because they were cute but thinking I could be with one. Usually my maternal instincts have been toward having pets. If I could stomach the awful part of being a veterinarian, which involves sticking your hand up animals' behinds, I would be a vet.

Q: You're known to have a rockin' trailer on the set. Just what goes on in there?

I like to have a good time. I have a full bar in my trailer, which I got for my birthday last year. I love to dance. I love all kinds of music, from salsa to punk, acid rock. I always have music on, and candles. My trailer is the most fun to hang out in.

Q: I hear you're a board game fanatic.

I love them. I am convinced no one likes them as much as I do. With my family, I like to play Boggle. I like Monopoly and Parcheesi and Clue. We played Twister on my birthday.

Q: You must have an advantage in Twister!

I do. I totally do.