- Eileen Atkins, The Hours, 2002. Offered Barbara in the flower shop, Janney was more determined to be Meryl Streep’s lover, Sally Lester. The British Atkins wrote the script of Mrs Dalloway, the 1997 UK film based on the novel Nicole Kidman’s Virginia Wolf is writing in this film. Janney, fondly remembered as CJ Cregg, The West Wing’s canny Press secretary, won her seventh Emmy award in 2015.
- Heather Locklear, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, 2002. “A pretty grim experience all around – longest year and a half of my life.” Director Joe Dante refusing to say anymore about how his planned tribute to his late friend, toon ikon Chuck Jones, ended up a mess. Then again, when the suits approve Locklear over Janney as Dusty Tails, you know you’re in trouble.
- Joan Cusack, Shameless, TV, 2010. CJ, er AJ, shot the pilot but quit the series for lighter TV, Matthew Perry’s Mr Sunshine. Joan took over as the mother of a sexually active daughter – opposite William H Macy and Emmy Rossum in the US version of Paul Abbott’sUK series. That lasted nine seasons, the US copy did not.
- Tracey Ullman, Into The Woods, 2013.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4