Allison Janney won two Emmys last year for her regular supporting role on the CBS comedy “Mom” and her recurring role on the Showtime drama “Masters of Sex.” While she is heavily favored to repeat as Best Comedy Supporting Actress, she is in second place on our predictions chart for Best Drama Guest Actress behind Cicely Tyson. However, don’t count out this Emmy darling just yet. Remember, she has already racked up a half dozen wins from just eight nominations.
Prior to those two victories last year, she took home four trophies out of six nominations for her role as C.J. Cregg on “The West Wing.” She prevailed as Best Drama Supporting Actress in 2000 and 2001, then changed over to Best Drama Actress and won that category in 2002 and 2004. That total haul ties her with Art Carney, Tim Conway, Tyne Daly and Carl Reiner for third place on the all-time Emmy winners list. Should she prevail at Saturday’s Creative Arts Emmys, she will join Edward Asner and Mary Tyler Moore in second, right behind Cloris Leachman who has eight prime-time trophies.
Related: Watch our editor Emmy slugfests predicting all four guest acting races
Last year Janney appeared in six episodes of “Masters of Sex” but this year was in just one, albeit a powerful episode in which her character’s husband tries to kill himself. In “Parallax,” Margaret is in bed reading when her closeted gay husband Barton (Beau Bridges) comes into the room and tries to make love to her. She stops him when she realizes that he’s treating her like a boy and they both start crying over the situation. The following day, Margaret and her daughter return home to find Barton trying to hang himself in the basement. Margaret holds him up as the daughter fetches a knife and they are able to save his life.
With odds of 14/1, Janney trails the frontrunner Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away with Murder“), who has overwhelming odds of 2/9 to win for her single appearance in this freshman crime drama. Tyson won two Emmys for the landmark 1974 telefilm “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” (lead actress and actress of the year). She then lost three times before winning supporting actress two decades later for “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.” Since that win, she has contended five more times, including last year as both star and producer of the telefilm “The Trip to Bountiful.”
Rachel Brosnahan (“House of Cards“) reaped her first-ever Emmy nomination for the final appearance of her character, Rachel Posner, who is killed off in “Chapter 39.” She is in third place at 25/1.
Diana Rigg (“Game of Thrones“) contends for the third year in a row for royal matriarch Olenna Tyrell. She entered “The Gift,” the second of her two appearances this season, and has odds of 33/1.
Margo Martindale (“The Americans“), is also in the running for a third year in a row for playing KGB handler Claudia. Her only appearance this season was in “I Am Abassin Zadran.” She has odds of 33/1.
Khandi Alexander (“Scandal“) submitted “Where the Sun Don’t Shine, the first of four appearances as Maya, the convict mother of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington); she also has odds of 66/1.
Related: Allison Janney chats about double Emmys noms and setting records
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Photo: Allison Janney in “Masters of Sex.” Credit: Michael Desmond/Showtime
