“That would be almost too much to wish for. I don’t know what the odds are of doing the same thing, but I can’t imagine,” admits Allison Janney in our recent video chat (watch below) when asked about the possibility of tying the all-time Emmy record for performer wins this year.
She has six Emmys to date, which puts her in a tie for third place for acting wins with Art Carney, Tim Conway, Tyne Daly, and Carl Reiner. Adding to the four she won for “The West Wing,” she picked up two more last year — for her supporting role in the laffer “Mom” and her guest spot on the drama “Masters of Sex.” And she is back in both those categories this year.
Related: Watch our video chats with dozens of 2015 Emmy nominees
If she prevails in one of those categories (she is favored for “Mom”), she will move into second place at seven alongside Edward Asner and Mary Tyler Moore. An eighth Emmy for acting would tie her with all-time champ Cloris Leachman.
Of that esteemed company, she says, “Mary Tyler Moore is my hero, she truly is. That whole show, everybody in there like Cloris Leachman… they’re just the greatest group of actors and the greatest show. I would be beyond thrilled to be in a category with those people.”
On the CBS comedy “Mom,” Janney plays Bonnie Pritchett, a recovering drug and alcohol addict trying to regain the trust of her adult daughter (Anna Faris) and straighten out her own life. Her episode submission is “Dropped Soap and a Big Guy on a Throne,” which has a lot of physical humor as she injures her back, flirts with the doctor, and has to make a tough decision as to whether she is strong enough to take the pain medication and not get addicted again.
On the Showtime period piece “Masters of Sex,” she has a recurring role as repressed 1950s wife Margaret Scully, In the second season premiere episode, “Parallax,” Maragaret is still adjusting to the fact that her husband Barton (Beau Bridges) is a closeted gay man. She is shocked to find him trying to hang himself in the basement.
Click here to see the updated list of all 2015 Emmy episode submissions
Below: Watch our complete interview with Janney. Then use the easy drag-and-drop menu to tell us if you think she will win again as Best Comedy Supporting Actress.
Make your predictions and you could win one of our three prizes ($500, $300 and $200 Amazon gift certificates) as well as a place of honor on our leaderboard and a starring role in next year’s Top 24 Users (the two dozen folks who do the best predicting this year’s Emmys).
Meet the guy who won our contest to predict the Emmys last year — and learn how he did it and how you can be our next Gold Derby superstar.
Last year, our Experts had an accuracy rate of 58.62% when it came to predicting the Emmy winners. That score tied them with both Gold Derby’s Editors and the Top 24 Users (those two dozen folks who did the best at predicting last year’s Emmys). Our Users scored 51.72% (Click on any of these groups to see what they got right and wrong last year.)
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As some of our Users turn out to be our smartest prognosticators, it’s important that you give us your predictions. Your picks influence our Users racetrack odds, which also factor into our official combined odds.
Photos: Allison Janney at 2014 Emmy Awards. Credits: Everett Collection/REX and Picture Perfect/REX
