Allison Janney Won An Emmy For Playing The POTUS In ‘The Diplomat,’ Now She’s Ready For A Woman In The Oval Office — Emmys Backstage

Allison Janney just won an Emmy for playing the President of the United States on Netflix’s The Diplomat, which she thought she might have the chance to do just as the country was shattering that glass ceiling in real time.

That’s not how things shook out, though, when Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 general election, adding another nuance to Janney’s relationship with her own character, Grace Penn.

“I have to tell you, when we did the scene where they swore me in, it was very emotional for all of us because it was right after the results of this election, and it was very real for everyone,” Janney sais backstage after accepting her award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at Monday night’s Emmy awards. “Not that seeing it on TV will make it happen in real life, but what the hell? It would be great to have a female president sooner than later.”

With this win, Janney tied the record for most Emmys ever won by a performer — a title she shares with another of Sunday night’s winners, Jean Smart. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman are the only other two performers to win as many.

“A group of women, I would love to go on a road trip with,” Janney exclaimed when the record was brought to her attention in the press room.

Having both won golden statuettes on Monday night, Smart and Janney were also representing stories about women over 40, a demographic that the latter says “there are more and more and more interesting roles” for in recent years.

“We don’t have to be the girlfriend or the wife anymore. We can be so many more things, and I have been very grateful for that opening up, because my career didn’t start till I was 38, for heck’s sake,” she said. “So, the fact that I am still working is a testament to the the industry changing and what people want to see and what they want to see women doing and playing, so it’s fantastic.”

She continued: “I love playing strong, powerful women. From C. J. Cregg [on The West Wing] to Grace Penn, the lines I get to memorize and say and be, it’s thrilling for me because I don’t feel as comfortable speaking as these characters do. So it’s really fun for me to play them. She’s really she’s me, but more powerful me.”

Janney looked genuinely shocked to accept the award on Monday night, which she explained was because she expected one of her fellow nominees from The Pitt to take it home.

“It was actually the most relaxed I’ve ever felt coming to the Emmys because I was like 100% sure I wasn’t going to win. So it makes it really special, because I didn’t go through the nerves,” she said. “It was also like wow, okay, I should never listen to the odds. I looked at some website that said I had a like 2% chance of winning.”