Allison Janney: “I get cast as either the smartest woman in the room or the drunkest”

I was playing 40-year-old women when I was 20. I didn’t get considered for ingenue roles. Maybe I just wasn’t ready, but things started happening when I turned 38. … I think my height probably did have something to do with it — but [my height] also helped me in certain parts. It’s made me definitely more of a character actress in terms of my love of doing comedy. I get cast as either the smartest woman in the room or the drunkest woman in the room, and a lot of stuff in between. But I do well getting those kinds of parts — authoritative or completely crazy, which I love. I love both of those kinds of roles.

-”She had a big ass then, she’s got a big ass now.” More of this interview at NPR.