C. J. Cregg

Claudia Jean "C. J." Cregg is a character played by Allison Janney on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Janney the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2000, 2001) and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2002, 2004). From the beginning of the series until the sixth season, she is White House Press Secretary in the administration of President Josiah Bartlet. After that, she is White House Chief of Staff until the last episode, when Bartlet's successor is inaugurated. The character is supposedly loosely based on Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, who served as a consultant to the show.

Creation and development

According to series creator Aaron Sorkin, casting for C.J. Cregg was a problem. While everybody had "fallen in love" with Allison Janney, she, like every other actor who had been cast at the time, was Caucasian. The cast's lack of racial diversity was making the network nervous, and another "wonderfully talented" Afro-Guyanese actress (C.C.H. Pounder) was also reading very well for the role of C.J. "Still," says Sorkin, "When we closed our eyes at night we wanted Allison. So we cast Allison."