Channing began acting in Harvard University productions while a student at Radcliffe and joined the experimental Theatre Company of Boston after graduating in the mid-1960s. After an unproductive spell in Hollywood and several failed TV series, Channing came into her own with a number of highly acclaimed, award-winning stage performances. Her breakthrough was the 1985 off-Broadway, and then Broadway, revival of Peter Nichol's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg; as the futilely optimistic mother of a severely spastic child, she combined expert comic timing with an underlying depth of pathos. In a role with strong parallels to her own blueblood background, Channing won kudos as trendy society matron Ouisa Kittredge in John Guare's touchstone social satire of the 1980s, Six Degrees of Separation (1990).
Channing's screen career has, on the whole, been unexceptional. She made a stong impression as a formerly overweight woman who takes revenge on the men who have spurned her in Joan Rivers' satiric TV fantasy "The Girl Most Likely To..." (1973); her first starring role was as a dizzy flapper heiress opposite Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson in the disappointing Mike Nichols comedy, THE FORTUNE (1975). Although she continues to work in film, Channing is probably best known for her co-starring role as Rizzo, the tough leader of the Pink Ladies, in the 1978 hit, GREASE.
Returning to high-profile projects, Channing reprised the role of Ouisa for Fred Schepisi's filmed version of SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (1993); the film snagged her an Oscar® nomination for Best Actress, her first. She continued her TV career by playing the First Lady to Martin Sheen's President in "The West Wing" from 1999 to 2006.
Other notable film credits include THE CHEAP DETECTIVE (1978), THE FISH THAT SAVED PITTSBURGH (1979), WITHOUT A TRACE (1983), HEARTBURN and THE MEN'S CLUB (both 1986), SMOKE and TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR (both 1995), FIRST WIVES CLUB, MOLL FLANDERS and UP CLOSE & PERSONAL (all 1996), TWILIGHT and PRACTICAL MAGIC (both 1998), LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT and BEHIND THE RED DOOR (both 2002), ANYTHING ELSE, LE DIVORCE and BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (all 2003), RED MERCURY, MUST LOVE DOGS and 3 NEEDLES (all 2005), SPARKLE (2007), and MULTIPLE SARCASMS (scheduled for 2008). Channing has also appeared in many made-for-television movies.
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role 1993: SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
1 nomination