Biography

Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. Her accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a nomination for an Academy Award. Channing played Betty Rizzo in the film Grease (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing (1999–2006). She also originated the role of Ouisa Kittredge in the stage and film versions of Six Degrees of Separation; the 1993 film version earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Channing won the 1985 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and won Emmy Awards for The West Wing and The Matthew Shepard Story, both in 2002.