An Agent Once Told Icon & Queen Alison Janney She Could Only Play “Aliens Or Lesbians”

There are certain pieces of celebrity information that arrive in my inbox and genuinely improve my day, and learning that Allison Janney was once told she could basically only play lesbians because she is really tall is for sure one of them.

The Oscar and Emmy-winning actor — and one of my personal icons, for reasons ranging from The West Wing to 10 Things I Hate About You, but honestly mostly because of her role in one the greatest films of all time: Drop Dead Gorgeous — has revealed some of the deeply questionable career advice she received while trying to break into Hollywood.

Appearing on CNN’s interview series Coming Up, Janney recalled meeting with an agent when she was younger, only to be given a rather limited assessment of her on-screen potential.

“I remember when I was very young trying to find an agent and I had a meeting with one – she said, ‘What can you play? Aliens and lesbians,’” Janney said.

Why? Because she is six feet tall.

“That’s what she said to me because I’m so tall,” Janney continued. “I’ve played lesbians. I haven’t played an alien yet. So maybe I’ll play an alien! Yeah, why not.”

There is obviously quite a lot to unpack about old-school Hollywood deciding that a woman above a certain height must either be homosexual or literally from outer space, but personally I am choosing to take this as confirmation that tall lesbians possess an otherworldly power the rest of us simply cannot comprehend.

And, to be fair, they weren’t completely wrong: Janney has played lesbians. She’s played lesbians well. Most famously, of course, as Sally, the lover of Meryl Streep’s Clarissa in the 2002 queer classic The Hours.

Janney has previously been extremely relaxed about her enduring lesbian-icon status, too. She said in a 2001 interview that people think she’s gay because she’s tall and unmarried (it’s wild that she’s faced the ‘tall = gay’ thing more than once, tbh). Then asked again in 2015 if the speculation around her sexuality still continued, she said she was perfectly happy for people to think she was gay.

“Maybe. If people think I’m gay, I’m fine with it.,” she told The Advocate. “I’ll probably never get married, and I don’t think I really want to be. I’ve never had a lesbian experience, but I’m beginning to wish I were gay. I think I’d be a lot happier!”

Anyway – Allison Janney: a Very Tall Lady,  honorary lesbian, potential future alien, forever an icon.