2009 Tony Award Nominees: 'Best Performance By A Leading Actress In A Musical'

Stockard Channing ("Vera Simpson" in Pal Joey)
Her extensive theatre credits include Joe Egg (Tony Award, Drama Desk nomination), Hapgood (Drama Desk nomination), Love Letters (original cast), Woman in Mind (Drama Desk Award), The Rink, The Golden Age, They're Playing Our Song, Little Foxes, and her work in The Lion in Winter, House of Blue Leaves (Drama Desk nomination), Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, and Six Degrees of Separation (Drama Desk nomination) earned her four Tony Award nominations. For Six Degrees... she received an Obie Award and Drama League Award for Performance of the Year as well as an Olivier Award nomination when she performed the play in London. When she recreated her Six Degrees... role for film, she was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Other film credits include Bright Young Things, Must Love Dogs, The Business of Strangers (AFI Film Award nomination), Where the Heart Is, Practical Magic, Twilight, The First Wives' Club, Smoke (SAG nomination), Moll Flanders, Heartburn, Grease (People's Choice Award), Isn't She Great? and the upcoming Sparkle, and Multiple Sarcasms. In 2002, Ms. Channing won two Emmy Awards for her roles as First Lady Abby Bartlet on NBC's "The West Wing," and for the role of Judy Shepard in "The Matthew Shepard Story," for which she also received a Screen Actors Guild Award. She received a 2005 Daytime Emmy Award for her role in "Jack".

Sutton Foster ("Princess Fiona" in Shrek The Musical)
Broadway: Inga in Young Frankenstein, Janet Van De Graaf in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, L.A. Ovation Award), Jo in Little Women (2005 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Astaire Awards), Eponine in Les Misérables, the 20th anniversary of Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Grease. Other New York: performed concerts at Carnegie Hall (NY Pops), Lincoln Center (American Songbook series), Town Hall, Joe's Pub, Actors Fund benefit performances of Funny Girl and Chess. TV: Disney Channel's "Johnny and the Sprites," HBO's "The Flight of the Conchords." Proud Equity member.

Allison Janney ("Violet Newstead" in 9 to 5: The Musical)
One of Allison Janney's most memorable Broadway performances was in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, opposite Anthony LaPaglia (Tony nomination and Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards). Other theatre credits include Taming of the Shrew (The Public's Shakespeare in the Park) and Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Film credits include Prudy Pingleton in Hairspray, Jason Reitman's Academy Award-winning ensemble dramedy Juno, American Beauty (Best Ensemble SAG Award), The Hours (SAG Award nomination), Nurse Betty, How to Deal, Drop Dead Gorgeous, 10 Things I Hate About You, Primary Colors, The Ice Storm, Celebrity, Six Days Seven Nights, The Object of My Affection, Big Night, Over the Hedge and Finding Nemo. As C.J. Cregg on the award-winning NBC series The West Wing she won a remarkable four Emmys and four SAG Awards, and also earned Golden Globe nominations four years in a row.

Alice Ripley ("Diana" in next to normal)
Alice received Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Helen Hayes Award nominations for this performance. Original Broadway cast: Side Show (Drama Desk, Tony Award nominations), The Rocky Horror Show, James Joyce's The Dead, Sunset Boulevard, The Who's Tommy. Off- Broadway/regional theatre: Next to Normal, Five Flights, James Joyce's The Dead, The Vagina Monologues, Tell Me on a Sunday (Helen Hayes nomination), Shakespeare in Hollywood (Helen Hayes nomination), Company (Helen Hayes nomination). Recordings: Next to Normal; Little Fish; Skinner/Ripley: Raw at Town Hall; Sondheim: The Stephen Sondheim Album; Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens; The Rocky Horror Show; The Stephen Schwartz Album; Duets; Unsuspecting Hearts; Side Show; The Who's Tommy. With her band RIPLEY, Alice has written and produced the albums Everything's Fine, Ripley EP and Outtasite. Currently, Ms. Ripley is writing lyrics alongside composer Michael Roth for a work entitled Landscape the Tar Roof Tree, a performance piece for eight singer/actors.