Biography
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard) is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her roles as First Lady Abbey Bartlet on the NBC television series The West Wing; Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; Aunt Frances in Practical Magic, Cynthia Swann Griffin in The First Wives Club, Dolly in Must Love Dogs, and Ouisa Kittredge in both the stage and fim versions of Six Degrees of Separation - the film version earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actre...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Angry Neighbors
2022
as Chloe
When his ultra-wealthy neighbor in the Hamptons builds an obnoxious mega-mansion next door, grumpy retired novelist Harry March concocts an elaborate ...

Death to 2021
2021
as Penn Parker
This comedic retrospective mixes archival footage and scripted sketches as it revisits all the dread — and occasional delight — that 2021 had to offer...

The Grease Story
2017
as Betty Rizzo
The story behind the classic movie musical. The programme examines the original stage musical in the early 1970s, which starred a young Richard Gere, ...

Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America
2014
as Narrator
To Olmsted, a park was both a work of art and a necessity for urban life. Olmsted’s efforts to preserve nature created an “environmental ethic” decade...

Pulling Strings
2013
as Virginia
Rachel is an intelligent, modern-day woman constantly on the move. Primarily focused on her career as a diplomatic consul for the U.S. embassy, she's ...

17th Precinct
2011
as Detective Sergeant Mira Barkley
In a modern world where magic supplanted science, the unaired pilot featured two non-intersecting stories: the death of a city executive at the hands ...

Sundays at Tiffany's
2010
as Vivian Claremont
Jane, a soon-to-be-married woman, is reunited with her imaginary friend Michael who returns in a human form. Soon, Jane begins doubting her feelings f...

Multiple Sarcasms
2010
as Pamela
Gabriel is a man who on the surface has it all-successful professional life as an architect, a beautiful wife, Annie, and a devoted young daughter, El...

Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1970's
2009
as Self
Narrated by the legendary Shirley Jones, this installment of the Hollywood Singing and Dancing series shines a light on the musicals of the 1970s, a t...

The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies
2009
as Narrator (voice)
Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North A...

Sparkle
2007
as Sheila
Liverpool chancer Sam moves to London with his aspiring chanteuse mum and begins an affair with a PR boss. But problems arise when he falls for her es...
Through Deaf Eyes
2007
as Narrator
A look at deaf culture from the 19th century to the present.

3 Needles
2005
as Olive Cowie
A three-paneled look at the worldwide AIDS crisis: in Montreal, a porn actor schemes to pass his mandatory blood test; a young nun makes a personal sa...

Must Love Dogs
2005
as Dolly
Sarah Nolan is a newly divorced woman cautiously rediscovering romance with the enthusiastic but often misguided help of her well-meaning family. As s...

Red Mercury
2005
as Penelope
Three young Muslim men, part of a terror cell, are making a bomb in a London flat, when they get a call to vacate immediately with their gear. The pol...
The Kennedy Mystique: Creating Camelot
2004
as Narrator (voice)
Over forty years ago, one extraordinary American family moved into the most famous house in the world and changed the nature of the Presidency forever...

Jack
2004
as Anne
Jack, in full puberty, not only has to deal with his parents' divorce, but also feels his world is falling apart when his dad tells him he is living w...

Home of the Brave
2004
as Narrator (voice)
Documentary on the civil rights activist, Viola Liuzzo, who was murdered in 1965 as she campaigned for black suffrage in Selma, Alabama, and its effec...

Abby Singer
2003
as Stockard Channing (uncredited)
Chronicles the life of Curtis Clemins, who is torn between the love of his life and accomplishing his dream. When hitting rock bottom during the Sunda...

Bright Young Things
2003
as Mrs. Melrose Ape
During the 1930s in England, a group of young socialites dominate the national gossip with extravagant and outlandish antics. Among the group is the a...

The Piano Man's Daughter
2003
as Lily Kilworth
Terrified of passing on the madness that runs in his family, Charlie Kilworth (Christian Campbell) stays away from relationships that could lead to ma...

Anything Else
2003
as Paula Chase
Jerry Falk, an aspiring writer in New York, falls in love at first sight with a free-spirited young woman named Amanda. He has heard the phrase that l...

Le Divorce
2003
as Margeeve Walker
While visiting her sister in Paris, a young woman finds romance and learns her brother-in-law is a philanderer.

Hitler: The Rise Of Evil
2003
as Klara Hitler

Behind the Red Door
2003
as Julia
Natalie, a gifted New York photographer, has a troubled past reflected in her art. When she struggles to make ends meet in the city, her agent, arrang...

Life or Something Like It
2002
as Deborah Connors
A reporter Lanie Kerrigan interviews a psychic homeless man for a fluff piece about a football game's score. Instead he tells her that her life has no...

The Matthew Shepard Story
2002
as Judy Shepard
In a senseless act of hatred, openly gay college student Matthew Shepard was murdered in 1998. This critically-acclaimed, moving film recounts the fin...

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
2002
as Margarethe Fisher Van Den Meer
A look at the classic "Cinderella" story from the perspective of one of her 'ugly' stepsisters

The Business of Strangers
2001
as Julie Styron
A dark thriller about a successful businesswoman and her young assistant who toy with a slow-witted businessman while stuck at an airport hotel.

Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: The Life of William Haines
2001
as Narrator (voice)
Chronicles the life of William Haines, Hollywood's first openly gay movie star, who sacrificed his career to live openly with his lover.

When Billie Beat Bobby
2001
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
The historic 1973 tennis match between middle-aged champion Bobby Riggs and young feminist Billie Jean King.

A Girl Thing
2001
as Dr. Beth Noonan
A Girl Thing is a mini-series that revolves around a New York city street, a coffee house and a shrinks office. Dr. Beth Noonan is the therapist to on...

The Truth About Jane
2000
as Janice
Jane, a high school teenager, tries to deal with the discovery that she is a lesbian after developing an intense friendship with another girl who make...

Where the Heart Is
2000
as Thelma 'Sister' Husband
Novalee Nation is a 17-year-old Tennessee transient who has to grow up in a hurry when she's left pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend on a roadsid...

Isn't She Great
2000
as Florence Maybelle
An unsuccessful over-the-top actress becomes a successful over-the-top authoress in this biography of Jacqueline Susann.

Other Voices
2000
as Dr. Gover
Phil and Anna are a young, married couple, who begin to suspect one other of an affair. When a shady private investigator gets involved in their relat...

The Venice Project
1999
as Chandra Chase
Roland is an avant-garde artist in Venice, California whose sister lives on their family's estate in Venice, Italy. Their father is near death and ann...

Practical Magic
1998
as Aunt Frances
Sally and Gillian Owens, born into a magical family, have mostly avoided witchcraft themselves. But when Gillian's vicious boyfriend, Jimmy Angelov, d...

The Baby Dance
1998
as Rachel Luckman
Six months pregnant and living in a beat-up tiny mobile home, Wanda LeFauve thinks she has found the solution to her problems when she agrees to meet ...

An Unexpected Life
1998
as Barbara Whitney
A single woman has her idyllic life disrupted when she takes in orphans. But, soon she comes to depend on the sound of little feet and couldn't think ...

Twilight
1998
as Lt. Verna Hollander
A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds.

Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde
1997
as Narrator (voice)
Man Ray, the master of experimental and fashion photography was also a painter, a filmmaker, a poet, an essayist, a philosopher, and a leader of Ameri...

An Unexpected Family
1996
as Barbara Whitney
When Ruth Whitney abandons her two children with her sister Barbara is left to take care of them, at first none of them like it but soon they grow to ...

The Prosecutors
1996
as Ingrid Maynard
Drama (and prospective pilot) about the lives of three women who work in the New York City DA's office: one a brilliant prosecutor of high-profile cas...

The First Wives Club
1996
as Cynthia Swann Griffin
After years of helping their hubbies climb the ladder of success, three mid-life Manhattanites have been dumped for a newer, curvier model. But the tr...

Moll Flanders
1996
as Mrs. Allworthy
The daughter of a thief, young Moll is placed in the care of a nunnery after the execution of her mother. However, the actions of an abusive priest le...

Lily Dale
1996
as Corella
In 1910, 19-year-old Horace Robedaux, still bitter toward his stepfather, goes to Houston to be reunited with his mother, Corella, and his sister, Lil...

Edie & Pen
1996
as Pen
In this comedy, two women head for Reno to get simultaneous quicky divorces and end up becoming friends. Edie was married years ago, but her husband a...

Up Close & Personal
1996
as Marcia McGrath
Tally Atwater has a dream: to be a prime-time network newscaster. She pursues this dream with nothing but ambition, raw talent and a homemade demo tap...

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
1995
as Miss Adelaide
A single Christmas tree becomes the source of cheer for the people and animals living around Mr. Willowby's estate. Based on the children's book of th...

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
1995
as Carol Ann
Manhattan drag queens Vida Boheme and Noxeema Jackson impress regional judges in competition, securing berths in the Nationals in Los Angeles. When th...

Smoke
1995
as Ruby McNutt
Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul t...

Michael the Visitor
1995
as Narrator (voice)
Stockard Channing narrates this inspiring story adapted from Leo Tolstoy's tale "Truths We Live By." Simon the shoemaker barely makes enough to get by...

David's Mother
1994
as Bea
Sally Goodson has been raising her autistic son David alone since her husband left many years ago. Now a social worker discovers that Sally has been d...

Six Degrees of Separation
1993
as Ouisa
The story of a young, gay, black, con artist who, posing as the son of Sidney Poitier, cunningly maneuvers his way into the lives of a white, upper-cl...
Lincoln
1992
as Clara Harris (voice)
Famous actors read testimonies from people close to Lincoln about him and his actions during the Civil War.

Bitter Moon
1992
as Beverly (uncredited)
A passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.

Married to It
1991
as Iris Morden
While setting up a school pageant, the parents at an elite private academy in New York City with contrastive lifestyles and professional paths reflect...

Meet the Applegates
1990
as Jane Applegate
Modelling themselves after an idyllic cookie-cutter suburban 1950s family, a colony of insects move from South America into the United States with the...

Staying Together
1989
as Nancy Trainer
After their father abruptly sells the beloved family-owned restaurant that has employed them for years, the charismatic McDermott boys - hot-tempered ...

Perfect Witness
1989
as Liz Sapperstein
An innocent man is thrust into a political power struggle in this drama. After witnessing a mob killing, New York restaurant owner Sam Paxton (Aidan Q...

Tidy Endings
1988
as Marion
A man, whose companion dies of AIDS, confronts his lover's ex-wife and the two end up building a friendship while coping with the emotional aftermath ...

A Time of Destiny
1988
as Margaret
World War II provides the setting for a melodramatic tale of love and revenge.

Echoes in the Darkness
1987
as Susan Reinert
Based on the true life story that took place in the 1970s, this movie follows the murder of Susan Reinert and her two children in Upper Merion Townshi...

The Room Upstairs
1987
as Leah Lazenby
A Boston teacher decides to turn her old home into a boarding house to pull in some much-needed extra money. It turns out her tenants help her in more...

The Men's Club
1986
as Nancy
Seven men have a group session and share their feelings on women, love, life and work.

Heartburn
1986
as Julie
Rachel is a food writer at a New York magazine who meets Washington columnist Mark at a wedding and ends up falling in love with him despite her reser...

Not My Kid
1985
as Helen Bower
A teenaged drug addict is sent to Dr. Royce's controversial drug intervention program where the addicts in the program confront each other in supervis...

Without a Trace
1983
as Jocelyn Norris
English professor Susan Selky lives alone in a Brooklyn apartment with her young son, Alex. When Alex fails to return home from school one afternoon, ...

Safari 3000
1982
as J.J. Dalton
Reporter J.J. wants to write a story about an Afrika rallye, 3000 km across desert and steppe. Unfortunately her driver and car get lost only days bef...

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
1979
as Mona Mondieu
The Pittsburgh basketball team is hopeless. Maybe with the aid of an astrologer, and some new astrologically compatible players, they can become winne...

Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story
1979
as Kitty O'Neil
Based on the life of Kitty O'Neil, a young girl who overcame her deafness to become one of the top stuntwomen in Hollywood, and the holder of the wome...

The Cheap Detective
1978
as Bess
A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of...

Grease
1978
as Betty Rizzo
Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, wi...

A Different Approach
1978
An all-star educational film about the positive side of hiring people with disabilities. A board sit and watch the film Michael Keaton's character's a...

Lucan
1977
as Mickey MacElwaine
A 20-year old who spent the first 10 years of his life running wild in the forest after being raised by predatory animals now strikes out on his own i...

The Big Bus
1976
as Kitty Baxter
The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear-powered bus is making its maiden non-stop trip from New York to Denver. The journey is plagued by disaste...

Sweet Revenge
1976
as Vurlla Kowsky
A young woman with a long rap sheet who steals cars for a living is befriended by a public defender who tries to steer her straight. But her goal is t...

The Fortune
1975
as Freddie Bigard
Two bumbling hustlers in the 1920s attempt to gain the fortune of an heiress. Nothing will stop them, not even murder.
The Lion Roars Again
1975
as Self
A chronicle of the 1975 International Press Conclave hosted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over two days in May 1975.

The Girl Most Likely To...
1973
as Miriam Knight
An ugly girl undergoes plastic surgery and becomes beautiful. She then takes revenge on all the people who mistreated her when she was ugly.

Up the Sandbox
1972
as Judy Stanley (uncredited)
Bored with day-to-day life in New York City and neglected by her husband, a young wife and mother slips into increasingly outrageous fantasies: her mo...

The Hospital
1971
as E.R. Nurse (uncredited)
Dr. Bock, the chief of medicine at a Manhattan hospital, is suicidal after the collapse of his personal life. When an intern is found dead in a hospit...