She played Betty Rizzo in the film Grease (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing (1999–2006).

[2] She was the daughter of Mary Alice (née English),[3] who came from a large Brooklyn Irish Roman Catholic family, and Lester Napier Stockard (died 1960), who was in the shipping business.

[2] She studied history and literature at Radcliffe College of Harvard University in Massachusetts and graduated summa cum laude in 1965.

Channing started her acting career with the experimental Theatre Company of Boston; she performed in the group's Off-Broadway 1969 production of the Elaine May play Adaptation/Next.

[8] She performed in a revival of Arsenic and Old Lace directed by Theodore Mann as part of the Circle in the Square at Ford's Theatre program in 1970.

She landed her first leading role in the 1973 television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy written by Joan Rivers[12] about an ugly duckling woman, made newly beautiful by plastic surgery after an auto accident, who vows murderous revenge on all who had scorned her.

[13][14] For the role, Channing went through a considerable transformation, with the syndicated column "TV Scout" reporting months later, "It was a great make-up job — at least the part that made very pretty Stockard look so ugly.

"[15] After some small parts in feature films, Channing co-starred with Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson in Mike Nichols' The Fortune (1975).

In 1977, at the age of 33, Channing was cast for the role of high school teenager Betty Rizzo in the hit musical Grease.

[16] In addition, during the second half of the 1970s, Channing played a mischievous car thief in Jerry Schatzberg's 1976 dramedy Sweet Revenge (which competed at the Cannes Film Festival), Joseph Bologna's love interest in the disaster film spoof The Big Bus (also 1976), Peter Falk's secretary in the 1978 Neil Simon film The Cheap Detective, and real-life deaf stuntwoman and former female land speed record holder Kitty O'Neil in the TV movie Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story (1979).

[17] Nevertheless, she continued to appear in movies, often in supporting roles, including 1983's Without a Trace (alongside Kate Nelligan and Judd Hirsch), Mike Nichols' 1986 Heartburn (re-teaming with Nichols and Jack Nicholson, and co-starring Meryl Streep), The Men's Club (also 1986; featuring Roy Scheider, Harvey Keitel, and Jennifer Jason Leigh), A Time of Destiny (1988; with William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, and Melissa Leo), and Staying Together (1989; directed by Lee Grant, and co-starring Melinda Dillon and Levon Helm.)

Channing then took the part of the mother (Sheila) in the 1981 Long Wharf Theater (New Haven) production of Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.

[18] She reprised the role in the Roundabout Theater Company production, first Off-Broadway in January 1985[19] and then on Broadway in March 1985,[20] and won the 1985 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

[21] The Alan Ayckbourn play Woman in Mind received its American premiere Off-Broadway in February 1988 at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

The production was directed by Lynne Meadow and the cast included Channing in the role of Susan, for which she won a Drama Desk Award for Best Actress.

[2] Other TV movie credits during the latter half of the 1980s include the CBS teenage drug abuse-themed Not My Kid (1985; co-starring George Segal), Hallmark's domestic drama The Room Upstairs (1987; with Sam Waterston, Joan Allen, and Sarah Jessica Parker), and the HBO thriller Perfect Witness (1989; alongside Brian Dennehy and Aidan Quinn.)

Julie Newmar as Carol Ann[24] and Smoke (both 1995); a cameo appearance in The First Wives Club; Up Close and Personal (as Marcia McGrath);[25] and Moll Flanders (all 1996).

[citation needed] On stage, she performed at Lincoln Center in Tom Stoppard's Hapgood (1995) and the 1997 revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.

Channing was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress three times in the 1990s: in 1991, for Six Degrees of Separation; in 1992, for Four Baboons Adoring the Sun; and in 1999, for The Lion in Winter.