List of characters on The West Wing
The television series
The West Wing is a
political drama series which originated for broadcast on
NBC.
In addition to the main (regular) cast, there are numerous secondary characters who only appear periodically, and some characters who are only mentioned but never appeared. At times, some have "disappeared" without explanation, and others who haven't been seen for a year or more who have re-appeared, again without any explanation.
Many actors noted for work in
sitcoms, such as
John Goodman,
Ed O'Neill,
Matthew Perry,
Patricia Richardson, and
Christopher Lloyd, have appeared in strictly dramatic roles on
The West Wing.
*
Josiah "Jed" Bartlet â€"
Martin Sheen:
President of the United States (Seasons 1â€"7).
*
Leo Thomas McGarry â€"
John Spencer:
White House Chief of Staff (Seasons 1â€"6); Special Counselor to the President (Season 6); Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee (Season 6â€"7) and Vice President-elect of the United States, who died of a
heart attack nintey minutes before his popular election victory. He was also a former
Secretary of Labor.
*
Claudia Jean "C.J." Cregg â€"
Allison Janney:
White House Press Secretary (Seasons 1â€"6);
White House Chief of Staff (Seasons 6â€"7).
*
Charles "Charlie" Young â€"
Dulé Hill: Personal Aide to the President (Seasons 1â€"6); Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff (Seasons 6â€"7).
*
Joshua "Josh" Lyman â€"
Bradley Whitford:
Deputy White House Chief of Staff (Seasons 1â€"6); Campaign Manager, Santos / McGarry Campaign (Seasons 6â€"7);
White House Chief of Staff to President Santos (Season 7).
*
Donnatella "Donna" Moss â€"
Janel Moloney: Senior Assistant to Josh Lyman (Seasons 1â€"6); Media Specialist and Press Secretary, Bob Russell for President Campaign (Season 6); Press Secretary, Santos/McGarry Campaign (Season 7); First Lady's Chief of Staff (Season 7).
*
Tobias "Toby" Zachary Ziegler â€"
Richard Schiff:
White House Communications Director (Seasons 1â€"7); Dismissed by the President (Season 7).
*
Samuel "Sam" Norman Seaborn â€"
Rob Lowe: Deputy White House Communications Director (Seasons 1â€"4); resigned to run for Congress;
Deputy White House Chief of Staff to the Santos Administration (Season 7).
*
William "Will" Bailey â€"
Joshua Malina: Deputy White House Communications Director (Seasons 4â€"5); Chief of Staff to the Vice President (Seasons 5â€"7);
White House Communications Director (Season 7).
*
Annabeth Schott â€"
Kristin Chenoweth: Deputy Press Secretary for Media Relations (Season 6); Campaign Staffer, Santos/McGarry Campaign (Season 7); First Lady's Press Secretary (Season 7).
*
Madeline "Mandy" Hampton â€"
Moira Kelly: Political consultant during Bartlet's first campaign. Worked as a media consultant at Lennox-Chase after the campaign. She briefly consulted for Democratic senator Lloyd Russell before being hired by the White House as a political consultant and Media Director (Season 1).
* Angela Blake â€"
Michael Hyatt: Worked for Leo McGarry while he was
Secretary of Labor. Later, while a political consultant, she was hired to be Director of Legislative Affairs (Season 5).
*
Clifford "Cliff" Calley â€"
Mark Feuerstein: Majority Counsel for the
House Government Reform and Oversight Committee during the Bartlet censure proceedings (Season 3); Deputy White House Chief of Staff (Season 6).
*
Amelia "Amy" Gardner â€"
Mary-Louise Parker: Head of the Women's Leadership Coalition and influential women's rights activist. Worked as a political consultant for Sen. Howard Stackhouse when he ran for president after she was fired. Later hired as the Chief of Staff for the Office of the First Lady. She resigned this post after she upset the president (Seasons 3â€"5). Director of Legislative Affairs in the Santos Administration (Season 7)
*
Delores Landingham â€"
Kathryn Joosten: The President's personal
secretary (Season 1â€"2). Killed in a car accident (Season 2). (There were flashbacks to her character in Seasons 3â€"4)
*
Deborah "Debbie" Fiderer â€"
Lily Tomlin: The President's personal secretary. Hired after the death of Mrs. Landingham (Seasons 3â€"7).
*
Margaret Hooper â€"
NiCole Robinson: Secretary to the Chief of Staff (Seasons 1â€"7).
* Bonnie â€"
Devika Parikh: Assistant to the Communications Director
Toby Ziegler (Seasons 1â€"5).
*
Carol Fitzpatrick â€"
Melissa Fitzgerald: Assistant to the Press Secretary
C.J. Cregg.
* Cathy â€"
Suzy Nakamura: Assistant to the Deputy Communications Director
Sam Seaborn (Season 1).
* Elsie Snuffin â€"
Danica McKellar: Assistant to the Deputy Communications Director
Will Bailey (Season 4).
*
Ginger â€"
Kim Webster: Assistant to the Communications Director
Toby Ziegler (Seasons 1â€"7).
* Marina ("Rena") â€"
Melissa Marsala: Assistant to the Communications Director (Season 5).
* Nancy â€"
Renée Estevez: President's Secretarial Assistant.
*
Ed â€"
Peter James Smith: White House Staffer. Usually seen with Larry.
*
Larry â€"
William Duffy: White House Staffer. Usually seen with Ed.
* Ryan Pierce â€"
Jesse Bradford: White House intern assigned to Josh and the nephew of a powerful Senator. Related to
Franklin Pierce (Season 5).
* Curtis Carruthers â€"
Ben Murray: Succeeded Charlie Young as personal aide to the President (Season 6).
* Lionel Tribbey â€"
John Laroquette (Ep 2.5):
White House Counsel. Known for his hot temper and very liberal views. In the words of Ainsley Hayes, "I'm a
Republican and Lionel Tribbey is incredibly not." Also, according to Hayes, President
Josiah Bartlet is "too moderate for [his] taste."
*
Oliver Babish â€"
Oliver Platt: Succeeded Lionel Tribbey as White House Counsel (Season 2). Chief crises: the President's MS disclosure (Seasons 2â€"3); Toby confessing to being the leak of the military-shuttle information (Season 7).
*
Ainsley Hayes â€"
Emily Procter: A Republican. Associate (and proposed Deputy) White House Counsel (Seasons 2â€"3).
* Joseph 'Joe' Quincy â€"
Matthew Perry: A Republican. Associate White House Counsel (Seasons 4â€"5). Uncovered Vice President Hoynes's leaks to and affair with local socialite, Helen Baldwin, ultimately leading to Hoynes's
resignation.
*
Admiral Percy "Fitz" Fitzwallace â€"
John Amos:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Seasons 1â€"5). Killed by terrorists while on a diplomatic mission following his retirement.
*
General Nicholas Alexander â€"
Terry O'Quinn: Succeeded Admiral Fitzwallace as Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff (Season 5).
*
Dr. Nancy McNally â€"
Anna Deavere Smith:
National Security Advisor (Season 2â€"7).
*
Lieutenant Commander Jack Reese â€"
Christian Slater: Aide to the
National Security Advisor (Season 4).
*
Kate Harper â€"
Mary McCormack: Deputy
National Security Advisor (Seasons 5â€"7).
* General Alan Adamle: Pentagon Official
* General Ed Barrie: Army Chief of Staff
*
Ron Butterfield â€"
Michael O'Neill: Head of the President's
Secret Service detail.
* Simon Donovan â€"
Mark Harmon: Secret Service agent assigned to protect (and later developed a close relationship with)
C. J. Cregg. Killed when he walked into an armed robbery (Season 3).
* Gina Toscano â€"
Jorja Fox: Secret Service agent assigned to protect
Zoey Bartlet (Seasons 1â€"2).
* Wesley Davis â€"
Taye Diggs: In charge of Zoey Bartlet's secret service detail when she was abducted (Season 4).
* Tom Connelly (Ep. 1:03): FBI Director
* George Arnold -
Michael Kagan (Ep. 5:18; 6:1): FBI Director
* Mike Casper â€"
Clark Gregg: FBI Special Agent (Seasons 2â€"5)
*
Rep. Matthew Santos (
D-
Texas) â€"
Jimmy Smits: Democratic nominee for President in
2006 (Seasons 6â€"7); Successor to President Bartlet (Season 7).
*
Senator Arnold Vinick (
R-
California) â€"
Alan Alda: Republican nominee for President in
2006 (Seasons 6â€"7); Secretary of State in Santos Administration (Season 7).
*
Bruno Gianelli â€"
Ron Silver: General Chairman, Committee to Re-elect Bartlet/Hoynes in
2002 (Seasons 3â€"4). He was later brought in as an independent consultant to Republican nominee Arnold Vinick (Seasons 6â€"7). He was also the campaign manager of
Eric Baker for president, prior to him leaving the campaign.
* Connie Tate â€"
Connie Britton: Bartlet re-election campaign staffer (Season 3).
* Doug Wegland â€"
Evan Handler: Bartlet re-election campaign staffer and speechwriter (Season 3).
* Sheila Brooks â€"
Patricia Richardson; Senator Vinick's campaign manager; later resigned to play to the Republican base (Season 6â€"7).
*
Louise Thornton â€"
Janeane Garofalo: Congressman Santos' deputy campaign manager and Communications Director of the Santos-McGarry campaign (Season 7).
*
Ronna Beckman â€"
Karis Campbell: Congressman Santos, Santos-McGarry campaign and President Elect Santos staff member (Seasons 6â€"7).
*
Josephine "Joey" Lucas â€"
Marlee Matlin: Political consultant, pollster (Seasons 1â€"7).
* Kenny Thurman â€"
Bill O'Brien: Joey Lucas's
sign interpreter (Seasons 1â€"7).
* Kevin Kahn â€"
Patrick Breen: Former friend of Sam Seaborn. Staffer on Ritchie's 2002 presidential campaign (Season 3).
*
Danny Concannon â€"
Timothy Busfield: White House Press Corps
correspondent for the
Washington Post (Seasons 1â€"2, 4â€"5, 7).
*
Greg Brock â€"
Sam Robards: New York Times White House Reporter, goes to jail for failure to disclose a source (Seasons 5â€"7).
* Roger Salier â€"
Ivan Allen: (Seasons 1â€"7)
* Mark Gottfried â€"
Ted McGinley: Talk show host on "Capital Beat". (Season 2)
* Taylor Reid â€"
Jay Mohr: Conservative talk show host, baited C.J. Cregg by calling her a "chicken" (Season 5). (Believed to be based on conservative talk show hosts
Bill O'Reilly and
Sean Hannity.)
* Katie Witt â€"
Kris Murphy: White House Press Corps Reporter.
* Mark O'Donnell â€"
Timothy Davis Reed: White House Press Corps Reporter.
* Steve â€"
Charles Noland: White House Press Corps Reporter.
* Chris â€"
Mindy Seeger: White House Press Corps Reporter.
*
First Lady Abigail Ann 'Abbey' Bartlet,
M.D. â€"
Stockard Channing: (Seasons 1â€"7)
*
Zoey Bartlet â€"
Elisabeth Moss: The President's youngest daughter. Victim of an abduction. Dated Charlie Young. (Seasons 1â€"2, 4â€"7)
* Eleanor "Ellie" Bartlet Faison â€"
Nina Siemaszko: The President's middle daughter. (Seasons 2, 5, 7)
* Elizabeth "Liz" Bartlet Westin â€"
Annabeth Gish: The President's eldest daughter. (Seasons 5â€"7)
* Doug Westin â€"
Steven Eckholdt: Liz's husband. Unsuccessfully runs for the House of Representatives representing New Hampshire in 2006. (Seasons 5â€"7)
* Vic Faison â€"
Ben Weber: Ellie's husband. (Season 7).
*
Mallory O'Brien â€"
Allison Smith:
Leo McGarry's daughter. (Seasons 1â€"2, 4â€"7)
* Jenny McGarry â€"
Sara Botsford:
Leo McGarry's wife. Divorced him due to his work commitments. (Season 1)
*
Helen Santos â€"
Teri Polo: Matt Santos' wife. (Season 6â€"7)
* Laurie â€"
Lisa Edelstein: Sam Seaborn's friend. Law student working as a callgirl. (Season 1) (Believed to be based on a real-life acquaintance of writer Aaron Sorkin.)
* Larry Claypool â€"
John Diehl: Freedom Watch Lawyer (Seasons 1, 4)
* Dr.
Stanley Keyworth â€"
Adam Arkin: Therapist specializing in trauma cases. Staff Therapist for the American Trauma Victims Association (ATVA). (Seasons 2â€"4)
* Jordon Kendall â€"
Joanna Gleason: Leo's lawyer and love interest during the Bartlet MS hearings. (Season 3â€"4)
* Jean Paul Pierre Claude Charpentier Vicomte de Condé de Bourbon â€"
Trent Ford: Zoey Bartlet's French Boyfriend. (Season 4)
* Colin Ayres â€"
Jason Isaacs: A photographer in
Gaza. (Season 5)
* Gail â€" C.J.'s pet
goldfish. A gift from Danny Concannon. Josh Lyman told Danny that C.J. likes
Goldfish. Although Josh was referring to the snack crackers, Danny mistakenly understood it to refer to the fish. (Seasons 1â€"7)
*
The West Wing*
List of politicians on The West Wing*
List of The West Wing episodes
