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List of The West Wing characters

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See also: List of politicians on The West Wing

The television series The West Wing is a political drama series which was originally broadcast on NBC.

In addition to the main (regular) cast, there are numerous secondary characters who only appear periodically, and some characters who are mentioned but never appeared. Some have "disappeared" without explanation, and others who haven't been seen for a year or more who have reappeared without explanation.

Many actors noted for work in sitcoms, such as John Goodman, John Larroquette, Christopher Lloyd, Ed O'Neill, Matthew Perry, and Patricia Richardson have appeared in dramatic roles on The West Wing.

White House staff

Assistants and secretaries

White House Counsel

  • Lionel Tribbey — John Larroquette (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." According to Hayes, President Josiah Bartlet is "too moderate for [his] taste."
  • Oliver Babish — Oliver Platt: Succeeded Lionel Tribbey as White House Counsel (Season 2-7). Chief crises: the President's MS disclosure (Seasons 2–3); Toby confessing to leaking military shuttle information (Season 7). Santos Administration nominee for Attorney General (Season 7).
  • Ainsley Hayes — Emily Procter: Associate (and proposed Deputy) White House Counsel (Seasons 2–3). Republican. Briefly reappeared in Season 7, wanting to become White House Counsel for the Santos Administration.
  • Joseph 'Joe' Quincy — Matthew Perry: Associate White House Counsel (Seasons 4–5). Republican. Uncovered Vice President Hoynes's leaking of information in his affair with local socialite, Helen Baldwin, ultimately leading to Hoynes' resignation.
  • Mike Wayne — Benjamin Brown: Associate White House Counsel (Season 4–7). Dealt with Toby after he admitted being the source of the shuttle leak.

Situation Room

Secret Service / FBI

  • Ron Butterfield — Michael O'Neill: Head of the President's Secret Service detail (Seasons 1–7).
  • Simon Donovan — 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 — Jorja Fox: Secret Service agent assigned to protect Zoey Bartlet (Seasons 1–2).
  • Wesley Davis — Taye Diggs: In charge of Zoey Bartlet's secret service detail when she was abducted (Season 4).
  • Molly O'Connor - Kimberly Bigsby: A young agent on Zoey's France detail. Shot dead during the kidnapping of Zoey. One of Toby and Andy's twins was named in her memory. (Season 4)
  • Randy Weathers - Shannon Marshall: Another young agent on Zoey Bartlet's France detail (Season 4)
  • Jamie Reed - John Antonini: Another young agent on Zoey Bartlet's France detail (Season 4)
  • Tom Connelly (Ep. 1.03): FBI Director.
  • George Arnold — Michael Kagan (Ep. 5.18; 6.1): FBI Director.
  • Mike Casper — Clark Gregg: FBI Special Agent (Seasons 2–5).

Campaign staff

  • Bruno Gianelli — Ron Silver: General Chairman (Campaign Manager), Committee to Re-elect Bartlet/Hoynes in 2002 (Seasons 3–4). Campaign Manager of Eric Baker for Democratic nomination for president in 2006, prior to him dropping out. Became an independent consultant to Republican nominee Arnold Vinick (Seasons 6–7). His change of political affiliations reflected Ron Silver's real life switch.
  • Josephine "Joey" Lucas — Marlee Matlin: Political consultant, pollster often consulted by the White House and Democratic campaigns (Seasons 1–7). The character is also deaf (reflecting Matlin's real-life disability).
  • Kenny Thurman — Bill O'Brien: Joey Lucas's sign interpreter (Seasons 1–7).
  • Connie Tate — Connie Britton: Bartlet-Hoynes re-election campaign staffer (Season 3).
  • Doug Wegland — Evan Handler: Bartlet-Hoynes re-election campaign staffer and speechwriter (Season 3).
  • Kevin Kahn — Patrick Breen: Former friend of Sam Seaborn. Staffer on Ritchie's 2002 presidential campaign (Season 3).
  • Dylan Clark — Tim Kelleher: Hoynes' Campaign Manager (Season 6).

Santos campaign

  • Louise "Lou" Thornton — Janeane Garofalo: Santos-McGarry Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications. Santos Administration Communications Director (Season 7).
  • Ronna Beckman — Karis Campbell: Aide to Congressman Santos, Santos-McGarry Campaign (Seasons 6–7); President's Personal Secretary in the Santos Administration (Season 7).
  • Edie Ortega — Diana-Maria Riva: Santos-McGarry Deputy Campaign Manager for Strategic Planning (Season 7).
  • Bram Howard — Matthew Del Negro: Staffer, Santos-McGarry Campaign (Seasons 6–7); Personal Aide to President Santos (Season 7).
  • Ned Carlson — Evan Arnold: Aide to Congressman Santos (Season 6); Staffer, Santos-McGarry Campaign (Seasons 6–7). Ned was reassigned to Santos's Congressional staff early in Season 7 with the intention of giving him a spot in the administration after the election.
  • Otto — Ramon De Ocampo: Speechwriter, Santos-McGarry Campaign (Season 7); Staffer in the Santos Administration (Season 7).

Vinick campaign

  • Sheila Brooks — Patricia Richardson: Senator Vinick's Chief of Staff and Vinick-Sullivan Campaign Manager; later resigned to play to the Republican base (Season 6–7).
  • Jane Braun — Melinda McGraw: Vinick-Sullivan Campaign Manager after Brooks' resignation (Season 7).
  • Bruno Gianelli — Ron Silver: (See above).
  • Bob Mayer — Stephen Root: Vinick-Sullivan speechwriter (Season 6–7).

Media

Family

Josiah Bartlet's family

Leo McGarry's family

C. J. Cregg's family

  • Hogan Cregg - Evan Rachel Wood: CJ's niece (Season 3)
  • Molly Lapham Cregg - Verna Bloom: CJ's stepmother and her former high school English teacher (Season 5)
  • Talmidge Cregg - Donald Moffat: CJ's father, a retired math teacher with Alzheimer's disease. (Season 5)

Josh Lyman's Family

  • Joanie Lyman - Josh's older sister who died in a fire when she was babysitting him, prior to the start of the series
  • Noah Lyman - Josh's father. Died on the night of the Illinois primary (during Bartlet's first Presidential campaign).

Toby Ziegler's family

  • Andrea Wyatt - Kathleen York: Ex-wife of Toby Ziegler, Congresswoman from Maryland.
  • Molly Wyatt - Toby and Andrea's daughter, named after Molly O'Conner, the secret service agent shot and killed the night of Zoey Bartlet's kidnapping (Season 4, 7)
  • Huckleberry "Huck" Wyatt - Toby and Andrea's son, named after Andrea's grandfather (Season 4, 7)
  • Julie "Jules" Ziegler - Toby's father, former Murder Incorporated employee, retired ladies raincoat maker (Season 4)
  • David Ziegler - Toby's brother, NASA astronaut, commits suicide in season 6

Will Bailey's family

Charlie Young's family

  • Deanna Young - Charlie's little sister

Matt Santos' family

  • Helen Santos — Teri Polo: Matt Santos' wife (Season 6–7)
  • Peter Santos - Matt Santos' son (Season 6-7)
  • Miranda Santos - Matt Santos' daughter (Season 6-7)
  • Jorge Santos - Matt's Santos' brother (Season 7)

Other characters

  • Laurie — Lisa Edelstein: Sam Seaborn's friend. Law student working as a call girl (Season 1).
  • Al Kiefer — John de Lancie: Democratic pollster who had a short relationship with Joey Lucas. (Season 1)
  • Larry Claypool — John Diehl: Freedom Watch lawyer (Seasons 1, 4).
  • Bernard Thatch — Paxton Whitehead (Ep 2.10, Ep 6.07): Head of the White House Visitor's Office.
  • Ann Stark — Felicity Huffman (Ep 2.11): Toby Ziegler's former friend. Chief of Staff to the Senate Majority Leader.
  • Lisa Sherborne — Traylor Howard (Ep 3.11): Sam Seaborn's former fiancée who now works for Vanity Fair.
  • Dr. Stanley Keyworth — Adam Arkin: Therapist specializing in trauma cases. Staff Therapist for the American Trauma Victims Association (ATVA) (Seasons 2–4).
  • Jordan Kendall — Joanna Gleason: Leo McGarry's lawyer during the Bartlet MS hearings and love interest for several months (Season 3–4).
  • Alana Waterman — Lee Garlington: Toby Ziegler's attorney, called upon when Toby confesses to the White House leak (Season 7)
  • Jean Paul Pierre Claude Charpentier, Vicomte de Condé de Bourbon — Trent Ford: Zoey Bartlet's French boyfriend (Season 4).
  • Colin Ayres — Jason Isaacs: Photographer who has a fling with Donna Moss in Gaza (Season 5–6).

Pets

  • Bess: Glen Allen Walken's pug.
  • Gail: C.J. Cregg's pet goldfish. A gift from Danny Concannon. In the season 1 episode "The Short List," Josh Lyman told Danny that C.J. likes "goldfish." Although Josh was referring to snack crackers of the same name, Danny mistakenly believed he was referring to the aquatic creature;[2] after giving C.J. the fish, Danny mentions that the pet-store owner had named it "Gail." On the DVD commentary track for episode 14, "In Excelsis Deo," Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, and Alex Graves mention that the prop masters created a tiny miniature Christmas ornament to place on the floor of Gail's fish bowl and that from then on, the prop masters often crafted tiny decorations related to the themes in a given episode, as when hostilities were escalating in India and Pakistan and the bowl contained a tiny bomb shelter.[3] They also mention that many scenes set in C.J.'s office throughout the succeeding seasons include shots of Gail's bowl and that as of the commentary's recording at the end of season four, the prop masters insisted that the specific goldfish used had never been replaced.[3]
  • Henry: Amy Gardner's basset hound.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Joel Brown, New York Times Syndicate. "Time for first clips from 'Barbershop'," Ventura County Star (CA), February 25, 2004, "Life, Arts, and Living" section, page 4: "...C.J. takes another turn jousting with obvious Bill O'Reilly clone Taylor Reid (guest star Jay Mohr)."
  2. ^ Gail the Goldfish, describing Gail's introduction on the show, with screen shots that include some of the bowl ornaments from different episodes. Retrieved Jan. 2, 2009.
  3. ^ a b Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, and Alex Graves. DVD Commentary, The West Wing: Season 1, episode 14, "In Excelsis Deo."
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