Who's Who On The West Wing

Josiah Bartlet
(Martin Sheen)

President Of The United States

A Nobel-Prize winning economist and former New Hampshire Governor, Jed Bartlet was a dark horse during the primaries, edging out frontrunner John Hoynes (later appointed Vice President) to get the Democratic nomination. The show begins during the middle of President Bartlet's first year in office.

Sheen: He was so courageous; a very solidly drawn character of moral value who had such depth of feeling. Bartlet was a conglomeration of John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton – all Democrats. We wanted to represent the very best that we had in that office in recent history and those three men covered all of the territory that Bartlet would inhabit.

Leo McGarry
(John Spencer)

Chief Of Staff

A former Secretary of Labour who flew fighters during the Vietnam war, Leo McGarry was an old friend of Jed Bartlet's, who turns up at the New Hampshire governor's mansion one day to persuade him to run for President. After successfully running the Presidential campaign he was appointed White House Chief-Of-Staff, running the West Wing staff as the President's right hand.

Josh Lyman
(Bradley Whitford)

Deputy Chief Of Staff

Originally part of Senator John Hoynes' presidential campaign, Josh quit to work for the Bartlet camp after hearing the Governor speak in New Hampshire. As Deputy Chief-Of-Staff his main role is that of 'Bartlet's rottweiler', a 'one-man congressional majority' who wrangles votes and manhandles congressmen and senators in pursuit of the Bartlet agenda.

Whitford: Josh has precisely my view of politics. With Toby, Aaron wrote towards this kind of idealistic, depressive aspect of Richard and I think he did the same thing with me and Josh. I didn't feel like I had to act at all.

Toby Ziegler
(Richard Schiff)

Communications Director

Toby had worked on various (losing) congressional, senatorial and gubernatorial races before joining Bartlet's presidential campaign. As White House Communications Director he is in charge of shaping the administration's message, as well as being the President's chief speechwriter and a senior policy advisor.

Schiff: I loved to dig into Aaron's material and find a deeper darkness that I believe is in all his work. That's why Toby became as burdened and as dark as he became sometimes. Aaron wrote two characters that really represent one person: I think Sam Seaborn represented the kind of idiot savant, socially bumbling innocent side that Aaron does have, and then Toby was the deeper, darker person who struggles with personal issues privately.

Sam Seaborn
(Rob Lowe)

Deputy Communications Director

Idealistic and fiercely loyal, Sam is a former lawyer enlisted to the Bartlet campaign by long-time friend Josh Lyman. In office, Sam works for Toby Ziegler as the other half of the main speechwriting team.

Lowe: I just identified what was funny about Sam. What Aaron and I found together as the show went on was Sam's nerdiness, and we embraced his inner geek. That, and no one ever tired of seeing Sam getting disillusioned.

C.J. Cregg
(Allison Janney)

Press Secretary

A Hollywood publicist, Claudia Jean Cregg was fired from her job for being a little too honest with one of her clients. Snapped up by Toby Ziegler for the Bartlet campaign, she becomes the face and voice of the Bartlet administration, briefing the press and controlling the story.

Janney: Not only was she a great role model for women but she was a great female character, period. The only drag to playing someone like C.J. is that then when people want to meet you, they think you're like her. I can only disappoint. That's the worst thing about playing a character like her: I am nowhere near as cool as C.J. is!

Charlie Young
(Dulé Hill)

Personal Aide To The President

Turning up at the White House for a messenger job, Charlie is instead earmarked for a role as the President's 'body man', which has him doing everything from placing the President's morning wake-up calls to managing his schedule and, occasionally, finding his glasses.

Hill:: I loved the idea that Charlie was one of the smartest people in the room. Even though he was young, he was brilliant. It was nice to see a character, especially a young African American character, coming on TV that was really smart.

Donna Moss
(Janel Moloney)

Assisstant To The Deputy Chief-Of-Staff

Donnatella Moss turned up at the Bartlet For America HQ looking for a job after being dumped by her boyfriend. Landing a job as Josh Lyman's assistant, she maintains that role in the administration, also providing a naïve vox populi to help other characters (most notably Josh) explain the more byzantine political elements of the show.

Moloney: Aaron used Donna to explain things and I think that this show really needed her. I played the character knowing that she was knocked down, 100 percent, dead-in-front-of-a-bus in love with her boss. Every scene, I did not care if it was about taxes or about, you know, getting rid of the penny, it was all about me being in love with him.

Abbey Bartlet
(Stockard Channing)

The First Lady

Dr Abigail Bartlet was Jed's college sweetheart and the couple have been married 32 years when the series begins. Aside from being First Lady, Dr Bartlet is a thoracic surgeon and an Adjunct Professor at Harvard Medical School.

Channing: I had lunch with Aaron one day and he said, "I'm thinking of making you a doctor. Before lunch I wrote the teaser for the episode that you're going to be in and I've given Martin a bad cold. But I'm thinking he has MS and you're his doctor and you couldn't tell anybody." And that was it. I think if I had had lunch with him another day, history could've been quite different.