The West Wing Cast: Where Are They Now?

Martin Sheen as Josiah Bartlet

Martin Sheen had already portrayed an Aaron Sorkin-penned West Wing denizen in 1995's The American President (playing the chief of staff to Michael Douglas' president) when he was tapped to star as the idealistic, paternal president prone to giving speeches on The West Wing. He stayed on the series for its duration, though he stepped back in the last season as the show focused on the presidential race for his replacement.

Since the show ended, Sheen has been busy in film (2006's The Departed, 2021's Judas and the Black Messiah) and on TV (Anger Management, Grace and Frankie). And he keeps up with his West Wing costars — even inviting them to his birthday party in 2018. Several cast members again reunited at the 2024 Emmy Awards, before attending an event in celebration of the series at the White House to mark the 25th anniversary.

Sheen (born Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez) has been married to actress Janet Templeton since 1961. Together, they have three sons — Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen and Ramón Estevez — and a daughter, Renée Estevez.

Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg

Allison Janney played the frazzled but unimpeachable press secretary, a role for which she won four Emmys during the show's run.

She's since gone on to continued success on TV (winning two Emmys for her role on Mom, starring on Apple TV's Palm Royale) and in movies (2007's Juno, 2011's The Help and 2017's I, Tonya, for which she won an Oscar and a Golden Globe). Though she doubts there ever will be an official West Wing reunion, she still keeps in touch with her former costars.

"Yeah, there’s a big text chain with all of us on it," Janney told PEOPLE in March 2024. "And there’s always a conversation going on, and it’s always hysterical between [Bradley] Whitford and Josh[ua Malina]. They always spar and jab at each other, which is endlessly amusing to all of us. And we see Martin [Sheen] a lot and go out to have lunch with him. We really are a family and have stayed one."

She even wrote the foreword for What's Next, and expressed in a statement via Melissa Fitzgerald that "This is the book The West Wing deserves."

Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn

Already a big star at the time the show started thanks to his Brat Pack days, Rob Lowe portrayed the White House deputy communications director until 2003, when he left over differences with the show's writers and producers. He briefly returned in 2006 for the final episodes.

Since then, Lowe has made appearances in numerous TV movies and has been a series regular on Parks and Recreation, The Grinder, 9-1-1: Lone Star and Unstable.

Additionally, Lowe joined his former West Wing costars for a 2020 HBO Max special to encourage voting in the presidential election. "When the cameras rolled, and it was just Martin Sheen and I sitting down as Sam and President Bartlet, it felt like it was yesterday, and everybody was as good as I remembered them," the actor told PEOPLE at the time. "It was like a great, classic rock band that hadn't lost a step."

In 1991, Lowe tied the knot with former makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff, and they welcomed two sons: Matthew and John Owen (who frequently roast him on Instagram).

Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman

Bradley Whitford won an Emmy in 2001 for his role as the brash, somewhat neurotic deputy chief of staff.

He's worked steadily in movies and television since The West Wing ended. Prominent roles include Commander Joseph Lawrence on The Handmaid's Tale (for which he won an Emmy in 2019) and Dean Armitage in Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017). Other post-West Wing television appearances include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Shameless, Transparent (winning an Emmy for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series in 2015) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — a show he's prepared to have a crossover with The West Wing.

"I'm ready," Whitford told PEOPLE in February 2023. "Any time. Let's do it. We'll get [Allison] Janney. We'll get Martin [Sheen] in there. I was just texting with Martin. Not texting, emailing."

After divorcing actress Jane Kaczmarek in 2010, Whitford married Transparent star Amy Landecker (who also has a role on The Handmaid's Tale) in July 2018.

Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler

Richard Schiff earned an Emmy for his role as the serious, principled White House communications director.

Since the show ended, Schiff has worked steadily on-screen, notably having roles on series like Ballers and The Good Doctor, as well as in films such as Man of Steel (2013) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).

Since 1996, Schiff has been married to his Good Doctor costar, actress Sheila Kelley. Together, they share a son, Gus, and a daughter, Ruby (who also appeared alongside her parents in the final season of The Good Doctor).

Janel Moloney as Donna Moss

Janel Moloney's character Donnatella "Donna" Moss started the show as Josh Lyman's assistant and ended it as both the chief of staff to the incoming First Lady and Josh Lyman's girlfriend.

Post–West Wing, Moloney was part of the main cast of The Leftovers from 2014 to 2017 and has appeared in episodes of American Crime, The Undoing, Bull, FBI and Law & Order: Organized Crime, among other shows.

Moloney shares two sons, Julian and Fernando, with composer Marcelo Zarvos — to whom she's been married since 2010.

Dulé Hill as Charlie Young

Charlie was the young, devoted aide to the president, who in turn eventually became like a father figure (and a possible father-in-law figure: Charlie seriously dated the president's daughter, Zoey Bartlet, played by Elisabeth Moss). By the series' end, he had been accepted to law school with the president's guidance.

Since then, Dulé Hill had starring roles on Psych, Suits and The Wonder Years reboot. He married actress Jazmyn Simon in 2018 and the two welcomed a son, Levi, in May 2019.

John Spencer as Leo McGarry

John Spencer's take on the president's warm, wise chief of staff made the character a fan favorite and earned him an Emmy.

Spencer died of a heart attack in 2005, a few episodes into the final season. As the character had coincidentally experienced a heart attack in season 5, the writers incorporated Spencer's death into the plot line, but kept his name in the opening credits until the show ended.

Stockard Channing as Abbey Bartlet

Stockard Channing was long-established (starting with her role as Betty Rizzo in 1978's Grease) and had Oscar, Tony and Emmy nominations to her name by the time she was cast as the no-nonsense First Lady on The West Wing. In 2002, she won two Emmys; one for her West Wing role and another for her part in NBC's The Matthew Shepard Story.

Following her stint on The West Wing, Channing has continued to be active on-screen and onstage, including Broadway turns in Pal Joey, Other Desert Cities and It's Only a Play, and TV appearances on The Good Wife, Julia and Knuckles.

After four marriages and four divorces, Channing had a long-term relationship with cinematographer Daniel Gillham, staying together from 1990 until his death in 2014.

NiCole Robinson as Margaret Hooper

After playing quirky secretary to John Spencer’s Leo McGarry for the show's duration, NiCole Robinson took a role on All My Children before stepping away from acting in 2014 and mostly staying out of the spotlight since.

In 2008, Robinson and her (now ex) husband Craig Snyder created the 3 Angels Memorial Fund in honor of their son and two of Snyder's children from a previous marriage, who died in infancy of Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia (ACD).

Elisabeth Moss as Zoey Bartlet

After a breakout turn as the headstrong First Daughter (She dated Charlie! She got abducted!) Elisabeth Moss went on to be one of TV's biggest stars, with lauded turns on Mad Men and The Handmaid's Tale (for which she won two Emmys in 2017 for outstanding lead actress in a drama series and as part of the producing team for outstanding drama series). She has also starred on Hulu's The Veil and appeared in movies like Us (2019), The Invisible Man (2020) and The French Dispatch (2021).

She married Fred Armisen in 2009, though they divorced two years later. In January 2024, Moss announced she was expecting her first child.

Melissa Fitzgerald as Carol Fitzpatrick

After her stint playing the unflappable assistant to Allison Janney’s C.J. Cregg, Melissa Fitzgerald continued to act a bit (including a role on Grey's Anatomy) before stepping away to focus on leadership and public policy.

In 2007, she won an essay contest in the New York Times about the genocide in Darfur. In 2013, she became the senior director of Justice for Vets, an organization that advocates for and provides resources to veterans in the justice system.

Despite retiring from acting, she still has off-screen relationships with her former West Wing castmates. She worked alongside Mary McCormack (who played Kate Harper) to co-author the book What's Next, which hit shelves in August 2024. She also remains friends with Janney, even Instagramming a selfie of herself, McCormack and Janney posing with a copy of What's Next in January 2024.

Mary McCormack as Kate Harper

After earning roles on Murder One and ER, Mary McCormack joined The West Wing for the last three seasons as the deputy national security adviser, Kate Harper.

Post-West Wing, the actress stepped into the lead role of Mary Shannon on the USA Network's In Plain Sight, and then followed with other TV stints on Welcome to the Family, The Kids Are Alright and Heels. In 2008, she received a Tony nomination for her performance in the Broadway revival of Boeing-Boeing, in which she starred with fellow West Wing-er Bradley Whitford.

The actress revisited her West Wing roots in 2024, co-authoring a book about the political drama with her former costar, Melissa Fitzgerald.

"It’s an oral history of what went into the creation and making of the show, with tons of stories and interviews with the cast and crew," McCormack described What's Next in an Instagram post. "It’s a look at what made the show so special, and how its impassioned commitment to service has influenced so many of the people who made it."

In 2003, McCormack married director and producer Michael Morris, with whom she shares three children.