The West Wing Cast: Where Are They Now?

A strange quirk of The West Wing’s title sequence was that certain actors were credited whether they appeared or not, whilst others were only shown if they were in the episode in question. First Lady Abbey Bartlet was the first recipient of the latter treatment, parachuting into the credits roughly eight or nine times per season to support and contend with her husband and his staff.

Hollywood frequently attracts criticism for unconvincingly casting older actors, usually those in their mid to late 20s, as teen characters. Stockard Channing was astoundingly 33 when she appeared as supposed high schooler Rizzo in Grease, but this earned her sufficient recognition to score a pair of television series that boasted her name in the titles.

When these faltered, she appeared predominantly in theatre throughout the 80s, interspersing appearances on stage with the occasional supporting role on screen. Having won a Tony at the first time of asking in 1985, she took home an Emmy for the West Wing at the eighth attempt, before opting to appear in very little upon the show’s conclusion. Her most notable role was a twelve-episode stint over 4 years in the Good Wife and she doesn’t have a screen credit to her name in over 3 years, having last appeared in any capacity on Broadway in 2018.