Donna Moss

Donnatella Moss
The West Wing character
Janel Moloney as Donna Moss
First appearance	"Pilot"
Last appearance	"Tomorrow"
Created by	Aaron Sorkin
Portrayed by	Janel Moloney
Information
Nickname(s)	Donna
Gender	Female
Occupation	Senior Assistant to the White House Deputy Chief of Staff (seasons 1-6), Russell Campaign Senior Aide (season 6), Santos Campaign Spokeswoman (season 7), Chief of Staff to the First Lady (end of season 7)
Title	Chief of Staff to the First Lady
Family	Unnamed mother, unnamed father.
Spouse(s)	Josh Lyman (boyfriend)
Religion	Protestant, denomination unspecified
Nationality	American/Canadian

Donnatella "Donna" Moss is a fictional character played by Janel Moloney on the television serial drama The West Wing. Although Donna is a recurring character during the first season, she appears in every episode of that season and is credited as a regular cast member from the beginning of the second season.

During most of the series Donna works as the senior assistant to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (or, as she jokingly calls herself in one episode, the "deputy deputy chief of staff"). Although all the senior staff's assistants are continuing characters with personal backgrounds, Donna is the best defined and most often featured staff member on the assistant level, and her difficult, semi-romantic relationship with Josh is a major plot device during later seasons.

Donna was born outside of Warroad, Minnesota, to an Irish-American father and an Italian-American mother. Donna's United States citizenship is briefly revoked after the Minnesota town in which she was born ends up in Canada due to border changes. However, her citizenship is quickly restored after the discovery of a grandfather clause in the law. Although Josh identifies Donna as a Protestant, he also describes one of her clothing outfits as a Catholic-school uniform.

Donna moved to Wisconsin, where she attended University of Wisconsin–Madison and dropped out halfway through to support her boyfriend as he went through medical school. After her boyfriend graduated, he dumped Donna. She then left Madison and drove to New Hampshire to work for the "Bartlet for America" campaign, even going so far as to pretend she'd already been hired as Josh Lyman's assistant. Josh discovers the deception but is somewhat amused by it and, impressed by her initiative, hires her. It is mentioned that she briefly left the campaign to return to her boyfriend, but returned following an incident when, after Donna sprained her ankle in a car accident, her boyfriend chose to meet his friends for a drink rather than immediately pick her up from the hospital.