Josh Lyman

Joshua Lyman
The West Wing character
Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
First appearance	"Pilot"
Last appearance	"Tomorrow"
Created by	Aaron Sorkin
Portrayed by	Bradley Whitford
Information
Nickname(s)	Josh
Occupation	White House Deputy Chief of Staff (seasons 1-6), Santos Campaign Manager (seasons 6-7), White House Chief of Staff (end of season 7)
Family	Noah Lyman (father, deceased), Mother (alive), Joanie Lyman (older sister, deceased)
Religion	Jewish

Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For the majority of the series, he is White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Political Advisor in the Josiah Bartlet administration.

Josh is portrayed as having one of the sharpest minds on the President's staff; he is a witty, somewhat cocky, boyishly charming know-it-all. He is described by Will Bailey as "After Leo... the finest political mind in the party".

Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing, originally wrote Josh Lyman with long-time friend Bradley Whitford in mind. An early draft of the pilot script, dated February 6, 1998, describes Josh as being "a youthful 38" and "a highly regarded brain." After reading the script, Whitford said he loved the character immediately and "desperately wanted" the part. While his audition impressed the show's executive producers, with Sorkin describing it as "simply the best audition for anything I'd ever seen,"Warner Brothers casting director John Levey was not convinced Whitford had enough sex appeal to play a lead character and executive producer Thomas Schlamme was concerned that he did not have enough depth to carry off the more dramatic scenes. After a second audition, Whitford was offered the role of Sam Seaborn. Whitford called Sorkin for help. "I just said, 'Aaron, I just feel this very strongly. This isn't about me wanting a job. This is the only time in my life I will play this card. I am this guy; I am not the other guy.'" Sorkin was impressed, and soon after Whitford was cast as Josh. In the very early episodes of the series, Josh is portrayed as overly tough and outspoken, but mellows by the end of the first season, becoming more eager and simplistic in his personal demeanor, even switching places with Toby as the "hot-headed" one.