조시 라이먼

Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series The West Wing. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most 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.

Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing, originally wrote Josh Lyman with long-time friend 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 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 is not 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 researching the role, Whitford said he found former Clinton communications director George Stephanopoulos's book All Too Human very helpful, "just because it gave a sense of the sort of smell and the texture and the level of intimacy with the president, which I was just unaware of."

Josh shares his name with a character in the Garry Trudeau cartoon strip Doonesbury, a White House deputy cabinet liaison encountered by Doonesbury regular Joanie Caucus. A framed copy of a Doonesbury strip hangs in Josh's office. The character is said to be based in part on Rahm Emanuel, although executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell denies this claim. In the Season 1 episode, "Mandatory Minimums", Josh is called "Rambo" by one of the staff after an intense telephone conversation. In other instances, the character is said to be based on former Clinton advisor Paul Begala who notes that some of Josh's experiences in the first season are some of the same experiences he went through.

Josh was born and raised in Westport, Connecticut. A Fulbright scholar, he graduated cum laude from Harvard University (where he worked at the Harvard Crimson), and Yale Law School, graduating c. 1984. Josh mentions that one of his classmates was the law professor Akhil Amar. He received a 760 on the verbal section of the SAT, which he has been known to boast about. However, when trying to explain his lack of skill in serious relationships, he claims that his IQ does not "break the bank," so he had to work hard in college, quipping that "by the time [his] roommates notched their 100th party of the year, I think I got my first full night of sleep."

Josh is a non-practicing Jew; his grandfather was held in the Nazi concentration camp Birkenau during World War II. He had an elder sister, Joanie, who died when he was a child. She was babysitting him when a fire broke out in her home and died trying to put out the fire while Josh ran outside - an event which continues to haunt Josh. His father, Noah Lyman, was a and old friend of Leo McGarry. Although Josh thinks his father would have preferred grandchildren to a son in politics, Noah was proud that Josh was working for Bartlet and often bragged about his son to his friends and neighbors. His father died in 1998 on the night of the Illinois primary, after developing an unexpected pulmonary embolism while undergoing chemotherapy for an unspecified form of cancer. His mother splits her time between Westport and West Palm Beach, Florida, before she moves to Florida full-time.

Before working for President Josiah Bartlet, Josh worked in several positions as an advisor and manager for Democratic politicians. Josh later became a staffer for then-Senator John Hoynes, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president in the upcoming 1998 election. However, Hoynes's tendency to go against Josh's advice and to prioritize politics over his own ideas and convictions frustrated Josh. Thirteen weeks before the New Hampshire primary, Josh receives a visit from Leo McGarry, an old friend of his father's. At Leo's request, a skeptical Josh travels to New Hampshire to hear then-Governor Bartlet speak. After hearing Bartlet give a surprisingly honest answer to a politically sensitive question, Josh immediately leaves Hoynes' campaign to work for Bartlet; he also recruits his old friend Sam Seaborn to the campaign.

Shortly after joining the Bartlet for America campaign, Josh hires recent college dropout Donna Moss, who had been volunteering for the campaign, as his assistant. Donna remains as Josh's assistant until the sixth season. A largely unspoken friendship and romantic tension exists between the two for the majority of the series. In the first-season finale, Josh is critically wounded by gunfire during an assassination attempt on African-American presidential aide Charlie Young. Josh undergoes fourteen hours of surgery and is subsequently put through intensive psychotherapy with psychiatrist Stanley Keyworth after displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress dis