Joshua Charles Malina (born January 17, 1966)[1] is an American film and stage actor known for playing Will Bailey on the NBC drama The West Wing, Jeremy Goodwin on Sports Night, US Attorney General David Rosen on Scandal, and Caltech President Siebert on The Big Bang Theory.

His parents, Fran and Robert Malina, were founding members of Young Israel of Scarsdale in New Rochelle, where he grew up.

[5] Malina made his acting debut in the Broadway production of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men,[6] and later in the play's run moved into a major role.

In March 2023, Malina took over the lead role of Hermann Merz in the Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt.

[8] His first on-screen appearance was a three-line, five-word role in the film version of A Few Good Men,[7] where he has said he appreciated the dedication that star Jack Nicholson showed by performing his lines in the scene himself even though his character was off-screen and could easily have been played for him by a crew member.

[8] In his next film, Sorkin's The American President, Malina had a somewhat larger role as assistant to Annette Bening's environmental-activist character.

Five years later, Malina returned in a recurring role as Kenny Mitchell, a sleazy network executive who pushes Larry Sanders out of the show in favor of Jon Stewart.

[13] The Goodwin character began as a research analyst, but was promoted to associate producer by the second season, creating a larger role for Malina.

I'm a terrible actor," when he wrote an episode of The West Wing, [24] and after the end of the show both have continued to jokingly mock each other on social media and in interviews.

[15] The idea for the show came from a weekly high-stakes poker game hosted by Hank Azaria, which Malina and friend Andrew Hill Newman attended.

[30] In 2004, Malina was a participant in the first-ever national television advertising campaign supporting donations to Jewish federations.