American actress Moira Kelly was born on March 6, 1968 in Queens, New York. The daughter of a nurse and a concert violinist who were both Irish immigrants, she grew up the third of six children. She later graduated from Connetquot Senior High School in Bohemia, Long Island, as well as studying at Marymount Manhattan College, before pursuing her acting career. Among her most notable film roles was starring in the romantic comedy The Cutting Edge alongside D.B. Sweeney, as well as providing the voice of Nala in the Academy Award-winning Disney film The Lion King and its sequels. She has also worked on television in series such as One Tree Hill and To Have & to Hold.

Dr. Madeline ‘Mandy’ Hampton is played by Moira Kelly in the Emmy Award-winning television drama series The West Wing. She appears and works as a White House media consultant, possessing a Ph.D. in political science. She is also the former girlfriend of the White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman. She previously worked on Josiah Bartlet’s presidential campaign as an expert media consultant, and was also brought into the White House later on for the same reasons, mainly due to public relations mistakes that the fledgling administration commits.



(Photo courtesy of Timothy White)