Created by Aaron Sorkin Creator Aaron Sorkin Last appearance "Requiem" | Portrayed by Nina Siemaszko First appearance "Ellie" | |
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Occupation medical student at Johns Hopkins (Season 2)
medical researcher at Johns Hopkins (Seasons 1-4) Family Josiah Bartlet (father), Abbey Bartlet (mother), Elizabeth Bartlet (sister), Zoey Bartlet (sister) Spouse(s) Victor Faison (husband) Children Unnamed child (With Victor) Relatives Doug Westin (brother-in-law)
Jonathan Bartlet (uncle)
Millicent Griffith (godmother) Similar Josiah Bartlet, Abbey Bartlet, Deborah Fiderer, Zoey Bartlet, Bob Russell | ||
Eleanor "Ellie" Emily Bartlet Faison is a fictional character played by Nina Siemaszko on the television serial drama The West Wing. Ellie is the middle daughter of President Josiah Bartlet and Abbey Bartlet.
In her self-titled debut episode in Season 2, Ellie, then a 24-year-old medical student at Johns Hopkins University, causes problems for the administration by saying her father would never fire the Surgeon General (who also happens to be her godmother) for her comments regarding the medical facts of marijuana. Ellie's intervention surprises both President Bartlet and his staff, as Ellie had always been the Bartlet daughter who shied away most from the limelight. In the episode it becomes apparent that Ellie and her father have often not gotten along, with Ellie claiming that only her sisters, Elizabeth and Zoey, have ever made him happy, and President Bartlet claiming that "she always belonged to Abbey." Jed nevertheless maintained to her at the end of the episode that "all [she] ever had to do to make [him] happy was to come home at the end of the day."
Ellie also appears in the fifth season when her sister Zoey was kidnapped by terrorists and her father stepped down from office under the 25th Amendment. In this episode, despite Abbey's hostility towards Jed, Ellie shows support to him when she comforts him after a fight with Abbey and when they are seen holding hands before a private mass for Zoey. She also reappears when her medical research into HPV in sex workers comes under fire by some Republicans in Congress. In this episode, a partial shot of a diploma suggests that she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University.
In the seventh season, Ellie becomes engaged to her boyfriend, Vic Faison, referred to by her mother and father as "The Fruit Fly Guy." As Ellie was pregnant at the time of her engagement, the engagement is brief. The wedding takes place in The White House. Despite concerns that an international crisis with China will cause President Bartlet to be unable to walk his daughter down the aisle, he makes it in time.