Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
July 29, 2003

Annabeth Gish Joins 'West Wing' Cast
by Kelsey Foutch
Courier Staff Writer

CEDAR FALLS -- A Cedar Falls native is moving into the White House.

Annabeth Gish, 32, will join the cast of "The West Wing" this season, playing fictional president Jed Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) older daughter, a character who has been talked about but never seen on the hit NBC show.

Gish graduated from Northern University High School in Cedar Falls, but received her big break long before her high school career ended. At 15, she portrayed 13-year-old Rose Chismore in the film Desert Bloom, alongside Jon Voight, JoBeth Williams and Ellen Barkin.

The 1986 film took place in Las Vegas and juxtaposed the growing pains of Gish's character with the effects of the atomic bomb. A special premiere for Desert Bloom, which Gish attended, was held at the Oster Regent Theatre in Cedar Falls the same year.

Since her debut, Gish has starred in more than 30 films and TV series, acting alongside Julia Roberts in 1988's Mystic Pizza and playing the daughter of Anthony Hopkins' Richard Nixon in 1995's Nixon.

In 2001, she joined the cast of "The X-Files" as Special Agent Monica Reyes. Gish took on the role shortly before the series was canceled, filling a void left by David Duchovny.