Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959 in Madison, Wisconsin) is an American actor. He has played White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama "The West Wing", Danny Tripp on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", Dan Stark in the Fox police buddy-comedy "The Good Guys", Timothy Carter in the CBS series "The Mentalist", and Eric Gordon in the movie "Billy Madison". 