Melissa Fitzgerald, a Springside School graduate whose family has lived on Rex Avenue in Chestnut Hill for 54 years, is best known for her starring role as White House aide Carol Fitzpatrick in the acclaimed TV series, “The West Wing” which aired from 1999-2006. Fitzgerald also has appeared on “Grey’s Anatomy,” in movies including “The Truman Show” and on the New York and Los Angeles stage.

But now Fitzgerald has added another star to her galaxy. She and her fellow “West Wing” actor Mary McCormack have written a new book, “What's Next; a Backstage Pass to the West Wing” released by Random House on Aug. 13. By press time on Tuesday, the book had ascended to No. 3 in nonfiction on the New York Times Best Sellers List. The co-authors are currently on a book tour.

Fitzgerald took some time off from her book tour last week to talk to the Local about her career in the public eye. “I never decided to leave acting,” she said. “I just found something else that captivated my heart, and I followed that. I am no longer acting for a living. I’ve spent the last four-plus years working on our book, 'What’s Next,' and I have a very full-time job at the nonprofit organization, All Rise.

“At All Rise, I get to work on advancing justice system reform for individuals impacted by substance use and mental health disorders, promoting treatment and recovery support instead of incarceration,” Fitzgerald continued. “I feel incredibly fortunate to work on an issue that is saving lives, reuniting families, making our communities safer and saving taxpayer dollars.”

Community service is a mission to which her family has a longstanding commitment, Fitzgerald said.  “I grew up in a home where involvement in one’s community was expected and celebrated. My dad was a public servant as well as one of the most honest, talented, decent people I’ve ever known,” she said. “He truly lives to help people, and that was my model of a public servant. So, when I had the chance to work with All Rise, I jumped at it.”

Fitzgerald graduated from Springside School (now Springside Chestnut Hill Academy) in 1983 and served as president of the school’s Service Organization. In 1987, she earned a degree in drama and literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Fitzgerald, who refers to herself as an “actorist” because she is both an actor and an activist, has deep roots in Chestnut Hill. 

She is the daughter of James J. Fitzgerald 3d, who retired as a senior judge on the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2017, and her mother, Carole, who has long been involved in local politics and volunteer work. Melissa Fitzgerald was the 2008 commencement speaker at Chestnut Hill College and received the “Chestnut Hill College Medal.”

In 2007, Fitzgerald won a writing contest on the subject of Darfur, Sudan, which was sponsored by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. She has been a ranked tennis player and is highly skilled in badminton, horseback riding, scuba diving, whitewater rafting and fencing, and is also a talented singer who has performed cabaret at venues in Paris, Madrid, Los Angeles and New York, including stints at the legendary Village Gate.

In 1995, Fitzgerald founded Voices in Harmony, a nonprofit community outreach theater program that mentors at-risk youth from the Los Angeles area. Fitzgerald also volunteered with an AIDS organization in South Africa, but her most daunting project was “Staging Hope: Acts of Peace,” a documentary film she co-produced in Uganda, East Africa, about children and teenagers who had been abducted by terrorists and forced to become soldiers and into sexual slavery.

What prompted her to write the book about the hugely successful TV drama, which captured the real feel of the West Wing, according to many former White House staffers and journalists who covered the White House?

“I was approached by a close friend whose book agents wanted to see if I would write a behind-the-scenes book about 'The West Wing,'” Fitzgerald told the Local. “I really did not feel that I was the person to write that book. I had left Hollywood to champion a cause about which I am extremely passionate, and from the very beginning the cast has been and remains incredibly supportive of my work at All Rise.

“Our 'West Wing' family has supported, volunteered for and lifted up all of my service projects for over 25 years now,’ she said. “To me, supporting each other’s causes and the issues we all care about has been the through line of our deep and lasting friendships that have become central to my life. So I knew that if I were to work on any 'West Wing'-related book; it would need to involve service; it would need to lift up the work I do now and the issues and causes that the rest of the cast champions as well.

A few weeks later, Fitzgerald attended “West Wing” co-star Allison Janney’s birthday party in Los Angeles and McCormack made Fitzgerald an offer.  She’d co-write the book with Fitzgerald if they could tell the behind-the-scenes story of the “West Wing” through the lens of service. Finding common ground, McCormack said “I’m in!” Fitzgerald recalled. That birthday party was November of 2019.

“What's Next' is available on amazon.com, where 137 readers' reviews have given it an average of 4.7 stars out of 5 (as of Sept. 4). Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.