This is an overview of the regular and recurring characters of the TV series NCIS.
Regular cast
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Played by Mark Harmon. Supervisory Special Agent, NCIS
Anthony DiNozzo
Played by Michael Weatherly. Senior Special Agent, NCIS
Ziva David
Played by Cote de Pablo. Season 3 ~ Mossad Liaison Officer, NCIS
Timothy McGee
Played by Sean Murray. Junior Special Agent, NCIS
Abby Sciuto
Played by Pauley Perrette. Forensic Specialist, NCIS
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard
Played by David McCallum. Chief Medical Examiner, NCIS
Jenny Shepard
Played by Lauren Holly. Director, NCIS
Former and recurring characters
Jeanne Benoit
| NCIS character | |
 |
|
| Jeanne Benoit | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Doctor |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Actor | Scottie Thompson |
| First appearance | Sandblast |
| Last appearance | Family (flashbacks) |
Played by Scottie Thompson. Introduced in the fourth season as Tony DiNozzo's new girlfriend. Tony is trying to make his relationship with her a success and told her he loves her. His personality has also shown marked change as a result of the relationship. Jeanne is a doctor at the fictitious Monroe University Hospital in Washington DC (its location revealed as near 22nd Street NW is near the real life location of George Washington University Hospital)[1]. Her mother, Helen Berkley, is also a doctor. In the fourth season finale, it is revealed that her father is the notorious arms dealer "La Grenouille," whom NCIS director Jenny Shepherd has been pursuing for several months. Her parents are divorced. She was previously engaged to Metro Police Detective John Carson. She called off the engagement when she found out he had cheated on her with her best friend. Seems to share Tony's interest in movies. In "Sharif Returns" she mentions that one of her favorite directors is François Truffaut. At the start of Season 5, Jeanne learns that Tony had been lying to her about his being a college professor, as part of an undercover assignment targeting her father "La Grenouille" as part of the CIA operation LODESTONE. As of the end of the season opener, it is shown that Jeanne's father "La Grenouille" is floating in the harbor, with a single gunshot wound to the head (apparently dead). She left Monroe University Hospital while telling the ER staff there that she would be "going away for a few days". She left Tony a greeting card in her apartment which was found by Ziva, when she and Tony were searching it looking for clues of the whereabouts of Jeanne. From the manner in which Tony was speaking to Ziva (after reading the card), it would appear that Jeanne has broken up with Tony, due to his lying to her, and at this point, it is unknown if she will turn up again (at least in the near future). It is also possible that before her father died, he arranged for a safe location that Jeanne went to, in order to protect her from assassins that were targeting her (according to statements "La Grenouille" made to both Gibbs and Director Shepard). In "Family" it's shown that in the letter Jeanne wrote to Tony, she tells him she's not coming back to Washington and asks him to choose between NCIS and her. We see Tony struggle with his decision throughout the episode, but at the end he burns the letter and seems to have decided to stay with the NCIS in Washington, D.C.
Special Agent Vivian Blackadder
| NCIS character | |
| Vivian Blackadder | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Special Agent |
| Gender | Female |
| Actor | Robyn Lively |
| First appearance | Ice Queen |
| Last appearance | Meltdown |
Played by Robyn Lively, JAG episodes "Ice Queen" (8x20) and "Meltdown" (8x21). A former FBI agent, she joined NCIS after the attack on the USS Cole, in which her brother was killed. She is the only character that appeared in the pilot episodes from JAG, and not in the series NCIS.
Special Agent Paula Cassidy
| NCIS character | |
| Paula Cassidy | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Special Agent |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Blonde |
| Actor | Jessica Steen |
| First appearance | Minimum Security |
| Last appearance | Grace Period |
Played by Jessica Steen. Paula Cassidy is a criminal profiler for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). An expert on Middle Eastern terrorists, she once worked as an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay. She and Tony DiNozzo were intimate with each other in the past (according to the Season 2 episode "Heart Break"), but by season 3 she was significantly more antagonistic to his characteristic constant advances. She was distraught and guilt-ridden in the Season 4 episode Grace Period, when her team was killed in an ambush planned by terrorists. She sacrificed herself to stop a suicide bomber, thus saving Gibbs, DiNozzo, Ziva, and three clerics (Muslim clerics, who were signing fatwās to promote peace in the Middle East).
Lt. Cmdr. Faith Coleman
| NCIS character | |
| Faith Coleman | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Lt. Commander |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Actor | Alicia Coppola |
| First appearance | Ice Queen (JAG) |
| Last appearance | Hometown Hero (NCIS) |
Played by Alicia Coppola. Faith Coleman is a prosecutor for the Judge Advocate General's office, Coleman first appeared in an episode of JAG and went on to make several appearances on NCIS, assisting Gibbs and his team. She successfully defended Commander Harmon Rabb when he was accused of the murder of fellow JAG lawyer Lieutenant Loren Singer. Her "neat freak" mannerisms — such as keeping a holder full of finely sharpened HB pencils on her desk — amuses Tony. There is a suggestion, based on her behavior in the Season 2 episode "Hometown Hero," that Lt. Commander Coleman is perhaps interested in Gibbs, when she asks him to accompany her to an award ceremony; this has thus far, however, not been pursued in subsequent seasons. Since Alicia Coppola has a recurring role on the CBS series Jericho its unlikely her character will be seen on NCIS until something occurs with the other series.
Senior Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell
| NCIS character | |
 |
|
| Tobias C. Fornell | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Senior Special Agent, FBI |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Grey |
| Actor | Joe Spano |
| First appearance | Yankee White |
Played by Joe Spano, he first appeared in "Yankee White". Fornell is a Senior FBI Special Agent who is often involved in "inter-agency turf wars" with Gibbs' NCIS team. Fornell was once framed for being a Mob informant, when investigators found money in his freezer. In an attempt to throw the real informant off, he faked his death, making it appear that he hanged himself in his cell. During the episode, he told Gibbs that he considered him his best friend. Fornell married Jethro Gibbs' second ex-wife (despite a warning from Gibbs that Fornell was making a big mistake); the two are now divorced, after the wife left with all of Fornell's money. Fornell also has a young daughter named Emily. He and Gibbs consider each other very good friends, despite their arch-rival business association. The two frequently pretend to be angry at each other in front of their agents, only to meet in an elevator and talk. Their friendship is close enough for Gibbs to delay his retirement in the second episode of Season 4 in order to come to the aid of Fornell and his daughter.
Retired NCIS Agent Mike Franks
| NCIS character | |
 Mike Franks (left) with Gibbs |
|
| Mike Franks | |
|---|---|
| Rank | NCIS Agent (retired) |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Grey |
| Home city | Mexico |
| Actor | Muse Watson |
| First appearance | Hiatus Pt.1 |
Retired NCIS Agent Mike Franks is a fictional recurring character introduced in third season's episode Hiatus, where he was called in to help with Jethro Gibbs memory after he went in a coma from a bombing. Franks is Gibbs' former mentor and partner, still referring to Gibbs as "Probie" (as DiNozzo still does with McGee). A Vietnam veteran, he was the leading agent on the investigation of the murder of Gibbs' first wife and his daughter. Gibbs, who was then a marine Gunnery Sergeant in Operation Desert Storm, joined the NIS shortly afterwards to prevent such things from happening again. Franks also allowed Gibbs (indirectly by leaving the suspects file on his desk) to act out his private revenge. Gibbs used his training and skills to assassinate the killer of his family in South America. Franks retired from NCIS and moved to Mexico after his superiors refused to follow his advice, a mistake which led to the Khobar Towers bombing. Franks was shocked by his superiors' blatant display of carelessness and lost his trust in the government. He handed his badge and weapon to Gibbs, who thus took over his mentor's job.
La Grenouille (René Benoit)
| NCIS character | |
 La Grenouille (right) with an undercover Ducky Mallard |
|
| La Grenouille | |
|---|---|
| Rank | None |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Grey |
| Actor | Armand Assante |
| First appearance | Blowback |
| Last appearance | Bury Your Dead |
René Benoit, alias La Grenouille ("The Frog") was an arms dealer from France, who Director Jenny Shepard had been pursuing for some time in an obsessive manner, similar to the one that Leroy Jethro Gibbs displayed while hunting Ari Haswari. Director Shepard had been hunting La Grenouille for over ten years. The exact nature of their connection is unknown, but it appears to involve her father, Colonel Jasper Shepard, who is suspected of having sold Warsaw Pact weapons to La Grenouille. La Grenouille had three children and two grandchildren. Daughter, Jeanne Benoit, from his marriage to Helen Berkley, a doctor. They are now divorced and Dr. Berkley once described him as an "intestinal parasite", indicating a poor separation, but Jeanne was on very good terms with him, but appears not to have known what her father really was. Although he had connections to Iran, the CIA appear to have tolerated him as a method of funneling faulty information to them. Trent Kort, one of his top lieutenants, is a CIA informant. According to a psychological profile by Dr. Mallard, La Grenouille, while a "merchant of death", was not a violent man by nature. He viewed himself as a businessman, and a sophisticated one as well. Ducky believes that he was more likely to use his sophistication as a weapon than any gun he has sold. According to Trent Kort, La Grenouille had never ordered an assassination in his life, saying it's not his style, and that he was quite skilled at ruining people's lives. He was revealed to be dead at the end of the fifth season premiere, shortly after asking NCIS for protection. It is unknown who killed him.
Interaction with the NCIS team
La Grenouille first encountered the NCIS team while trying to buy ARES, a Pentagon targeting system. The designer of the system had died while trying to escape Ziva David and Tim McGee, so Ducky Mallard impersonated him at the sale. The NCIS team was forced to allow him to leave, as the ARES being sold would allow whoever used it access into their own targeting system. In the episode "Brothers In Arms," La Grenouille's accountant, Elroy Webster, came forward with evidence that would have allowed the authorities to arrest him at his next sale, but he was killed by La Grenouille's small arms dealer, Andre Jones, an act La Grenouille did not sanction. It later turned out the incoming shipment was a set of squirt guns, designed to embarrass Webster. In the season finale episode "Angel of Death," it was revealed that La Grenouille is the father of Jeanne Benoit, Tony DiNozzo's girlfriend.
Ari Haswari
Played by Rudolf Martin, Season 1-2. The very handsome terrorist who wounded both Gibbs and Gerald Jackson when he infiltrated the NCIS morgue during the first season, causing Gibbs to become obsessed with discovering his identity and capturing (or killing) him during the second half of the season. NCIS initially identified him as an undercover Mossad agent; he was, in fact, a rogue agent and working for Hamas. After his murder of Kate Todd, and several further attacks on NCIS members (including Gibbs), he was killed by his half-sister, Mossad officer Ziva David.
Gerald Jackson
| NCIS character | |
 |
|
| Gerald Jackson | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Black |
| Actor | Pancho Demmings |
| First appearance | Yankee White |
| Last appearance | Kill Ari |
Played by Pancho Demmings, Season 1. Gerald Jackson was Dr. Mallard's original assistant on the television series NCIS until being incapacitated by Ari Haswari after being held hostage in the morgue[2] While recuperating from his shoulder gun shot wound, his position was filled by Jimmy Palmer. Approximately a year and a half later, a week before he was scheduled to return to work, Gerald was again captured by Ari Haswari in an effort to secure Dr. Mallard's audience[3]. In the ensuing events it is revealed that Gerald cannot drive a manual transmission, much to the dismay of Ari and Ducky.
Special Agent Michelle Lee
| NCIS character | |
| Michelle Lee | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Special Agent |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Actor | Liza Lapira |
| First appearance | Shalom |
| Last appearance | Current character |
Played by Liza Lapira. Special Agent Michelle Lee was the newest addition to the NCIS Major Case Response Team based out of Washington Naval Yard. She was brought in between season three and four to bring the team back up to full strength following the departure of Supervisor Special Agent Gibbs. As she was the newest member of the team she was considered the probie since McGee had moved up in position. Following Gibbs' return early on in the season she was transferred to the legal department and is frequently seen delivering warrants to the team. She is also a Harvard Law School graduate. Recent episodes have also revealed her to be involved in a secret relationship with ME Assistant Jimmy Palmer. When series creator Donald Belisario was asked by Australian magazine TV Week where their relationship was going, he said it wasn't a relationship, just sex.
Army Lt. Col. Hollis Mann
| NCIS character | |
 |
|
| Hollis Mann | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Retired Army CID Lieutenant Colonel |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | blond |
| Actor | Susanna Thompson |
| First appearance | Sandblast |
| Last appearance | Ex-File |
Played by Susanna Thompson. She is introduced in fourth season's episode Sandblast, where she is assigned by the CID to help in a co-operative investigation with NCIS. It soon turns out that Lt Col Mann is a match for Gibbs in character and they both become attracted to each other during further investigations together in Sharif Returns and Skeletons, by the time of Grace Period they seem to share more and more time together and might be considered a couple, although nothing more than shared meals and activities have been seen on TV. It is revealed, that Lt Col Mann has served the Army for almost 20 years and there are only a few months left on her current position. She is offered a position at NCIS by director Shepard which she said she will consider. She also told Gibbs though, that she wants to retire after her service. She did chose retirement in In The Dark, leaving the Army and choosing a successor. She is apparently Airborne qualified, and is seen with an 82nd Airborne combat patch on her ACU fatigues. Her last appearance as CID officer was in Ex-File. In Lost and Found Director Shepard is reading about Mann's retirement in "Stars and Stripes" and about her relocating to Hawaii. With her living in Hawaii and out of the CID, it is unlikely that her path crosses the NCIS team's path again.
Director Thomas "Tom" Morrow
| NCIS character | |
| Thomas Morrow | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Director |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Gray |
| First appearance | Yankee White |
| Last appearance | Kill Ari Part 1 |
Played by Alan Dale, Season 1-2. Director Thomas "Tom" Morrow was director from before Jenny Shepard and he left the agency to take a Deputy Director's position with the Department of Homeland Security. He didn't have a big role in the series but he stepped in when "inter-agency turf wars" were going on and was referenced on multiple occasions.
Jimmy Palmer
| NCIS character | |
| Jimmy Palmer | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Actor | Brian Dietzen |
| First appearance | Split Decision |
| Last appearance | Current Character |
Played by Brian Dietzen, Season 1 – present. After Gerald was incapacitated, Mr. Palmer became Dr. Mallard's medical assistant both in the field and in the morgue. Jimmy is frequently late in arrival and chronically nervous, but very proficient in his field of study. He is also particularly clueless when it comes to women, although in Season 4 he appears to have a secretive relationship with Agent Michelle Lee. In Season 4, it is revealed that he has mild diabetes.
FBI Special Agent Ron Sacks
| NCIS character | |
| Ron Sacks | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Special Agent, FBI |
| Gender | Male |
| Actor | Don Franklin |
| First appearance | Frame Up |
Played by Don Franklin. Sacks is the FBI equivalent of NCIS Agent Anthony DiNozzo. His sense of humor, natural disregard for policy, fierce love of his job, and being a slight 'movie-buff' all contribute to making him the near perfect image (and, thus, natural enemy) of DiNozzo. Sack's name is often parodied by DiNozzo who calls him "Special Agent Slacks". Tony also harbours a resentment for Agent Sacks as he was the leading investigator in the episode "Frame Up" (Season three, ep. 9), where Agent DiNozzo was framed for murder. Tony and Sacks also both enjoy making life difficult for each other.
Charles "Chip" Sterling
| NCIS character | |
| Charles "Chip" Sterling | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Dark, Shaved |
| Actor | Michael Bellisario |
| First appearance | The Voyeur's Web |
| Last appearance | Frame-Up |
He first appeared in the episode The Voyeur's Web, as a new lab assistant for Abby Sciuto who took an immediate disliking to him as she thought he would just be in the way and did not want an assistant. Although his name is Charles, Abby saddled him with the nickname "Chip" and kept calling him like that even after he expressed his extreme dislike about the name. Chip is socially awkward, a condition exacerbated by Abby and Gibbs as a result of his unrequested status in the lab. Much like McGee was when he started, Chip too, is harassed by Tony as "the new guy." It is later revealed that Chip took the job to exact revenge on Anthony DiNozzo for humiliating him for a botched blood test in a previous trial. Chip attempts to frame Tony for murder (in which he almost succeeds) in Frame Up. He also attempts to attack Abby after being discovered, but she quickly subdues and restrains him with duct tape.
Cynthia Sumner
| NCIS character | |
| Cynthia Sumner | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Black |
| Actor | Stephanie Mello |
| First appearance | Mind Games |
| Last appearance | Current Character |
Played by Stephanie Mello, Cynthia Sumner is NCIS Director Jenny Shepherd's assistant and receptionist. Sumner is often seen telling Jethro Gibbs to wait to see Director Shepherd, but he frequently disregards her warnings and continues into the director's office.
Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd
Played by Sasha Alexander, Season 1-2. A former Secret Service agent who often questions authority, Gibbs included. Kate was frequently an object of DiNozzo's interest, although no action was ever taken by either; Kate was usually disgusted by Tony's habits — including his chauvinism, his interest in the trivial, and his eating habits. She was killed in the line of duty at the end of season two by Ari Haswari who was alleged to be on a personal mission to assassinate Gibbs. The team and fans alike were devastated by her death.
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|
|
|---|---|
| Characters | Jethro Gibbs • Tony DiNozzo • Ziva David • Timothy McGee • Abby Sciuto • Ducky Mallard • Jenny Shepard • Caitlin Todd |
| Episodes | Pilot episodes • Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 |
| Other media | DVD releases |
| See also | Official website • Naval Criminal Investigative Service |
| List of episodes · List of characters · Former and recurring characters | |
