List of NCIS characters

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 He was born in Stillwater, Pennsylvania to Jackson Gibbs and an unnamed mother. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1976 instead of attending college and became a Scout Sniper. After serving tours of duty in Panama and Iraq, he retired from the Marines with the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. He joined NCIS after his wife Shannon and only daughter Kelly were murdered. Since then, he has been married and divorced three more times, and is currently single. He currently leads a team consisting of Anthony DiNozzo, Timothy McGee, and Ziva David. He is often shown in his basement building boats, at least one of which he named after his daughter.

Anthony "Tony" D. DiNozzo

Played by Michael Weatherly. Senior Special Agent, NCIS Tony DiNozzo is a former homicide detective for the Baltimore Police Department. Prior to Baltimore, he worked for Philadelphia PD and Peoria PD. The character is played as a "technophobe" with limited patience for the scientific method and technical terms. Attended Ohio State University and was "Alpha Chi Delta '89". DiNozzo is said to have played college basketball, "running the point for Ohio State" according to Abby Sciuto in a discussion with her assistant, Chip.

Ziva David

Played by Cote de Pablo. Season 3 ~ Mossad Liaison Officer, NCIS Officer Ziva David is a Mossad agent sent to NCIS following the murder of Special Agent Caitlin Todd by a rogue Mossad operative named Ari Haswari. David was Ari's control officer and half-sister. After Ari's death, she asked to be assigned as a liaison for Mossad at NCIS, where she subsequently joined Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs' team.

Her specialty with the Mossad was interrogation which included various forms of torture.

De Pablo describes the character as someone who is "completely different from anyone else on the show" and that because "she's been around men all her life; she's used to men in authority. She's not afraid of men."

Timothy McGee

Played by Sean Murray. Junior Special Agent, NCIS. The character was introduced in the First Season episode "Sub Rosa" as a Case Agent stationed at Norfolk. In the Second Season was promoted to Field Agent and assigned to Agent Gibbs' team, becoming a regular character in the series. He serves as a field computer consultant and occasionally assists Abby Sciuto in the lab.

His clashes with DiNozzo over his methods has earned him the pejorative nickname "McGeek", along with "Probie" and "Mcgoo". He was trained in biomedical engineering and computer forensics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also graduated the top of his class at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

McGee is also a writer. He writes mystery crime novels featuring characters based on his fellow co-workers and others from his everyday life.

Abigail "Abby" Sciuto

Played by Pauley Perrette. Forensic Specialist, NCIS. Known for her gothic style of dress and addiction to the fictional, high-caffeine beverage "Caf-Pow". She is the most active person of the team, often hugging everyone and talking fast. She is one of the few who can talk to Gibbs freely, and he often buys her CafPow. She and Gibbs can both use sign language and often use it to mess with their colleagues. Abby learned sign language because her parents were deaf. This was indicated in Season 1, Episode 3 when Abby told Gibbs, "You've still got the touch." She has a stuffed farting hippo named Bert that often appears in the show.

Abby's hobbies include a bowling league and helping build homes for the needy.

Leon Vance

Played by Rocky Carroll. Vance was introduced in "Internal Affairs" as Assistant Director in Season 5. He is made the new Director after the death of Jenny Shepard. He has a wife, Jackie, and two children, a daughter, Kayla, and son.

Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard

Played by David McCallum. Chief Medical Examiner, NCIS. Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, M.D., M.E. is a British (Scottish)-born chief medical examiner, who has been long-time friends with Gibbs. He has a 'second talent,' as Gibbs calls it, to be able to read people, which he expands in Season 4 by studying to be a psychologist. In cases without actual bodies, he assists by lending his mind to decipher the clues left by the perpatrators. He can be a bit eccentric, as he often talks to his victims, but is a kind man at heart.

Ducky drives a Morgan that he restored himself. He lives with his aging mother and their 4 Corgies.

Jimmy Palmer

Played by Brian Dietzen, introduced in "Split Decision". After Gerald was incapacitated, Palmer became Mallard's medical assistant both in the field and in the morgue. In Season 5 "About Face", Jimmy became a central character of the episode who must recover his memory to find a suspect to the murder case and his attempted killer. He self-identifies as a sufferer of a "mild" case of diabetes mellitus in the Season 4 episode "In The Dark". He is terrifed of Gibbs. He was named after former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer.

Recurring cast

Tobias C. Fornell

Played by Joe Spano. Fornell is a Senior FBI Special Agent who first appeared in "Yankee White". He is often involved in "inter-agency turf wars" with Gibbs' NCIS team. The two frequently pretend to be furiously angry at each other in front of their agents, only to meet in an elevator and talk, revealing a pre-existing friendship. 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, Emily. It is also revealed that Fornell was married to Gibbs' second wife at one point in time.

Mike Franks

Played by Muse Watson, introduced in "Hiatus Pt.1". Retired NCIS Agent Mike Franks was called in to help with Gibbs' memory after he went in a coma from a bombing. He is Gibbs' former mentor and partner, still referring to Gibbs as "Probie". Although he comes across as crass and uncaring, Franks has been known to be very devious and sneaky, even hiding the fact that he had a son. He was the only survivor of the gun battle that ended Director Shepard's life and found some evidence that the new director was, apparently, looking for.

Nikki Jardine

Played by Susan Kelechi Watson. NCIS Intel Analyst Nikki Jardine is a recurring character first seen in episode "Leap of Faith". She assisted Gibbs' team in keeping watch on communications. In the episode "In the Zone", despite being a germaphobe revolted at the idea of field work, Jardine asked to go to Baghdad with Tony. She ostensibly went there on a case, but she also had her own reasons for going. Her brother had been injured while serving there, and a local villager, confused by Marines as an insurgent, was killed while attempting to help him, prompting Jardine to help the villager's children.

Former characters

Michelle Lee

Played by Liza Lapira, introduced in "Shalom". 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 Supervisory Special Agent Gibbs. Following Gibbs' return early on in the season she was transferred to the legal department and was frequently seen delivering warrants to the team. She returned to the series in Season Six as part of Gibbs' new team (but is reassigned after the first episode) it is revealed that she is a mole in NCIS who accessed Joint Chiefs' strategic battle plan in the Middle East. She was caught in the episode Cloak, however she claims that she was forced to trade government secrets because her daughter had been kidnapped. It was revealed that her daughter is not her daughter but instead her sister. At the end of the episode "Dagger" she died of bullet wounds to the abdominal area, which were fired by Agent Gibbs (with Agent Lee's silent permission after she learned over Gibbs' phone that her sister was safe) in order to kill the real villain who was standing behind her. Gibbs' bullets passed through Agent Lee, striking and killing the villain as well.

In the course of her espionage, Lee killed Special Agent Brent Langer and Petty Officer Steve Vargo, whom she was blackmailing for the aforementioned classified information.

In earlier episodes she was also sleeping with Mr. Palmer. In one episode none of the agents or Ducky knows where he went, but we see him and Lee kissing as a door closes.

Cassie Yates

Played by Tamara Taylor, introduced in "SWAK". Cassie Yates is a recurring NCIS Special Agent. Due to Taylor's commitment to the series Bones, however, Yates has made few appearances on the program. Her last appearance to date is in "Jeopardy".

Jeanne Benoit

Played by Scottie Thompson. Benoit is introduced in season 4's "Sandblast" as Tony DiNozzo's new girlfriend, although DiNozzo seems to want to keep her a secret. She is a doctor in Washington DC. In the fourth season finale, it is revealed that her father is the arms dealer "La Grenouille", and that DiNozzo was assigned the position of Jeanne's boyfriend by Director Shepard in order to exploit the relationship.

Vivian Blackadder

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 major character that appeared in the pilot episodes from JAG, and not in the series NCIS.

Paula Cassidy

Played by Jessica Steen, introduced in "Minimum Security ". Paula Cassidy was a criminal profiler for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). An expert on Middle Eastern terrorists, she worked as an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay. After her team was killed, she sacrificed herself to stop a suicide bomber in "Grace Period ", thus saving Gibbs, DiNozzo, Ziva, and three Muslim clerics, who were signing fatwās to promote peace in the Middle East.

Faith Coleman

Played by Alicia Coppola. Coleman is a prosecutor for the Judge Advocate General's office, Coleman first appeared in "Ice Queen" 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 last appearance to date was in "Hometown Hero".

La Grenouille (René Benoit)

René Benoit, alias La Grenouille ("The Frog"), is played by Armand Assante and is an arms dealer from France. He is introduced in "Blowback". Director Shepard had been hunting La Grenouille for over ten years. Although he had connections to Iran, the CIA appear to have tolerated him as a method of funneling faulty information to them. According to a psychological profile by Dr. Mallard, La Grenouille, while a "merchant of death", was not a violent man by nature. In his final appearance ("Bury Your Dead"), La Grenouille is forced to ask Director Shepard for protection because he believes someone is trying to kill him and take over his arms business. Shepard hands him a 9mm and tells him to "protect [him]self". At the end of the episode, he is seen floating in the Washington Channel with a single gunshot wound to his head. In "Angel of Death," it was revealed that La Grenouille is the father of Jeanne Benoit, the woman that Tony DiNozzo was in love with after dating her as part of Director Shepard's uncover investigation.

Ari Haswari

Played by Rudolf Martin, Season 1-2. Haswari is a terrorist who wounded both Gibbs and Gerald Jackson when he infiltrated the NCIS morgue during the first season in the episode "Bête Noire". NCIS initially identified him as an undercover Mossad agent but he was a rogue agent working for Hamas and he was later found to be the leader of an Al-Qaeda cell in Washington, DC. After the murder of Todd, and several further attacks on NCIS members (including Gibbs), he was killed by his half-sister, Mossad officer Ziva David.

Gerald Jackson

Played by Pancho Demmings, introduced in "Yankee White". Gerald Jackson was Dr. Mallard's original assistant until being incapacitated by Ari Haswari after being held hostage in the morgue 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.

Hollis Mann

Played by Susanna Thompson, introduced in "Sandblast". Lieutenant Colonel Mann is assigned by the CID to help in a co-operative investigation with NCIS involving a bombing at the Army-Navy Golf Club. She is offered a position at NCIS by Director Shepard, but instead chooses retirement in In The Dark(she has re-located to one of the hawaiian Islands). She and Gibbs had a serious relationship, even earning the nickname "future ex wife number four" from DiNozzo. She last appears in "Ex-File".

Charles "Chip" Sterling

Played by Michael Bellisario. Chip first appeared in the episode "The Voyeur's Web", as a new lab assistant for Abby Sciuto. 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 hog-ties him with duct tape and then asks if she can now work alone.

Caitlin "Kate" Todd

Played by Sasha Alexander, introduced in " Yankee White". She was a major character in the show as part of Agent Gibbs' team. Todd is a former Secret Service agent, recruited into NCIS by Leroy Jethro Gibbs. A faithful Catholic and quite decent, she tends to argue with special agent DiNozzo who tends to flirt with her and also knows that in college, Kate competed in a wet T-shirt contest and won in Spring Break. She gets along well with Abby and Ducky. Kate and DiNozzo often flirted with each other but nothing came of it as far as the audience knows. She was killed in the line of duty at the end in the Season 2 finale "Twilight" by Ari Haswari, who was on a personal mission to assassinate Gibbs. The character also made appearances in Season 3 episodes "Kill Ari" Part 1 and 2 as a spirit in remembrance by her teammates. She was replaced at NCIS by Israeli Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David. Her date of death is May 24th.

Jenny Shepard

Played by Lauren Holly, introduced in "Kill Ari". She replaced former NCIS director Thomas Morrow, at the start of the third season after Morrow took a Deputy Director's position with the Department of Homeland Security. She was Gibbs' former partner and also his former lover. She was killed in the season 5 finale. At the time of her death she was already dying from an unnamed illness. In several episodes before her death in 'Judgment Day' Ducky is shown to be ordering a test on a blood sample to Abby, telling her that they are from a John Doe. However, when Abby talks to Jimmy Palmer, he says that they have no John Does. Gibbs deduces that the only person Ducky would act this way for would be the director. Mike Franks also discovers her illness by going through her purse and finding her medication. In the episode "Judgment Day", Franks and Jenny are talking in the diner while waiting for the bad guys and it is at that moment when she indicates that she is dying, but she does not explain further. After her violent death, she was replaced by former Assistant Director Leon Vance.

Brent Langer

Played by Jonathan LaPaglia, introduced in " Tribes". He is killed in the episode "Last Man Standing" by Agent Lee, and initially suspected of being a mole. Lee was, in fact, the mole, and killed him to preserve her cover. He was an FBI agent, initally trained under Gibbs at NCIS and was transfered back to NCIS at Gibbs' recommendation. He had previously worked with Gibbs' team in the episode Tribes, where he assisted the team in tracking down a terrorist recruiter. Gibbs places his voided agent ID card next to Jenny Shepard's picture on a wall commemorating fallen military in season six.