PART 05 of 10
Born in Chile, Cote de Pablo joined NCIS as Special Agent Ziva David in season 3 until the character appeared to be killed off in season 13. Her departure felt sudden to fans at the time but during a 2016 interview, the actress revealed that she left “because of political things and scripts not being good enough.”
However, de Pablo returned to the series in season 16 and had a recurring role in several episodes in season 17.
“I hoped that at some point something like this could happen and it’s just so the stars aligned and here I am with this guy,” de Pablo told ET in an on set interview with Harmon in 2019, five years after her initial departure from the show. “I said, ‘Give me a really good reason to come back.’ ”
After NCIS, de Pablo appeared in The 33, a film based on the 2010 Chilean mining accident, and the CBS miniseries The Dovekeepers. In 2018, Deadline reported that de Pablo and former NCIS cast member Weatherly would executive produce an upcoming CBS detective drama called MIA.