NCIS Mossad Officer Ziva David is a Hit Thanks to Actress Cote De Pablo

Since I recently began watching the hit CBS navy crime series, NCIS, on a regular basis, I have become very fond of a couple of the show's characters, one of which is an NCIS Mossad Liaison Officer named Ziva David, played by attractive actress, Cote de Pablo.

David was assigned to the NCIS following the murder of Special Agent Caitlin Todd by a rogue Mossad operative. Although lead NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) did not agree with the assignment initially, he came to accept Ziva as one of his team members.

Soon after her assignment to NCIS, she kills a native Israeli named Ari Haswari in order to save Gibbs' life and it is revealed afterwards that she is Ari's half-sister and Gibbs falsifies his report to indicate that he, not Ziva, killed Ari.

David is also an expert marksman and carries two firearms and a knife with her at all times. As a matter of fact, she was trained as an assassin by the Mossad, however, it is not clear whether she ever actually operated in that capactity. She also appears to not be adverse to using extreme force, often threatening both suspects and victims alike during interrogations (leading to at least one incident in which she is accused of killing a suspect in custody).

She frequently brags of her abilities as a Mossad agent (such as reppelling down a cliff without safety ropes, and swimming three miles in freezing water at night.) She particularly taunts agent, Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo and some parts of her personality disturb him, like the fact that she sleeps with a gun in her hand.

Nevertheless, she and DiNozzo share an almost brother-sister relationship to the point where the two are routinely pulling pranks on each other and acting childishly. However, there was one spark of chemistry between the two in an episode where they had to pose as a married couple who were also assassins.

When Ziva first comes to NCIS she believes that resident lab tech Abby Scuito (my favorite character on the show) does not like her, and is partially correct in this assumption. However, Abby eventually comes to accept Ziva as one of the team and believes that, since she is basically a trained killer, she can take care of herself.

However, when Gibbs is critically injured in the third-season episode, "Hiatus", Ziva and Abby come to blows when Abby accuses Ziva of not caring about Gibbs' condition. Afterwards, Ziva is shown regretting her apparent inability to show the same level of concern as the others and in the following episode it is revealed that Ziva has harbored regret at having killed her half-brother when she experiences an emotional breakdown while trying to help restore Gibbs' memory (although her breakdown actually assists Gibbs in regaining it).

David is particularly close to NCIS Director, Jenny Shepherd, with whom she has worked in the past in Israel on anti-terrorist operatives (first episode of season three). On numerous occasions, David has been shown confiding in Shepherd, particularly if she is upset by one of Gibbs' tactics.

In the first episode of season four, Jenny mentions that she and Ziva traveled together around Eastern Europe.
The thing I like most about de Pablo's character, is the fact that she is constantly fouling up popular American terminologies with her own overseas versions, which are quite hilarious, while trying to get accustomed to the American language and culture difference. Occasionally, Ziva will get an idiom correct, much to her satisfaction (though on at least one occasion DiNozzo has teased her by making her think she'd gotten it wrong).

In the first episode of the 2006-2007 season Ziva learns that Mossad, apparently on her father's orders, has been conducting surveillance on her for several months; the surveillance reveals that Tony has been visiting her at her apartment on an almost nightly basis, leading to suggestions that the two have become intimate. She does not confirm nor deny the implication in the episode and it remains to be seen whether the surveillance portrays the actual circumstances of the visits. The third episode of the season sees Ziva questioning Tony about an unidentified girlfriend, suggesting the surveillance might have been inaccurate.

At any rate, de Pablo does a masterful job of bringing her character to life and interested me enough to do some research, hence, the biographical article. Having said that, here is everything you've ever wanted to know about Cote de Pablo.
de Pablo was born in Santiago, Chile, but was raised in Miami and eventually attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where she graduated in 2000 after studying music theater. While at Carnegie Mellon, de Pablo appeared in several theater productions, including "Indiscretions", "The Fantasticks", "The House of Bernarda Alba", "And The World Goes 'Round", "A Little Night Music" and "Cloud Techtonics".

After graduating from college, de Pablo eventually landed her first television role, hosting the 1994 show "Control", alongside Entertainment Tonight host, Carlos Ponce.

In 2001, de Pablo appeared on the New York City Public Theater stage in the Shakespeare play, "Measure for Measure", and then moved onto roles on the small screen such as All My Children, where she had a small role on the long-running soap, alongside Rudolf Martin who would later play her half-brother Ari Haswari in NCIS.

de Pablo guest-starred as Gina in the CBS series, The Education of Max Bickford, acting alongside Academy Award winners, Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden, Golden Globe winner Regina Taylor, veteran actress Helen Shaver and actress Katee Sackhoff. She also had roles in The Street and When I Grow Up. In 2004, she starred in the short-lived FOX series, The Jury playing Marguerite Cisneros. In 2005 she made her Broadway debut as Dolores Fuentes in The Mambo Kings.
De Pablo currently lives in Los Angeles, and spends her free time writing and performing original music. Here is a list of her career filmography.

Actress - filmography
(2000s) (1990s)
1. "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service"
... aka NCIS (USA: short title)
... aka NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (USA: new title)
- Witch Hunt (2006) TV Episode .... Ziva David
- Dead and Unburied (2006) TV Episode .... Ziva David, Mossad Liaison
- Faking It (2006) TV Episode .... Ziva David, Mossad Liaison
- Singled Out (2006) TV Episode .... Ziva David
- Escaped (2006) TV Episode .... Ziva David
(25 more)
2. "The Jury" (2004) TV Series .... Marguerite Cisneros
3. ToCA Race Driver (2002) (VG) (voice) .... Melanie Sanchez
4. "The Education of Max Bickford"
- Do It Yourself (2001) TV Episode .... Gina
5. "Control" (1994) TV Series .... Co-host
Filmography as: Actress, Self
Self - filmography
1. "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"
- Episode #2.178 (2006) TV Episode .... Herself