WARNING: This article contains spoilers from NCIS.
NCIS actress Cote de Pablo was given last minute homework prior to her first day as Ziva David.
Fan-favourite agent Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo) made her big debut on the CBS show in the season three premiere, Kill Ari (Part One) which initially aired in 2005.
She was welcomed to the team to replace Agent Caitlin “Kate” Todd (Sasha Alexander) who was murdered by Ziva’s half-brother Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin) in the season two finale.
While some of the team, including her later love interest Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) were skeptical at her presence, they quickly saw that she would be a loyal asset.
But joining the drama wasn’t without its difficulties as actress de Pablo opened up on her very first date of filming NCIS.
NCIS’ Cote de Pablo forced to learn last minute ‘challenging’ skill for first day as Ziva.
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight almost two decades ago, the now 44-year-old discussed joining the cast.
“She’s [Ziva David] intense and I think she comes from an intense place obviously and it just seems to me that a person that’s that young and so on top of her game is a big challenge for anybody, for me as an actor”, De Pablo said.
“Now, one of the biggest challenges was to learn a little bit of Hebrew which I’ve had to learn last week.
“So I had a teacher sent to my house and I’ve met with him a couple of hours and I’d say that’s very challenging.
NCIS: Season three introduced actress Cote de Pablo as Ziva David.
“Obviously as an actress you want to be as convincing as you can be and I’m very picky when it comes to accents and stuff like that.”
Throughout the series, the Israeli agent shows off her Hebrew with one of the first occasions occurring in season three when Ziva calls someone a “donkey” over the phone.
But while the fiery agent is from Israel, actress de Pablo is actually Chilean-American, born and raised in Santiago, Chile, before making the move to the States when she was 10 years old.
It may have been more than 10 years ago that the star left her days at NCIS behind but she will soon be reprising her role as Ziva, much to fans’ delight.We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
Actress Cote de Pablo will be reprising her role as Ziva David with Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo in ‘NCIS: Europe’.
Earlier this year, it was announced that a spin-off focusing on Ziva and Tony and their life away from NCIS was in the works.
Nicknamed NCIS: Europe, the pair are forced to go on the run after Tony’s security company is attacked and they must figure out who wants to see them dead.
So far, an official release date hasn’t been revealed but the 10-part series is expected to air sometime later this year on Paramount+.