Coming just behind NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," the CBS procedural "NCIS" ranks as the second longest-running current American TV drama as it approaches two decades on the airwaves. And some of its cast members' real-life relationships have lasted even longer!

Mark Harmon and his wife have been married since the 1980s, for example, and "NCIS" viewers even got to see them share the screen in the show's 18th season. Actor David McCallum, meanwhile, has been a married man for two decades longer: He and his wife got hitched in the 1960s! And it turns out that many "NCIS" stars have significant others with significant credentials. One actor fell in love with an award-winning chef, another is married to a high-powered architect, and another is hitched to the filmmaker son of actress Sophia Loren!

Here's what you need to know about the love lives of popular "NCIS" stars.

Sean Murray, the actor "NCIS" fans know as Timothy McGee, is married to Carrie Murray, the founder of Business Relationship Alliance, "a network of powerful women devoted to advancing female-owned businesses by providing the community, collaboration, mentorship, empowerment and support needed to flourish as an entrepreneur," according to her bio on the organization's website.

Carrie earned a bachelor's degree in social work from San Francisco State University, focusing on domestic violence, and she worked as a court advocate before earning a masters' degree from Antioch University, focusing on social justice. After becoming a teacher, an administrator, and a principal at a Los Angeles public charter school, Carrie founded her own school, Prestique Academy of Innovation and Technology, in 2011. And after she noticed that fellow "mompreneurs" experienced many of the same struggles, Carrie started weekly networking meetings that evolved into Business Relationship Alliance.

As noted by People, Sean and Carrie have two children, River and Caitlyn. And the couple showed off their home, decked out in Halloween decor, in a 2020 Apartment Therapy feature. "I married Thackery Binx — of course I decorate for Halloween!" Carrie quipped, referencing Sean's role in the Disney film "Hocus Pocus."

David McCallum — who plays Donald "Ducky" Mallard on "NCIS" and starred as Illya Kuryakin on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." — married Katherine Carpenter, a former model, in 1967. The two have a son and daughter, according to The Scotsman. They also had eight grandchildren by 2015, when McCallum spoke with the Los Angeles Times. "We have six boys in New York and two girls here," he said at the time, joking, "I keep the boys and the girls on different coasts so I can keep them straight."

The actor was previously married to the late British actress Jill Ireland, with whom he welcomed two sons and a daughter, The Scotsman reported. Ireland even joined McCallum on screen in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," playing three characters in the spy drama.

Ireland married McCallum's "The Great Escape" co-star Charles Bronson, but McCallum bears no ill will. "I never hated him, Charlie was always a good friend," he told Daily Record in 2016. "I find that when problems come along, worrying about them and getting anxious and negative is quite unnecessary. You can solve them, usually amicably. That's what happened."

Brian Dietzen, who has played Jimmy Palmer on "NCIS" since 2004, is married to Kelly, a midwife. They wed in the early 2000s, and they have a son and a daughter, according to his 2011 interview with St. Louis Post-Dispatch. To the paper, Dietzen raved about his marital bliss as he remarked on his peers' ambivalence about marrying in their 30s. "A lot of my friends are in that place," he shared. "I'm one of the few who's married, but I can tell them: It's awesome."

The actor waxed romantic over Kelly in an April 2021 Instagram caption as he shared a photo of the two of them enjoying the great outdoors in California. "First hiatus hike was in Big Bear with the best person I know," he wrote, captioning a photo of the couple embracing. "Here's to many, many more. Love you Kel."

Dietzen often gives fans glimpses into his family life via Twitter, too. "#GRAMMYs fun fact: When Cardi B performs 'WAP,' it's even more entertaining to watch your teenage kids squirm," he tweeted in March 2021. "Loving it. #DadWin."

Mark Harmon, who plays Leroy Jethro Gibbs on "NCIS," married "Mork & Mindy" star Pam Dawber in 1987, as the Associated Press reported at the time, and they've been together ever since. "We were both in our thirties when we got married, so hopefully the stupid stuff we did earlier," Harmon told People in 2019. "That's probably the closest I have to what the key is."

Dawber, who also starred on the 1980s sitcom "My Sister Sam," stepped out of the spotlight after tying the knot with Harmon. "I don't think two people can work all the time in show business and stay married," she told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. "I did everything you can do in this business, and then I had children and it's like, 'I'm not going to chase this fame thing.'"

Harmon and Dawber have two children together, sons Sean and Ty, the former of whom has played young Gibbs on "NCIS." The CBS drama really is a family business, as Dawber guest-starred in Season 18 as investigative journalist Marcie Warren. But despite the chemistry the two no doubt have, Dawber assured Entertainment Weekly ahead of time that her scenes with her husband were "not going to be romantic."

Michael Weatherly, who starred as Anthony DiNozzo on "NCIS" from 2003 to 2016, married Bojana Jankovic in 2009. Jankovic is a physician specializing in integrative and internal medicine, according to her website. Before starting her own practice, she was a primary care physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Group and a co-founder of the therapeutics startup WellStart Health. The couple welcomed daughter Olivia in 2012 and son Liam the following year, according to ABC News. He also has a son, August, from a previous marriage.

Before starting a family with Jankovic, Weatherly was previously engaged to his "Dark Angel" costar Jessica Alba. "It just didn't work out," the actress and entrepreneur said of their split in a 2005 Cosmopolitan interview. "I was so young, 18, when I started dating him. I was a virgin. I knew I wanted to be in love with the first person I slept with. ... I wanted to be really careful that he was going to be in love with me and wasn't just going to leave me. It's really, really, really difficult to have the same occupation as the person you're with — especially when you're both actors."

Luckily, things seem to have worked out for both Alba and Weatherly.

Rocky Carroll, who joined "NCIS" as Leon Vance midway through Season 5, is married to Gabrielle Bullock, as the Los Angeles Times noted in a 2018 piece about her. By that point, the couple had been married for 22 years. Together, they have a daughter named Elissa.

Bullock is an architect and the head of global diversity in Los Angeles for the architecture and design firm Perkins+Will. "I'm an architect, so I lead projects 50% of my time," she told the Times. "The other 50% of the time I'm the firm's director of global diversity. I lead the strategy, monitor it, lead the diversity council that we have and try to build a more inclusive culture for the firm." The New York City native is a graduate of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design. By the time she graduated RISD in 1984, she was the school's second female African-American graduate, the newspaper reported.

Bullock is also the vice president of the Southern California chapter of the International Interior Design Association, according to the organization's website. Still, if you Google her name, "you get Rocky Carroll," she told the Times with a laugh.

On New Year's Day 2020, Wilmer Valderrama — the actor who plays Nick Torres on "NCIS" — proposed to his now-fiancée Amanda Pacheco in San Diego, California. "It's just us now," he wrote in the caption of an Instagram post showing a photo of him on bended knee, brandishing an engagement ring.

Valderrama riffed on that caption in a hashtag the following month when he and Pacheco, a model, announced the birth of their daughter, Nakano Oceana. "Life is an ever evolving journey, and for all those times when our path needs a light... often angels are sent to show us the way and that we can be more," he wrote on Instagram in a February 2021 post. "Straight out of heaven we welcome our first daughter... #ItsJustUs3Now."

Notably, the actor had previously dated singer Demi Lovato from 2010 to 2016, according to People, and the pop star sent her congratulations on his engagement in a 2020 Harper's Bazaar cover story. "I'm really happy for him and I wish him nothing but the best," Lovato told the magazine.

Maria Bello, who played Jack Sloane for a few seasons before her exit from "NCIS" in 2021, got engaged to Dominique Crenn, the only female chef in America who has three Michelin stars, in 2019, according to a 2020 Haute Living feature.

Crenn gave the magazine her and Bello's origin story, saying the actress reached out via Instagram DM to ask for a reservation at Crenn's restaurant. "I didn't really know who Maria was, but I'm French, so I don't know really follow American actresses," she said. "I'm like, 'Who is Maria Bello?'"

Nevertheless, Crenn granted a reservation to Bello — who has a son with ex-boyfriend Dan McDermott, per Us Weekly — and the duo stayed friends for a year before they took their relationship to the next level. When Bello finally told Crenn she was in love with her, the chef disclosed to her future fiancée that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. "She was like, 'I'm really fun around sick people,'" Crenn recalled to Haute Living, adding, "And I'm telling you, she kept her word. It's one of the most beautiful love stories. I couldn't even write this for [a] movie; it's so much better."

Lauren Holly, who starred as Jenny Shepard on "NCIS" between 2005 and 2008, has been married and divorced three times, as the Daily Mail reported in 2016. At the time of that report, the actress was raising her three sons — Alexander, George, and Henry, whom she adopted with third husband Francis Greco — alongside partner Jerome Ruffin.

Holly was married to comic actor Jim Carrey, her "Dumb and Dumber" costar, from 1996 to 1997, according to Today. And the actress opened up about that relationship in a 2016 episode of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" "The good part? It was just sort of exciting. And it was a great sort of ride that I went on," she recalled. "But when it ended, it was really hard for me. Because, first of all, I was incredibly sad. And I felt like everybody knew. I felt like they felt sorry for me or something, you know?"

Of course, Holly was able to pick up the pieces and move on with her life.

The actress behind "NCIS" character Kasie Hines, Diona Reasonover is married to actress and writer Patricia Villetto, as she revealed to the New York Post in 2018, after she was promoted to series regular on the show. "I don't know why it didn't occur to me that I'd be in the opening credits, so I freaked out so much. [Patricia and I] were both like, 'What?!'" she told the paper. "Now she won't let me talk during 'NCIS.' I try to tell her funny stories, like, 'Oh, you know what's funny about this scene?' And she's like, 'Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. Don't talk to me; I'm watching my show.'"

Villetto's Second City bio reveals she graduated from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland — where she studied "acting, playwriting and art of Irish bulls**ting" — while her Instagram bio touts that she's also a "writer, director, actor, improviser, comic, waitress and Dolly Parton lover." According to her IMDb profile, Villetto has written for projects like "Swamp Talk with Shrek & Donkey," "Kung Fu Panda," "So Shook," "Mega Man: Fully Charged," "Ben 10," and "Tigtone."

Joe Spano, who has played T.C. Fornell in more than 50 episodes of "NCIS" so far, is married to Joan Zerrien. According to a since-deleted interview with At This Stage, Spano and Zerrien met at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California: He was a founding member of the theater, and she was a box office manager.

The couple has two daughters: Liana and Meili, whom they adopted from China. In fact, Spano became director of the Southern California chapter of the organization Families with Children from China.

Spano told the site about his and Zerrien's decision to adopt from China. "We were in a place in our lives, well off, living in a great house and we said to ourselves what is this for? We should have kids and take advantage of our great school district," he explained. He continued, "We saw a television program that outlined the plight of Chinese little girls so we investigated it. We decided it wasn't about passing them off as our own. We wanted more the opportunity to parent."

Sasha Alexander, who portrayed Caitlin Todd across dozens episodes of the CBS procedural between 2003 and 2012, tied the knot with Edoardo Ponti in 2007, according to People. Ponti's mother is Oscar-winning Italian actress Sophia Loren, star of films like "Two Women" and "Marriage Italian Style."

Alexander and Ponti met at film school at USC but didn't start dating until her "NCIS" days, as the actress told TV Guide in 2012. "He was always lovely — he had a smile that gave me enormous comfort, even though I didn't know him." He went up to her at a restaurant years later, and they finally started a relationship. "Eight years later, I'd worked an all-nighter on 'NCIS,'" she recalled, "and I was sitting in a restaurant eating breakfast with a hat on, and he walked up to my table and said, 'Sasha, do you remember me?'" The couple now has two children, per People. They welcomed daughter Lucia Sofia in 2006 and son Leonardo Fortunato in 2011.

Ponti is also in showbiz: He's a filmmaker who wrote and directed the 2020 film "The Life Ahead," which stars his famous mother. Loren also appeared in his films "Between Strangers" and "Voce Umana," or "Human Voice," while Alexander starred in his film "Coming & Going."

Pauley Perrette is one of the most beloved, and instantly recognizable, figures in "NCIS" history, but offscreen, she's had a tough time in her personal life. As Hello! magazine notes, the actor keeps her cards close to her chest, but we do know she was briefly married to musician Coyote Shivers from 2000 until 2006. Notably, Perrette accused Shivers of stalking her and even took out a permanent restraining order against him, per People. The publication noted that Shivers served 90 days in prison after violating the order.

Perrette subsequently got engaged twice, first to cameraman Michael Bosman. While they didn't legally marry, they did exchange vows in front of their loved ones. The couple ultimately split, though the "NCIS" alum found love once more with former British Royal Marine Thomas Arklie. The two got engaged in 2011, but decided to hold off marrying until same-sex marriage was legalized. They called time on their relationship in the intervening years, with Perrette confirming in 2019 that she was single. "I'm no one's girlfriend. I'm a solo act," she tweeted at the time.

On "NCIS," Emily Wickersham played the utterly no-nonsense Agent Bishop, but the actor herself keeps things comparatively quite low key. Wickersham's long-time partner is fellow actor James Badge Dale, who's appeared in multiple high-profile projects over the years, including "24" and "The Departed." However, the couple doesn't over-share on social media, preferring to give fans glimpses into their relationship only every now and then. In fact, Wickersham casually revealed she was pregnant once she was already pretty far along. 

Baby boy Cassius was born December 30, 2021. Wickersham shared the happy news on Instagram alongside shots of her and Dale spending some quality time with the newborn, writing, "You are more than @jamesbadgedale and I could ever have imagined. We are so in love with you." 

Wickersham was previously married once before to musician Blake Anderson Hanley. The couple split after eight years, per Express, so that might explain her reluctance to reveal too much online. 

Actress Jennifer Esposito went on to star in another hit procedural, the Tom Selleck-led "Blue Bloods," after saying goodbye to the "NCIS" team. Her personal life was similarly busy, with Esposito tying the knot with fitness trainer Jesper Vesterstrøm in a stunning beachside wedding in September 2020. The actor confirmed they'd made it official with a series of romantic shots posted to Instagram, which showcased the happy couple beaming, displaying their rings, and cuddling with their pet pooches.

They took the beach theme seriously too, with a video showing Vesterstrøm windsurfing up to the event in a wetsuit. His bride, meanwhile, donned a yellow sundress and hoop earrings. Neither party wore shoes for the casual event, which was super intimate. The couple had been dating for several years when they got hitched. Extra noted that Esposito was previously married to both actor Bradley Cooper and model Louis Dowler.

Esposito keeps her relationship with Vesterstrøm mostly private. However, on July 4, 2021, Esposito shared a post acknowledging her hubby gives her fireworks "every day," so clearly things are going well. 

Robert Wagner has had a massive career beyond the confines of "NCIS," but his romantic life has had its ups and downs. The veteran actor has been married four times to three different women, beginning with the late actress Natalie Wood. They split amid rumors he'd been unfaithful, and officially divorced in 1962 (via Biography). The following year, Wagner married actor Marion Marshall, with the happy couple welcoming daughter Katie in 1964.

Their marriage lasted until 1971, which left Wagner open to rekindle things with Wood, who had split from her own paramour around the same time. They remarried in 1972 and welcomed a daughter named Courtney in 1974. In 1981, Wood died under mysterious circumstances, leaving Wagner devastated. Notably, he remains a person of interest in her death, per The New York Times. 

Wagner focused on being a father until he found love again with fellow actor Jill St. John, who had lost her own husband and found common ground with the "NCIS" star. The two got hitched in 1990 and have been together ever since. Similarly, St. John had also been married three times previously.

In 2017, NCIS was declared to be the world's most-watched drama TV series. Not only was this an amazing achievement in and of itself, but what made it even more remarkable was that the CBS procedural crime drama had held that title for several consecutive years — and, not for nothing, was also pretty long in the tooth by then, about to launch its 15th season. When the show's 18th season kicked off in fall 2020, NCIS showed no signs of slowing down, remaining beloved by millions of fans as one of the longest-running and most popular series in television history.

Not surprisingly, during the course of all those seasons, there have been a lot of actors who've lent their talents to the show and then moved on, ranging from full-fledged cast members to recurring guest stars. Any fans of the show who've been wondering what those one-time NCIS actors have been up to since their respective times on the show will have all the answers, simply by reading on to discover what these former NCIS stars are doing now.

Maria Bello joined the cast of NCIS in 2017 as a series regular, taking on the role of Dr. Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane. But Bello's tenure on NCIS came to an end in March 2021, when Jack bid a bittersweet farewell to Gibbs (Mark Harmon) — and to the show as a whole (via Good Housekeeping). In a message she posted on Instagram following her final episode, Bello wrote, "I understand why this show after 18 years is the most watched in the world — you must all feel our love."

According to her IMDb page, at the time of her exit from NCIS, Bello didn't have any future acting projects lined up. She did, however, have a behind-the-scenes credit for writing the script for the movie The Woman King, marking her debut as a screenwriter. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, Gina Prince-Bythewood signed on to direct, while Viola Davis was tapped to star. Bello was also listed as one of the movie's producers via her production company, Jack Blue Productions. 

Fans also assumed that Bello was taking some time off to spend with her fiancée, Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn, who told British Vogue she was in remission after a lengthy cancer battle. 

After 15 seasons playing fan-fave forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, Pauley Perrette exited NCIS in 2018 came amidst a flurry of controversy. And while there was reportedly no love lost between Perrette and NCIS star Mark Harmon due to an infamous dog bite incident (via Vanity Fair), her exit didn't burn any bridges with CBS. 

This became clear the following year, when the network announced she'd be starring in a new sitcom, Broke, as Deadline reported. In the series, which launched in spring 2020, Perrette played a struggling single mom whose life is turned upside down when her sister and her wealthy husband move in with her after unexpectedly losing all their money. When the show was canceled weeks after its premiere, Perrette reacted with gratitude; her experience on Broke, she explained via Twitter, "restored my faith in people in this industry." 

Months later, Perrette indicated she was done with Hollywood. "I finally and happily retired!" she tweeted in October 2020. "And this is what I was looking forward to!!! My rules in life now are 'if my #rescuedogs don't care, it's cool!' I only answer to God and animals and plants now. WOOT!!!"

One of the standout characters on NCIS was Ziva David, a former Israeli Mossad agent who was introduced in the series' third season. Fans were truly shook when the actress who played her, Cote de Pablo, announced in 2013 that she would be departing from the show at the end of the 11th season, as Entertainment Weekly reported. Apparently, the network was also dismayed. "We offered Cote de Pablo a lot of money, and then we offered her even more money," then-CBS chairman Les Moonves said at the time (via EW), claiming, "We did everything humanly possible."

According to de Pablo's IMDb page, her first project after leaving NCIS was a starring role in The Dovekeepers, a CBS miniseries based on Alice Hoffman's novel. Since then, the Chile-born actress has appeared in a mere handful of projects, including the 2015 film The 33 (about the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days after a 2010 mine collapse), the 2016 TV movie Prototype, and the 2019 drama Seneca.

She also made the dreams of NCIS fans come true — albeit temporarily — when she returned to the show in 2019, reprising her role in a multi-episode story arc.

In January 2016, CBS announced that Michael Weatherly would be exiting NCIS at the end of that season. As Weatherly told TV Insider after filming his final episode, he simply felt that 13 years playing Tony DiNozzo was long enough. "I meet 20-year-olds who were in first grade when we started," he said. "Basically, their entire lives they've known me as 'Hey, you're on television, playing that guy.'"

It didn't take Weatherly long to line up his next gig. Two months after that January announcement, TVLine reported the actor had signed on to star in a new CBS series called Bull, based on Dr. Phil McGraw's pre-talk show days as a jury consultant. "It came about at the right time. I was burnt out by NCIS and I was ready for a new challenge," Weatherly told reporters attending the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. "Sometimes change is as good as a rest."

If there were any doubts that viewers would balk at watching Weatherly playing a character who wasn't Tony DiNozzo, Bull put them to rest; in November 2020, the series returned for a fifth season. 

Jennifer Esposito joined the cast of NCIS in its 14th season, playing Special Agent Alex Quinn, but she didn't stick around for long. Shortly before the 15th season was set to go into production, Deadline broke the news that she'd decided to call it a day after just one season on the show. Apparently there was no drama behind her exit; as she wrote on Twitter, she "was not meant to be there long but happy I was."

However, an interview she gave to Power Women TV may contain a clue to explain why she left. "I never felt completely at home as an actress. I love acting, but the business was just not something I loved," she said, adding, "I thought I was getting into a very creative field, and it's really not. ... I felt very unfulfilled."

Since her exit, Esposito has remained a familiar onscreen face; according to IMDb, her post-NCIS credits have included the feature films Mob Town and Speed Kills and recurring roles in Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, The Boys, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; in 2020, she was cast in Inventing Anna, a Netflix series from Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes (via Deadline).

Sasha Alexander was a part of the original NCIS cast when the series made its CBS debut in 2003. However, she would up exiting after the second season when her character, Special Agent Caitlin Todd, was killed off. Fans wondered why she didn't stick around as the show's popularity grew, and series creator and then-showrunner Donald Bellisario explained what was going on behind the scenes that led her to be written off the show (shortly before Bellisario himself exited NCIS following issues with star Mark Harmon, as noted by Digital Spy).

"Sasha came in two days before I was to leave, and with tears in her eyes, she said, 'I just can't work this hard,'" Bellasario told the Chicago Tribune of why he persuaded CBS to release Alexander from her contract. 

Alexander went on to further fame after NCIS; as her IMDb credits demonstrate, she co-starred with Angie Harmon in the hit cop drama Rizzoli & Isles, which ran for seven successful seasons. Subsequent TV work included Shameless, Law & Order: SVU, Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more.

After Sasha Alexander left NCIS at the end of the show's second season, Lauren Holly was cast in the new role of NCIS Director Jenny Shepard. In a since-deleted blog post, she wrote that she'd become "bored" with the role by the time her character was killed off.

Holly continued to be in demand after her NCIS experience, according to IMDb, starring in some made-for-TV movies before signing on to the Canadian crime drama Motive, which ran from 2013 until 2016. The "only wrinkle" about playing the series' chief medical examiner, Dr. Betty Rogers, was that the show filmed in Vancouver, while she and her family lived in Toronto. However, as she told The Canadian Press, producers were able to shoot her scenes on consecutive days, allowing her to commute back home every few days.

After that, Holly landed guest-starring roles on such series as Lucifer and Good Witch and recurring roles on the TV dramas Designated Survivor, Tiny Pretty Things, and the Hallmark Channel's Hailey Dean Mystery TV movies. 

Cast in the recurring role as probationary NCIS agent Ned Dorneget in NCIS's ninth season, Matt Jones quickly became a fan favorite, appearing in a total of six episodes. As TVLine reported, the character met an explosive end in the Season 12 finale, blown to smithereens by a bomb during a mission in Cairo. While Dorneget's fate was grim, Jones' was not, as he's gone on to find even greater success. During the years he guest-starred on NCIS, as seen on his IMDb page, Jones had racked up supporting roles on Breaking Bad, The Office, and CBS sitcom Mom, among others.

In 2018, Jones finally stepped into a leading role, starring in Let's Get Physical, a Pop TV comedy set in the world of 1980s competitive aerobics. "My favorite thing about the show is that it's so stupid," Jones said in an interview with Vulture. "It's funny and there's nothing political about it. ... It's just a comedy. Remember when comedy was just comedy? That's what this is."

Jones returned to CBS in 2019 when he joined the cast of sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, while also voicing a role in the Netflix animated comedy F Is for Family. 

Canadian actress Jessica Steen played a recurring role on NCIS, Special Agent Paula Cassidy, for the show's first four seasons. Sadly, the character met her end in a Season 4 episode, when she sacrificed herself to save her fellow agents. "It was an honor to be on that show," she told Showbiz Cheat Sheet in 2020, looking back on being a part of the early years of NCIS. "It is a remarkable success. It's just unbelievable because it was a little under the radar and then it just soared at year 10 to all these spinoffs. It's kind of incredible."

According to Steen's IMDb page, she's remained busy in the years since her character's death, although much of her work has been in her native land. Post-NCIS projects have included such Canadian-made series as Republic of Doyle and Flashpoint. 

Her best-known post-NCIS role, however, is in Heartland, a CBC drama set on a ranch in the Canadian prairie, which launched in 2007. Sharing some of her favorite Heartland moments, the Toronto native admitted that working on the show "provided my first sort of experiences in this area in Canada."

For the first two seasons of NCIS, Gibbs and his team answered to Naval Criminal Investigative Service Director Tom Morrow, played by New Zealand-born actor Alan Dale. The actor had previously played Director Morrow in JAG, the military legal drama from which NCIS spun off. 

In Season 2, recalled The Express, Morrow accepted the position of Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, with Lauren Holly's Jenny Shepard taking over as Director. As The Express pointed out, Dale has never publicly discussed the circumstances behind his exit from the show, but it's been theorized his character could have been written out in order to pave the way for Holly's character as a potential love interest for Gibbs. 

In any case, Dale's entertainment career certainly didn't stall after he parted ways with NCIS. As his IMDb page demonstrates, among his numerous gigs during the years that followed were recurring roles on 24, The O.C., Ugly Betty, Lost, Entourage, and, as a bit of a departure, the Betty White-led sitcom Hot in Cleveland. In 2017, Variety reported that Dale had been cast in The CW's reboot of Dynasty, playing the butler to the wealthy Carrington clan.

Fans of NCIS knew Scottie Thompson for her recurring role as Dr. Jeanne Benoit, a fetching MD who was being romanced by an undercover Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) in order to get to her father, infamous French arms dealer René Benoit (aka La Grenouille), portrayed on the show by Armand Assante. 

She was last seen on NCIS in 2016, and Thompson's IMDb page indicates she's racked up plenty of TV roles in the meantime, including recurring characters on 12 Monkeys and Graceland, along with guest-starring appearances on Training Day, Castle, Grey's Anatomy, The Blacklist, and more. 

Thompson made a return to the NCIS universe in 2020 — but not as Jeanne Benoit. As noted in a report from TVLine, the actress guest-starred on the series' spinoff, NCIS: Los Angeles, as a completely different character. In the March 2020 episode "Missing Time," Thompson played DIA Agent Sarah Raines, who is reticent about sharing what she knows with the L.A. NCIS team after her superior mysteriously vanished while investigating reports of a UFO sighting. "Confident, all-business and a bit cynical," is how Thompson's NCIS: Los Angeles character is described.

As noted by her IMDb page, Liza Lapira played the recurring role of Agent Michelle Lee in 12 episodes of NCIS between 2006 and 2008. Since then, she's remained busy as an actress, racking up a mind-boggling array of roles in film and television. On the big screen, her credits include Cloverfield, Fast & Furious, and Repo Men. 

Her television work, however, has been far more extensive; in addition to numerous guest-starring roles on series ranging from Dexter to Power, she's held recurring roles on several series, including Dollhouse, Traffic Light, Don't Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, Super Fun Night, Battle Creek, Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life, Con Man, 9JKL, and the TV miniseries Unbelievable, along with a four-episode story arc on The CW's Nancy Drew. Most recently, she became a series regular on the Queen Latifah-starring crime drama The Equalizer, which was renewed for a second season shortly after its launch in February 2021. 

Lapira also returned to the NCIS franchise in a role other than Michelle Lee when she portrayed Araminta Jax in a 2019 episode of NCIS: New Orleans.

John Cusack has had a notable career, dominating the '80s as a heartthrob and showcasing incredible range in the '90s, from drama to romance to comedy. But he isn't the only member of his family that has a talent for acting. Cusack comes from a large family with four siblings, all of whom have pursued acting in various capacities.

Joan Cusack is probably best known for her comedic roles in flicks like "School of Rock" and "Addams Family Values," as well as for voicing Jessie in the "Toy Story" films. Others might recognize Ann Cusack from "A League of Their Own" and "Stigmata." The Cusack siblings seemed to have gotten their love for acting from their parents. Their mother was a teacher, and their father, Richard "Dick" Cusack," began his career in advertising before transitioning into Hollywood full time as an actor and writer.

The family is relatively private by Hollywood standards but clearly enjoy working with each other based on the fact they've regularly appeared in films together throughout their careers. John is often in the leading role, like "High Fidelity" and "Say Anything..." with at least one of his siblings, usually Joan, playing a supporting role. "I always love working with her. I can't believe they still let us do it," he told CinemaBlend in 2007. But their other siblings, especially Ann, have shown a flair for acting and built respectable careers of their own.

Richard "Dick" Cusack started his career as an ad man. He worked as an ad executive at McCann-Erickson, before founding Cusack productions in 1970. In 1971, he earned an Emmy for his writing on the abortion documentary "The Committee." He went on to write plays, including "Punto," "The Last Word of the Bluebird," and "The Night They Shot Harry Lindsey With a 150mm Howitzer and Blamed It on the Zebras." Dick landed his first acting gig after his friend Byrne Piven — father of actor Jeremy Piven — asked him to appear in his play "The Man in 605."

His daughter Joan Cusack remembered her father's creativity, telling The Guardian in 2011, "He was a really funny man, very silly. He loved comedy. We would watch Mel Brooks movies and Monty Python and he would always find some humor in everything. He made home movies of us, and he would show them in the backyard. He was great fun." Dick also collaborated with his children on several films, including Joan's first major film, "My Bodyguard." He also appeared with John Cusack in "Eight Men Out" and "High Fidelity." John starred in a script written by his father, the 1999 HBO film "The Jack Bull."

The patriarch of the family, Dick died in 2003 from pancreatic cancer. In an interview with Lake (via The New York Times) in 2002, he shared he still had several projects in the works, saying, "Healthy speculation is that none of them will be made. I expect to fall over in a heap with a lily on my chest and no writing credits.” Among the projects was a screenplay on psychic Edgar Cayce that John told The New York Times he still hoped to produce and star in.

Richard and Nancy Cusack raised their five children in Chicago, where they became involved in the theater scene. The Cusacks were close with the Piven family, founders of the Piven Theatre Workshop, which offers theater and acting training for children and adults. According to The Chicago Tribune, Dick Cusack was a member of the Evanston Arts Council and while chairman of the group, helped save and convert the Noyes School into the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, which is where the Piven Theatre Workshop is still located.

The Cusack siblings all attended the Piven Theatre Workshop, with John Cusack perhaps becoming its most famous alum. The family's names are in dozens of credits in the Young People's Company, with roles in the ensemble and crew, as well as starring parts. In an interview with Charlie Rose, John praised the training he received there. "They teach actors, very young actors who are very fragile and can easily be sent in the wrong direction, they teach them to really trust their own instincts and use their own experience as their instrument," he said. "And that's a very rare thing."

The oldest of the Cusack siblings, Ann Cusack lead the charge in pursuing theater and acting. "I was always the director and always played the princess," Ann told the Chicago Tribune in a 1992 profile of her and her sisters, Joan Cusack and Susie Cusack. Ann and Joan were the first to attend the Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by family friends the Pivens. Byrne Piven told the outlet, Ann was "the leading lady with a simpatico quality." He also noted there wasn't much of a rivalry amongst the sisters.

Though she was the first to break into acting as a child, Ann didn't make her film debut until 1992's "A League of Their Own." "I just wanted to be able to do a great job and not be totally intimidated and overwhelmed by meeting Tom [Hanks] and Geena [Davis]," she told People in 2022 of landing her first role on screen. "I was just trying to not make an a** out of myself in front of all these people who I was starstruck with."

And with that, her career took off. In the '90s, Ann was in a number of features, including "Tank Girl" and "The Birdcage," as well as TV shows like "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" and "Murder, She Wrote." Some of her more recent credits include 2014's "Nightcrawler" and a recurring role on "The Boys." Ann's also a musician, and has played with a band called The Generation Jones Band. 

Joan Cusack is the second-eldest of the Cusack siblings and has become a respected actor, especially wowing audiences with her comedic performances. Joan described herself as "shy" when she was a child, but found her voice in the Piven Theatre Workshop. "It was great training because it was the 60s and all about theatre games and humanizing people — the creative process. You had to be unselfconscious, and that was perfect for me because I was very shy. When we played these games, I suddenly felt free," she told The Guardian. Byrne Piven told The Chicago Tribune showed a natural knack for comedy, saying, "Even as a youngster, Joanie would understand what it was about her character that was ridiculous or pathetic."

Joan was the first of the Cusack siblings to have a role on screen in the film "My Bodyguard," (which her father also appeared in). She was originally cast as an extra, but eventually was assigned a larger role with lines. "They told me I got a line, and I couldn't believe it!" she told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2017. "Then they said I should go get an outfit, so I got one with these purple Gloria Vanderbilt pants, and I was like 'Oh my god, this is really happening!' I was playing the ugly girl, and in the movie, they threw ketchup and mustard on me, but it didn't matter because I was wearing my Gloria Vanderbilt pants!"

While there's no obvious sibling rivalry, Joan Cusack, who delighted fans with a red carpet appearance at the "Toy Story 5" premiere, may well have surpassed the others in terms of accolades from the acting community. Joan has scored two Oscar nominations in the best supporting actress category: Her first for 1988's "Working Girl" and the second for 1997's "In & Out." She's also earned five Primetime Emmy nominations and one win in the outstanding guest actress in a drama series category for her role on "Shameless." 

While it might seem like Hollywood decided they won't cast John Cusack anymore, he sure has had an impressive career. His expansive filmography includes roles in teen romcoms like "Say Anything...," which hits different as an adult, and "Grosse Pointe Blank," among others, but he has fewer major nominations than Joan. John has a Golden Globe and BAFTA nom for "High Fidelity," and a total of 23 nominations across multiple awards bodies. Their sister Ann Cusack has but one major award to her name: the Chicago Film Critics Association's Commitment to Chicago Award, which she shares with her siblings and parents.

John Cusack and Joan Cusack have appeared in a whopping 10 movies together, going back to the 1980s in films like "Sixteen Candles" and "Class" as well as other films like "High Fidelity," "Martian Child," and "War, Inc." They played siblings onscreen in the classic rom com "Say Anything...," a moment John clearly treasured. "It's easy to work with your sister," John said during a 2025 screening event for the film, per People. "What happens is she'll come in and then I'm in the scene with her. She runs me over like a Mack Truck and they say print it, and then it's everyone's favorite thing in the movie."

Joan also had kind words for her brother when she spoke with The Guardian in 2011, recalling John Hughes casting his films in the Chicago area and the luck they both had in nabbing roles. "There's a lot of serendipity involved in both my brother John and I becoming actors. I was in the right place at the right time," she said. Joan, who has otherwise ditched Hollywood, also noted that her brother is a "great uncle" to her children, and they visit when she goes to Los Angeles for work.

John Cusack and Joan Cusack aren't the only Cusack siblings to share the screen. John, Joan, Ann Cusack, and Bill Cusack all appeared together in "Grosse Pointe Blank" in 1997. That same year, John and Bill were both in "Con Air." John, Joan, Ann, and Bill also appeared together in the 2008 film "War, Inc." Separately, John and Ann appeared together in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "America's Sweethearts."

The youngest Cusack sibling, Susie Cusack, hasn't made as many film appearances, but even she manages to have a few roles alongside her siblings. Susie made her film debut in 1992 in the film "Hero" alongside her sister, Joan, and later appeared with her and John in "High Fidelity." And their actor/playwright father, Dick Cusack, appeared with John in the aforementioned "Eight Men Out," as well as "Class" and "High Fidelity."

Bill Cusack is the fourth-born of the Cusack siblings and appears to be slightly less involved in the film industry than, say, John Cusack or Joan Cusack. When he was in his 20s, Bill was in a small theater group called New Crime with John and their family friend Jeremy Piven. In 1991, they put on a production of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," directed by John and starring Bill and Piven. As previously noted, he also acted alongside his siblings in "War, Inc."

On screen, Bill has 21 acting credits to his name, as well as one producing credit . Among those are his roles alongside his brother John, including "The Jack Bull," written by their father. Otherwise, he appears to have mostly stuck with theater, having been a member of The Actors' Gang in Los Angeles. He also worked as a writer for promos for an unnamed cable TV network, according to a biography on HuffPost.

The youngest of the Cusack siblings, Susie Cusack is arguably the least public-facing member of the family. In the 1992 Chicago Tribune profile of her and her sisters, Ann Cusack and Joan Cusack, she is described as "whimsically offbeat baby of the family, in love with risk and being bad with a capital B." Byrne Piven, who taught her at the Piven Theatre Workshop with the rest of the Cusacks, described her in the piece as delivering lines with "the most incredible singularity."

Susie made her film debut in the 1992 film "Hero," alongside her sister Joan, and made another appearance with John Cusack and their other siblings in "High Fidelity. In total, she has six acting credits to her name. Evidently, the acting bug didn't bite Susie as hard as it bit the other members of her family.

In 1998, the world was starting to become acquainted with Jack and Meg White and their alternative rock band The White Stripes. Through their first single "Let's Shake Hands" in the winter of '98 to their subsequent first and self-titled album in the summer of '99, people who got a taste of the band's unique garage rock sound were quickly becoming fans. A little over a decade later, The White Stripes would hold eight Grammy nominations and four wins. 

Although the ex-husband-and-wife duo would end up releasing seven albums, their last one was back in 2010. Still, their music continues to linger today. Attend nearly any sports venue and you'll be reminded of the twosome through their hit anthem "Seven Nation Army." As of this writing, Jack is still making music and showing no signs of slowing down. Meg, however, seems to have disappeared, existing only in the confines of band's last album "Under Great White Northern Lights." Whatever happened to her? You'll want to keep reading to find out.

Although The White Stripes' last album came out in the late winter of 2010, the duo played their last performance over a year prior. You could say that they went out with a bang. At the time, Conan O'Brien was facing his last time hosting NBC's Late Night. "When we were trying to decide which musical guest to feature on the last show after so many years, there was one band that was always on the top of my list," O'Brien said during the farewell episode. Although he said he "wasn't sure this could happen," the host welcomed The White Stripes.

The duo took the stage and performed a modified version of their 2001 song "We're Going to Be Friends." Although fans were expecting Meg to man the drums per usual she, instead, played guitar. Audiences knew this would be O'Brien's last time on Late Night, but no one knew this would be Jack and Meg's final performance together.

The White Stripes' performance on Late Night was a big deal even before fans realized it would be their last. According to Billboard, the twosome abruptly called off their entire United States tour just one day before it was set to begin in Albuquerque, New Mexico back in September 2007. At that time, the band also made the decision to cancel their upcoming United Kingdom tour, which was set to begin in mid-October 2007.

"The White Stripes announced today that they are canceling their forthcoming tour due to health issues," a short statement from the band to Rolling Stone revealed. "Meg White is suffering from acute anxiety and is unable to travel at this time." The statement continued: "We hate to let people down and are very sorry." As the publication stated, the band also bowed out of the Austin City Limits festival the day prior, citing "medical reasons."

In May 2010 — over a year after performing on Late Night and close to three years since their final concert — fans started to get their hopes up for a White Stripes reunion. Jack White told the The Times (via MTV) that he "would like to" get back together with his former bandmate to create some new music.

"I don't think her anxiety exists anymore," he told the publication, "but I don't know." Although it's hard to imagine that Meg's anxiety simply vanished, it was refreshing to hear that her mental health may have improved. Jack continued to give fans more hope when he confirmed that his ex-wife was present while he was rehearsing for The Dead Weather, a now-defunct band Jack White joined in 2009. "Meg's still involved and everything, but we've never sat down and gone, 'Okay, so don't forget to block out three months.'" This was not unusual for him and Meg, however. He explained, "We never did that, even in the thick of craziness of The White Stripes." Unfortunately for fans, though, the reunion never came.

In a scene from The White Stripes' 2009 documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights, Jack petitions his bandmate: "Meg, can you finally tell the whole world — finally once and for all — that people who think I never let you talk when we're doing interviews, can you tell them that that's — well, just tell them what your opinion is." In a rather uncomfortable moment, Meg responds, "I'm quiet. What can I say?" 

The tense conversation continues and eventually leads to an ironic exchange. Jack can be heard talking over Meg while asking what she would say to people that ask if Jack talks over her or won't let her talk. Hmm. Nevertheless, Meg revealed to her ex and the camera that she would say that Jack has "nothing to do with it." Whether Jack is the reason she's chosen to be quiet or not, it is certainly true that Meg is, indeed, not one to say much.

As an incredibly private introvert, Meg has become a bit of an enigma. She attained a high level of fame and then just seemingly disappeared. She's not on social media, she doesn't take interviews anymore — you'd even be hard-pressed to find a paparazzi photo of her just out and about. One of the few ways people are privy to the former singer and drummer's whereabouts are through Jack.

In 2014, Rolling Stone's contributing editor Jonah Weiner decided to ask the musician if he was still in contact with his former bandmate. "I don't think anyone talks to Meg," Jack admitted. "She's always been a hermit." He revealed that when they both lived in Detroit, Michigan (where Meg is thought to still live), he would "have to drive over to her house" if he wanted to have a conversation with her. By this point in time, Jack said he and Meg talked "almost never."

In Jack White's 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, the rocker wouldn't discuss his marriage to Meg, but did divulge that Meg wasn't a very supportive bandmate. "She's one of those people who won't high-five me when I get the touchdown," he told the magazine. "She viewed me that way of 'Oh, big deal, you did it, so what?' Almost every single moment of the White Stripes was like that." Although Rolling Stone and other publications reached out Meg for a comment, she did not reply. 

Jack went on to issue an apology on his website (via Billboard), calling Meg "a strong female presence in rock and roll." He explained that he hadn't meant to "slight her." He wrote, "I would never publicly do that to someone I love so dearly." Nevertheless, Meg did not respond — at least not publicly — and by the following year, Jack revealed that Meg "doesn't answer her phone" when he calls.

In March 2016, fans of The White Stripes and, especially, fans of Meg were surprised to hear that she was chosen as the replacement drummer for the rock band Rush. Only, this news turned out not to be even the slightest bit true. According to Snopes, the now-discontinued site Nevada County Scooper published an article that seemingly "confirmed" the news and included quotes from the band's lead guitarist. "We've worked very closed with Meg White over the past few months," the site claimed guitarist Alex Lifeson revealed in a telephone interview. But, this interview never happened.

Snopes revealed that the image used on the site was a "digitally altered" photo of Meg with a Rush logo superimposed onto the background. Of course, before you get too mad at the Nevada County Scooper for the false hope, they did claim to be a satirical site of the same ilk as The Onion. It could be that the site was poking fun at Meg, who had been widely criticized for her simplistic drumming style in the past.

Although Jack and Meg may not exactly be mortal enemies, the old adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" certainly applied to the couple back in October 2016. For the first time in years, The White Stripes issued a joint statement to Facebook. "Regarding the use of 'Seven Nation Army' in a Donald Trump campaign video, The White Stripes would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video," the former duo revealed. "They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song." 

Completely miffed by the then-candidate's decision to use their song, Jack and Meg began selling anti-Trump merch via Third Man Records just two days after the former couple released their statement. The "Icky Trump" shirts, which are a play on the song "Icky Thump," also feature lyrics from the hit song. Of course, this was probably not the reunion many were hoping for, but at least they got to talking again, right?

Even in 2018, Jack seems to go back and forth about his ex. In a Rolling Stone interview, the musician dubbed "Jack White solo" and The White Stripes one in the same. "There's only two people in the band. I was writing and producing and conducting. The melodies are coming from one person, the rhythm is coming from Meg," he explained. You have to wonder how Meg feels about being reduced to just "rhythm," while Jack takes credit for the rest.

After the interview was published, Jack backtracked when interviewed by KROQ's HD Radio Sound Space (via Uproxx). "[Meg's] appeal and what she brought to the band was this amazing minimalism that broke things down, much like many of the artists in the cubist movement or things like that, the De Stjil movement in the '20s." He continued, saying, "It was more powerful than if we had three guitar players in the band, and that's all due to her and the beauty that she brought to the music." 

Although Jack may have made up for the comments he made about Meg in various Rolling Stone interviews over the years, that doesn't necessarily mean the two are going to reunite. At least, it seems unlikely. With Meg still living a life so far away from the spotlight and with Jack still being very much a part of the music scene, the two are essentially worlds apart.

When Rolling Stone asked Jack point-blank if there was any slight chance that The White Stripes would get back together, Jack's facial expression said it all. The magazine revealed that he appeared to find the question strange, before replying, "I highly doubt that would ever be a thing." Since we can't exactly ask Meg, we'll just have to take Jack's word for it. Unfortunately, it seems that our favorite garage grunge duo — our Sonny and Cher of the early aughties — are officially a thing of the past.