NCIS: Which actor inspired Michael Weatherly to play Tony DiNozzo?

We no longer feature Michael Weatherly, internationally acclaimed for his portrayal of Tony DiNozzo on NCIS. After signing on to star in the series in 2003, the actor wowed as the bold but charming agent who eventually won the hearts of viewers – and his partner agent Ziva David, played by Cote de Pablo.

perfectly cast for the role, Michael Weatherly He gave his character a unique tone, but you knew he took inspiration from his former co-star. any ideas It turns out that after working on the series Dark Angel from 2000 to 2002, the actor took Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, The Boys) as Tony’s model.

“He was so free and relaxed that I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll imitate him a bit’, but I’m such a bad impersonator that it doesn’t matter because no one will recognize that I’m imitating Jensen Ackles.– he said during the podcast Off Duty: NCIS Rewatchby which he quickens Cote de Pablo Looking forward to their next series NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

“I started coming up with all these ideas, watching all these Cary Grant movies and thinking, “What has he done? How do I do this?’ And so much to accomplish.“

Find your character

he needed”Years of experienceto get to the heart of his character, but as most NCIS fans would agree, he was the only man for the job.

While on the CBS flagship series, the yes-no dynamic with Ziva showed fans a softer side of the character. Coincidentally, like Tony and Ziva, Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo They really disagreed during the meeting, which created a unique dynamic.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2009, Cote de Pablo said: “Michael and I “clicked” immediately. We kind of hated each other right away and loved each other right away. I went to the audition and he said, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to be so hard to be around him. It’s so complicated. And I thought, ‘This guy is incredibly unprofessional.’“

“He grabbed me by the hair during the audition. He didn’t want to follow the lines of dialogue. He went completely off script and started improvising, and that was my last audition with CBS executives. I was like, “This guy is ruining my hearing.” So I immediately thought, “Oh, I’m going to show this guy. I will show him.”“

“He tried to touch me and I actually liked him “, he continued. “This relationship was established immediately after our meeting. Nothing changed, it just got stronger. And we loved each other too. We realized that we were so different and so similar that there was an immediate attraction.“

In the end, this is the whole story of heroes: life imitated fiction or vice versa. And the rest is history. A relationship that was so cute and continues to be, so much so that we’ll soon see the couple in their own spin-off.

While we wait for NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which is slated to hit Paramount+ next year, NCIS Season 22 airs every Monday on CBS. You can watch the first 18 seasons of the show on Prime Video. The series also airs on M6, W9 and 6Ter.