Sasha Alexander Biography

Sasha Alexander (born Suzana Drobnjakovi"?; May 17, 1973) is an American actress.

She played the role of Gretchen Witter, the sister of Pacey Witter, on Dawson's Creek, Lucy in Yes Man (2008); and Catherine in He's Just Not That Into You (2009). Alexander also acted as former Secret Service/NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd for the first two seasons of NCIS.

She currently stars as The Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Maura Isles on the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles.

Early life

Sasha Alexander was born Suzana S. Drobnjakovi"? in Los Angeles, California, to a Serbian mother and Italian father. She began acting in school productions in the seventh grade. She also was an ice skater, but had to stop due to a knee injury. She continued acting through high school and college, and then moved to New York to act in summer stock and Shakespeare festivals. She graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, where she was a member of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, before going on to have a successful acting career in both TV and film.

Career

Alexander got her start on two short-lived series: the medical drama Presidio Med and ABC's twenty-something drama Wasteland. She achieved widespread media attention and critical praise when she appeared on the fourth season of Dawson's Creek as Gretchen Witter, dating the title character, and in an episode of the short-lived Fox comedy series Greg the Bunny, in which she played the part of a lesbian TV Guide reporter and shared an onscreen kiss with Sarah Silverman. Alexander has also appeared in the films Lucky 13, and All Over the Guy as well as He's Just Not That Into You, the independent movie The Last Lullaby, and Yes Man starring Jim Carrey.

Before being cast as Caitlin Todd on NCIS, she appeared on CSI as District Attorney Robin Childs, in the episode "Alter Boys".

Alexander joined NCIS as Secret Service/NCIS Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd in 2003. She replaced Vivian Blackadder played by Robyn Lively, who only appeared in the back-door pilot episodes, "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" on JAG. The official pilot episode "Yankee White" aired September 23, 2003 on CBS.

Alexander's year and a half tenure on the show ended in May 2005 when her character, Kate, was killed off when a terrorist shot her in the head in the last few seconds of the Season 2 finale, "Twilight". The "official explanation" for the actress's departure was that "she asked to be let out of her contract to pursue other opportunities".

In her final two appearances in the "Kill Ari" two-part, Alexander was credited as a Special Guest Star. Chilean actress Cote de Pablo, who plays Ziva David, later permanently replaced Alexander on the show. However, despite having left the show, Alexander made a few further appearances in NCIS with her last one being on the 200th episode, "Life Before His Eyes". However, she wasn't given any official credit of any kind for those appearances, making her appearances in Seasons 1 and 2 as well as her guest appearances in the first two episodes of Season 3 the only ones where she has been credited.

She also had a small role in 2006's Mission: Impossible III. She joined the cast of The Nine in the role of Nick's ex-wife. She also appeared in one episode of Friends ("The One with Joey's Interview"), playing a Soap Opera Digest reporter who interviewed Joey.

Her current television role is that of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles on the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles with Angie Harmon, which debuted on July 12, 2010.

Personal life

On August 11, 2007, Alexander married director Edoardo Ponti, son of actress Sophia Loren and the late film producer Carlo Ponti, in Geneva, Switzerland. Alexander and Ponti have two children, Lucia Sofia (born May 12, 2006) and Leonardo Fortunato (born December 20, 2010). Alexander is best friends with Grey's Anatomy star Jessica Capshaw. The pair were repeatedly told they looked alike and eventually struck up conversation after meeting at an audition.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Visceral Matter	Karen Chambers
1997	Battle of the Sexes
1999	Twin Falls Idaho	Miss America
2001	All Over the Guy	Jackie Samantha Gold
2005	Lucky 13	Susie
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Melissa Meade
2008	'	Sarah
2008	Yes Man	Lucy Burns
2009	He's Just Not That Into You	Catherine
2009	Tenure	Margaret
2009	Play Dead	Carolanne
2009	Love Happens	Jessica (photographer)
2010	Coming and Going	Alex Michaels

Television

Year	Title	Role Name	Episode Count	Notes
1999	Wasteland	Jesse Presser	13 episodes	Main Role
2000" 2001	Dawson's Creek	Gretchen Witter	20 episodes	Recurring Role Season 4
2001	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	District Attorney Robin Childs	1 episode	Guest Role
2001	Ball & Chain	Chloe Jones	TV film
2002	Friends	Shelley the interviewer	1 episode	Guest Role
2002	Greg the Bunny	Laura Carlson	1 episode	Guest Role
2002	Presidio Med	Dr. Jackie Collette	14 episodes	Main Role
2003	Expert Witness	Unknown	TV film
2003" 2012	NCIS	Special Agent Caitlin Todd	50 episodes	Main Role Season 1"2 / Guest Role Season 3,8,9
2006	E-Ring	Allyson Merrill	1 episode	Guest Role
2006	'	Juliana	1 episode	Guest Role
2009	'	Emily Atwood	1 episode	leading role
2009	House	Nora, House and Wilson's neighbor	1 episode	Guest Role
2009	Dark Blue	DEA Agent Julia Harris	2 episodes	Guest Role
2010"present	Rizzoli & Isles	Dr. Maura Isles	40 episodes	Main Role