The faculty and agents of the hit series ''Series/{{NCIS}}''.
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[[folder: Main Characters]]
!! Special Agent in Charge Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LeroyJethroGibbsNCIS_5376.png]]
->'''Tony:''' ''What have you heard? That suspects would rather confess than be interrogated by him? That his steely gaze can cool a room by five degrees? That he can only be killed by a silver bullet, like a werewolf? Well, it's all true, except the silver bullet part. Might give him indigestion or heartburn, but I don't think it'd kill him. Any other questions?''

Not to be confused with [[LudicrousGibs Ludicrous Gibbs]], though he does pull some pretty crazy stunts to get the bad guys. The team leader, a former Marine sniper, and interrogator extraordinaire.

* ActionDad
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Only Gibbs could turn his repeated [[DopeSlap dope slaps]] to [=DiNozzo=] into this.
* AlwaysGetsHisMan: Highlighted in ''Mind Games'': The serial killer featured in that episode was the boogeyman of D.C. when he was active, evading metro cops and terrorizing the female populace. When explaining the case to [=McGee=], Tony and Paula Cassidy finished by saying "But he made one crucial mistake: He killed a Petty Officer."
* AmnesiaDanger: In "Hiatus", a bomb blast knocks Gibbs back to his Marine days. He has critical information that he doesn't remember. Luckily, [[EasyAmnesia remembrance]] is just a DopeSlap away.
* AtonementDetective
* {{Badass}}: There's a good reason why he has MemeticBadass status in-universe.
** BadassGrandpa
* BadBoss: Gibbs leans toward this when he's really angry or upset, as his already-considerable impatience skyrockets, his tolerance for the team's personality quirks goes right out the window, and he gets a lot snippier and DrillSergeantNasty-ish.
* BerserkButton: Do not insult, desecrate or harm the US Marines or anyone associated with them to the Nth degree. Do not hurt any member of his team or anyone else he cares about. And seven ''thousand'' times never hurt Abby (though Abby usually has the situation well in hand).
** People who do harm to kids, especially their own.
** Messing with his coffee, although his reaction to this is fairly minor in comparison to the others.
* BunnyEarsLawyer
* [[BornInTheWrongCentury Born In The Wrong Decade]]: Fairly consistent throughout the series. Example: he tried to get a USB drive to work by biting it.
** He also refers to computer chips and the like with terms such as "doo-da" and "deweywhacker."
** It's hard to keep track of how many cell phones he's destroyed during the run of the series, either because they malfunctioned or just generally annoyed him. One even wound up in a jar of paint thinner. His agents now keep plenty of spares in their desks, ready to hand to him at a moment's notice. When the stash ran out, the tech department went crazy.
** When a Roomba vacuum cleaner was about to suck up some of the evidence from a crime scene, he didn't even bother picking it up or trying to turn it off. ''He stomped it to pieces.''
* BrokenBird
* ByronicHero
* TheCaptain
* CartwrightCurse: With his first wife and Jenny Shepard.
* CatchPhrase: "Ya think?", "What's the point, [=McGee=]?", "Yeah, Gibbs" (default phone answer), and "That's a good question, [Character]. Why don't you find me an answer?"
* ChestOfMedals: Subverted, he's {{Badass}} enough to have earned numerous medals and citations to be this if he wanted but he doesn't care for medals, Tony apparently keeps track of his accomplishments. He even gave away his Silver Star which is the third highest honour that a US serviceman can get for valour in the face of the enemy.
* ColdSniper: Marine sniper previous to his current employment.
* CoolOldGuy
* CowboyCop: But he always gets away with it. He's ''Gibbs''. And "he only uses his powers for good".
* CrazyPrepared: As shown in the blackout, he has a kit with three polaroid cameras, Band-Aids, food, and clean socks.
* CrusadingWidower: He didn't rest until he hunted down and killed the man who slaughtered his first wife and their eight-year-old daughter. Actually, he didn't rest after that either.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DeathGlare
* {{Determinator}}
* DopeSlap: Aka the "Gibbs Slap" done to all of his agents and Abby at least once, but to Tony the most. He even occasionally self-inflicts when he knows he's doing something he'd slap any of his agents for.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Kate at one point describes his driving as "Apparently Gibbs is trying to kill us." He's also the only one on the team unfazed by the motorist antics of Ziva, another crazy driver.
* {{Embarrassing First Name}}: Though it's never stated that he's embarrassed by it, [[DoNotCallMePaul no one except residents of his hometown or his ex-wives call him 'Leroy']].
* FairCop
* AFatherToHisMen: Ziva directly calls him "the closest thing she has to a father". (Note that her father is very much alive.)[[spoiler:Well... ''was''...]]
** Later, he explicitly refers to his team as his "kids."
** A special notice should go to Tony as well, despite his father also being alive.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* FriendToAllChildren: Probably has something to do with Kelly. If there's a child involved, he will take the case very [[ItsPersonal seriously.]]
* GuileHero: Just as guile as a MagnificentBastard is magnificent.
* GutFeeling: It's legendary. Some fans consider his gut an extra character. His gut has MemeticBadass status ''in-universe.''
* TheHero
* HasAType: One dead wife, three ex-wives and two ex-girlfriends were redheads.
* HeroesWantRedHeads: His four past wives, and Jenny Shepard (who the two had a past relationship) are all redheads. He's dating a redhead currently.
** Not anymore, now it's a blonde...
** .. And a brunette...
** When Tony learns about Gibbs flirting with a suspect, his immediate response is "Is she a redhead?" She is.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Ducky.
* HopelessWithTech
* ItsPersonal: He has a tendency to do this. As said, anything involving children (or otherwise reminding him of Shannon and Kelly) automatically becomes this. Hurting anyone from his team also pushes him to this point. But every criminal that is disgusting enough to him can trigger this.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* KnightInShiningArmor: To the women in his team, especially Abby.
* LastNameBasis
* LaymansTerms: Does this at least once an episode, mostly to Abby, Ducky and [=McGee=].
* TheLeader
* MagneticHero
* MemeticBadass: In-universe.
* MilitaryMaverick
* MustHaveCaffeine: In the form of coffee.
* [[OldSoldier Old Marine]].
* PapaWolf: Do ''not'' endanger his people. Just don't. ''Epecially'' Abby.
-->'''Abby''':(telling Gibbs why she didn't tell him about an ex she got a restraining order on) "I wanted him restrained, Gibbs, not beaten to a bloody pulp."
** He extends these tendencies in the episode "Requiem" to his deceased daughter's now grown friend Maddie. Twice he's asked if he's her father. He shrugs it off. But ultimately, it's evident he views her in the same light as the rest of his team...as family.
* PerpSweating: A master of interrogation.
** Especially when applying his DeathGlare.
** Don't make Gibbs slap the table. [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry You wouldn't like Gibbs when he slaps the table.]]
* PhraseCatcher: "On it, Boss."
* RightBehindMe: Tends to evoke this reaction from his agents.
* RuleNumberOne: "Never let suspects stay together," or maybe it's "Never screw over your partner." There a lot more "Gibbs Rules", but it's hard to keep track, since he tends to make up NewRulesAsThePlotDemands.
** The ones shown tend to be consistent: Never let suspects stay together, Never go anywhere without a knife, Never involve lawyers, Never get personally involved, Never screw over your partner. Rule 44 was sent to Mike Franks to get him away from his house before he was attacked. We only see 15 out of 51 rules for the most part.
* SexyMentor
* SemperFi: And Gibbs always remembers it.
* SilverFox
* TheStrategist
* SugarAndIcePersonality
* TeamDad: To his agents, but especially to Abby.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Took a little longer than most but he had one.
* UltimateJobSecurity: It may change with Vance, but it seems this man can never get canned.
** And, now Vance and Gibbs are friends of a sort, ''and'' Vance knows that Gibbs has the ''unaltered'' copy of Vance's personnel file - even if he's never opened it. ''Yet''. Nope, Gibbs has yet again armor-plated his job security in adamantium.
** When Gibbs "retired" at the end of season 3, it later was revealed that Director Shepard had "neglected" to file his retirement. His job security is so great he can't quit even if he wants to!
** It has been implied on occasion that before Vance, and possibly even during Vance's tenure, Gibbs would be Director if he ever decided he wanted the job; the sheer havoc he could cause if denied means only a fool would try to stop him.
*** It has been implied more than once that Gibbs knows how to deal with politics and how to act as a proper Director. He just doesn't care to do so.
** Of course the one time Gibbs acted as Director while Jenny was away... let's just say he doesn't have the patience for the politics.
--->'''Director Sheppard''': Jethro's a great field agent, a great team leader, and he deals more efficiently with difficult politicians than I do.\\
'''Captain Todd Gelfand''': Then why isn't he the...\\
'''Director Sheppard''': He shoots them.
* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: [[invoked]] The team has had discussions pitting Gibbs vs. the likes of TheTerminator, Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, Mothra, and [[MirrorMatch himself]]. They tend to [[MemeticBadass give the edge to Gibbs.]]
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Referred to as such, though in different wording.
* WorkingWithTheEx

!!Senior Special Agent Anthony "Tony" [=DiNozzo=] Jr. (Michael Weatherly)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TonyDinozzoNCIS_6560.png]]
->'''Ziva:''' ''Tony, your dying words will be 'I've seen this film'.''

* BecomingTheMask: In season four when he went undercover.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Ziva.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Very often Gibbs catches him apparently slacking off, only to then reveal all the investigation and work he's been doing.
* BerserkButton:
** Don't '''ever''' betray NCIS or the USA in general (like [[spoiler:Agent Lee]]) or [[HypocriticalHeartwarming make fun of people he makes fun of but you don't know]] (like Det. [=McCadden=]).
** Oh... and don't try to kill him and then think you can work with him.
** And for the love of all things military, leave Ziva alone.
* ButtMonkey: In the early seasons, this was his position for the most part. In the pilot, he was thrown out of a car onto a highway and in the second he was thrown out a plane, he had a parachute in this case.
* CatchPhrase: "On it, boss."
* ClearMyName: Twice. First [[spoiler:the lab assistant Chip hated him for getting him fired in the past]] and sought out a complicated, nearly forensic-proof case. Second [[spoiler:Jeanne Benoit]] claimed to have seen him [[spoiler:kill her father, the arms dealer René Benoit ("La Grenouille")]].
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* DeadpanSnarker
* DistressedDude: Generally, Tony is the resident dude in distress, but he usually manages to get himself out of his situations by himself.
* ExasperatedPerp: His preferred method of interrogation. Most prominent when he doesn't ask questions, but just sits there, chewing on his tie and playing ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' on his phone.
** He once inverted the trope, pulling it off while ''he'' was the one being interrogated. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome By the director of Mossad,]] who he successfully aggravated into admitting that he had [[spoiler: sent the agent Tony had killed to spy on a but a meeting of several law enforcement agencies, which were discussing an operation regarding Israel.]]
* FairCop
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Sanguine
* FreudianExcuse: One that's something of a TearJerker: It turns out the reason Tony's such a movie buff is because his mother took him to movie theaters a lot when he was a kid before her death; they were even watching a movie when she passed away in the hospital. Ziva notes the {{irony}} that this is the first time Tony's ever mentioned his mother to her.
* GenreSavvy: He's a big movie buff, and will very often find a way to compare the current case to a movie he's seen.
** Occasionally, however, he turns out to be WrongGenreSavvy.
* HandsomeLech
* HeyYou: Calling [=McGee=] Probie or one of many [=McNicknames=].
* JerkJock: He did graduate with a major in Phys Ed you know...
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: If you dig deep enough, you may find it, somewhere.
* LadykillerInLove: With Jeanne Benoit; he was undercover at the time, so it wasn't supposed to happen.
* TheLancer
* LockedInAFreezer: With Ziva in "Boxed In".
* MockMillionaire
* TheMovieBuff
* MrFanservice
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Is on the receiving end of this ''twice'' in the episode "Last Man Standing."
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Of course, there's the [=McNicknames=], but Tony gets his own share of this from Fornell, who pronounces his name [=DiNotso=] (he says the double z's like 'pizza') and occasionally [=McGee=] calls him [=DiNosey=].
* NumberTwo: Abby at one point claims he "becomes Gibbs" when Gibbs is not around.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: In the rare times when he's totally serious, it's almost scary.
** Watch his interrogation room time in "Iced." He may have majored in Phys Ed, but he paid attention in his core classes.
* PluckyComicRelief: In the first few seasons.
* PornStash: We've never seen it, but it must require a C-5 Galaxy to carry.
** However, in "Bikini Wax," he reveals that he has a subscription to "GSM" ("Get Some Magazine"), and brings in one of the issues from his collection because the victim had a photo shoot in it.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Owns a literal one. Her name's Kate. (See below.)
* ReferenceOverdosed: His movie references turn this show into this all on his own.
* SharpDressedMan: Several episodes reveal that his wardrobe is a who's-who of expensive name brands. His grousing during the shower scene in "SWAK" is one of the best examples:
--> '''Tony''': This very instant, someone is incinerating my Ermenegildo Zegna suit, my Armani tie, my Dolce & Gabbana shirt, and my Gucci shoes!
* SmallNameBigEgo
* SpannerInTheWorks: Tony is often so unpredictable that he can screw over the best laid plans of the villains by simply being his annoying self. This is also his preferred method of interrogation, thinking so far out of the loop that rehearsed defenses are useless, and being so annoying or weird that the suspect is unable to think clearly. This methodology also proves useful when he is being interrogated by the FBI or the Director of Mossad. He even called himself one in the season 7 opener:
--> '''Tony''': I'm the wildcard. I'm the guy that looks at the reality in front of him and refuses to accept it.
* TallDarkAndSnarky
* TookALevelInBadass: ''Multiple'' levels between seasons three and four, then smaller yet still noticeable levels between seasons five and six, then multiple levels again between seasons six and seven.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: A little with Kate, but to a much greater degree with Ziva.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Starting in season five. He acknowledges in Season Six that he's going through a dry spell since falling in love while undercover. He just doesn't want anyone to know.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Type 2 with [=McGee=]. They act almost like [[SiblingRivalry brothers]].
** Tony is also very close to Gibbs, but you wouldn't say so from their [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold normal]] [[DopeSlap interactions]]. It's the same story with Kate (which appears at first like a type 1), and with Ziva.
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** Mostly in the early seasons, with Gibbs.
** Also clearly present with his biological father. They're improving.

!!Field Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander)
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->''"Hack into the servers. I can't believe I just said that. I would have never suggested that before I started working here."''

* ActionGirl
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Can be cold, especially towards Tony.
* [[spoiler: BoomHeadshot]]
* BrainyBrunette
* BlatantLies / {{Hypocrite}}: She and her friends conducted themselves with dignity on spring break, she says. College fraternities are bizarre, she says. Tony's MaleGaze habit is sick and wrong, she says. But then they walk in on a photo shoot for the [[MrFanservice US men's water polo team]] and she gets DistractedByTheSexy about as easily as Tony ever did.
* CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: Tony imagines her dressed as such.
** Also an {{homage}} as she was dressed as [[KillBill Gogo]].
* [[spoiler: [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped a Bridge on Her]]]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* EmotionlessGirl: You can feel a breath of cold air when she talks, especially to Tony.
* FairCop
* [[spoiler: FamousLastWords: ''(after Tony told her that she did well and Gibbs said he was right)'' [[KilledMidSentence "Wow, I thought I'd die before I ever heard..."]]]]
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* FormerTeenRebel: [=DiNozzo=] finds out that when she was a university student, she once engaged in (and won) a wet T-shirt contest.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She thinks she is a good one but has helped more than one murderous psychopath because they look sympathetic. [[spoiler:One nearly kills her, another actually does.]]
* ImGoingToHellForThis: In the episode where the victim and attacker were on the same "dating" site
--->'''Abby:''' Care to guess what their fetish was, Kate?\\
'''Kate:''' Oh, no. I'm going to hell just listening to all this.
* InformedAbility: Ari comments on her freakish observation skills - but the next episode Gibbs corrects her recreation of room. And on a different occasion this former Secret Service agent couldn't kill Ari because his eyes looked kind...
** Not to mention the time she was so sure Gibbs hadn't seen a bomb she told him he needed glasses. It was a delayed-explosive.
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal]]
* LadyOfWar
* MoodWhiplash: Causes two cases back to back in the Season 2 finale when she [[spoiler: takes a bullet for Gibbs]] only to reveal [[spoiler: she was wearing a bullet-proof vest]] only to then [[spoiler: immediately get shot in the head]].
* MsFanservice: A major subplot in one episode revolved around Tony finding a (real) picture of her in a wet T-shirt contest and using it as blackmail material.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: She felt like this at times with Gibbs and Tony at the beginning.
* RavenHairIvorySkin
* SugarAndIcePersonality
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The Tomboy to Abby's Girly Girl.
* [[spoiler: TonightSomeoneDies]]
* TwoFirstNames

!!Abigail "Abby" Sciuto (Pauley Perrette)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AbbySciutoNCIS_8845.png]]
->'''Tony:''' ''Abby Sciuto, resident NCIS forensic scientist, heart and soul. [[ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma A paradox wrapped in an oxymoron, smothered in contradictions in terms.]] Sleeps in a coffin. Really, the happiest goth you'll ever meet.''

* AllWomenArePrudes: Subverted. She has no problem with sex, just certain expressions of it (like Palmer's foot/shoe fetish AND how carefully he takes note of his coworker's footwear...)
* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: See her character quote.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis
* BadassAdorable: Once, she was AloneWithThePsycho, [[spoiler: who was her current assistant,]] and he tried to kill her. The team figured it out, and came running, [[RedundantRescue only to find that she had kicked his ass, hog tied him, and gagged him.]] She wasn't even winded.
** There's also the time she [[spoiler: was taken by a hitman hired to kill her to prevent her from testifying.]] By the time Gibbs and company arrive, she's using a taser on him.
--> '''Abby:''' ''(To the hitman, lying on the ground [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl squealing]] while she stands over him) And don't look up my skirt!'' **zaps**
* BadassBookworm
* BerserkButton: Abby's two biggest pet peeves are people who claim to be vegetarians but still eat chicken, and poorly handled evidence.
** She is this to all of Team Gibbs. If she's missing, off they go to find her.
** In "Toxic," (Season 6, Episode 21), she insists, "What is Abby's rule #1? Do not lie to Abby."
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** She once threatened Agent Lee that she's one of the few people in the world who can kill someone and leave absolutely no forensic evidence.
** And a couple times people tried to hurt Abby, the scene cuts to agents running to help her, and when they arrive, Abby has taken her attacker down, and is clearly coming down from a major adrenaline rush (see BadassAdorable).
** She can verbally dress you down as well as Gibbs, and in a way it's even more harsh just because it's coming from ''her''.
* BoringButPractical: Her job as TheLabRat.
* BrainsAndBondage
* BrainyBrunette
* BreakoutCharacter
* BunnyEarsLawyer: See PerkyGoth. Can also be something of OneOfTheKids at times.
* TheCastShowoff: Pauley Perrette has a Masters Degree in Criminal Science.
* CatchPhrase: "I hate it when he/she/they does/do that."
* CheekCopy: Admits in "Left for Dead" (Season 1, Episode 10) that she did this once.
* CheerfulChild: In a flashback we see she was an ''extremely'' cheerful tomboy with a knack for science and detective work.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Abby plays the halves of the trope title separately with [=McGee=]. The "clingy" can kick in when she's upset or worried. The "jealous" can kick in if there's a non-team member around who pulls [=McGee=]'s attention away from her (e.g. an ICE agent played by Jaime "''{{Hustle}}''" Murray). You'd swear at times that they were still dating...
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* DespairEventHorizon: When she thought [[spoiler: she isn't doing enough good to counteract all the bad]] she was horribly detracted and ''even called in sick''. Triggered when she was reminded of her very first "case": [[spoiler: When she was a child she found a little girl's teddy bear and went to return it, but due to family drama (the girl's dad hated his father-in-law who had given her the bear) the girl couldn't take it back; she even found the girl's grandpa who told her it was impossible. Eventually Abby secretly gave her one of her own toys instead and kept that bear until it fell apart.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* EmbarrassingFirstName: She doesn't much care for being called "Abigail".
* FirstNameBasis: Besides his wife and Gibbs, she's the only one who calls Director Vance "Leon".
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: A hybrid of Melancholic and Sanguine.
* FreakyFashionMildMind
* GenkiGirl: If this were a manga, she would be most likely to SayItWithHearts.
* GirlishPigtails
** "Hit and Run" shows that she had these even as an ''actual'' young girl.
* TheGlomp
* [[spoiler:HappilyAdopted: Nine seasons in and we learn she was this to her deaf parents.]]
* TheHeart: As indicated in the character quote, again. Even those who ''know'' she isn't an easy mark will go after her first for that reason.
* HotScientist
* ICallItVera: "Major Mass Spec" and her other lab equipment. She also names her own teeth, though they appear to be masculine names - one is Frank.
* ImprobableAge: Abby was stated as being in her late twenties during season 7. And it's also been heavily implied she has a [=PhD=] in chemistry.
* IWorkAlone: For the sake of ''everyone'' involved. Including the bad guys.
* IllPretendIDidntHearThat: When Michelle Lee suggests that NCIS is better off without Gibbs in the episode "Escaped":
-->'''Abby:''' I like you Michelle, so I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that.
* KillerRabbit: See below.
* TheLabRat
* LetsGetDangerous: People who target Abby tend to wish they hadn't (via [[OffScreenMomentOfAwesome off-screen mayhem]]).
* LoveYouAndEverybody: She's a big-time hugger.
* MoralityPet: To Gibbs. He refers to her as the team mascot.
* MotorMouth: And how. It seems the more stressed she is, the faster she'll talk and the more tangents she'll go off on. Usually Gibbs has to pull her back on track.
* MsFanservice: FetishFuel, indeed.
* MustHaveCaffeine: In the form of "Caf Pow" soda.
** She's tried to break the addiction before. It never works.
* NerdsAreSexy
* NightmareFetishist
-->'''Marty:''' You wouldn't happen to have an unhealthy obsession with death, would you?\\
'''Abby:''' Oh, no. It's just a hobby.
* ParasolOfPrettiness: Has a black, lacy one, that she carries in a few episodes. Speaking of which...
* PerkyGoth: If you put [[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy Lisbeth Salander]] and [[WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop Penelope Pitstop]] in a blender...
* PowerEchoes: "...and I will rise up, and I will ''find'' the man that did this to Tony, and I will ''crucify him!''"
* RavenHairIvorySkin
* ReallyGetsAround: Abby's sex life hasn't gotten much attention since the early seasons, but it is known to be... eclectic.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Energetic Girl to [=McGee=]'s Savvy Guy.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Most notably in the HalloweenEpisode, "Witch Hunt", from Season 4, where she dresses up as Creator/MarilynMonroe in ''Film/TheSevenYearItch'', causing speechlessness in [=McGee=] and [=DiNozzo=] when they first see her.
* SherlockScan: When Abby's teaching a class on forensics for the Mexican government, one of her students looks at her and snarkily asks if she forgot when The Day of The Dead is. Abby proceeds to tell the woman that she has a cat. When the woman isn't impressed, Abby reels off a list of things she's observed that range from the woman having ''three'' cats of two different breeds, all the way to the fact that she's currently ovulating. The woman quickly shuts up.
* ShesGotLegs: "And ''don't'' look up my skirt!"
* SignLanguage: Her parents were deaf, so she's equally proficient in English and ASL.
* StrangeGirl
* TeamPet
* TechnoBabble
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The Girly Girl to Kate and Ziva's Tomboy.
** Being a WrenchWench puts her in {{Tomboy}} territory, too.
* TooKinkyToTorture: Implied with Abby in "Bloodbath":
-->'''[=McGee=]:''' Now, you stay here and don't answer the door, or I will tie you up!
-->'''Abby:''' ''Really?''
* {{Tsundere}}: On any given episode she can be the sweetest, most loving and caring ball of fluff on the series and turn around to threatening anyone with the fact that she can kill them and leave no forensic evidence. Witness her Dere to Tsun turn around in the season 5 episode "Dog Tags" with [=McGee=] when she first sees [=McGee=] hurt, only to wanting to never have met him when she realized he shot a dog. Never mind that [[CrimeOfSelfDefense It Was Self-Defense]].
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Rather, will they or won't they ''again''; she and [=McGee=] used to date, and still have chemistry, up to and including being jealous of whoever the other one is currently seeing.
* VanityLicensePlate: "4NS CHIK"
* ZettaiRyouiki

!!Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David [=McCallum=])
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DuckyNCIS_4041.png]]
->''"I look forward to [[ImpliedDeathThreat weighing your liver]]."''

* BadassGrandpa
* BonnieScotland
* BowTiesAreCool: Predating MattSmith by about seven years.
* BerserkButton: In "Seadog", Ducky goes ballistic on a local LEO who contaminates a crime scene so he can get in good with the news reporter on the scene. Later in "Conspiracy Theory" we see him going at a psychiatrist whose poor standards led to one of his patients being murdered.
* BrokenBird: OK, he's not a woman. But goodness, that was even the actual name of the episode when we see just a glimpse of his past.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: His tendency to go on long speeches during work is lampshaded by Palmer when he does his first dissection. "I'm suddenly overcome with the desire to share a story of only a peripherally relevant nature."
* ClearMyName: Subverted, Ducky didn't want to clear it, but Gibbs did.
* CoolOldGuy
* TheCoroner
* CreepyMortician: A very lovable kind of creepy, but still damn creepy. Gibbs finds it a useful way to break some suspects by showing them what will happen to their bodies if they refuse to cooperate and end up dead as a result. It works too.
** He is kidnapped and nearly killed by one, who begins to drain his blood before Gibbs and company arrive to save him.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: Rarely has he ever raised his voice in anger or struck someone. He uses non-physical forms of intimidation.
* HeroesWantRedHeads: The very lovely Dr. Jordan Hampton.
* TheMedic: In addition to being the Medical Examiner.
* TheMunchausen: Subverted, as it seems to be generally accepted by those who know him that his stories are true.
* MyBelovedSmother: His mother had Alzheimer's and drove him crazy in early seasons; she was put in a home [[RealLifeWritesThePlot shortly after the death of her actress in late 2008]] and died a year later.
* NonActionGuy
* NoSenseOfDirection: He blames his assistants but he's always the one giving directions.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Which leads to...
** PunnyName: With a name like that, what did you think he'd be called, Mousey?
** Ari actually first thinks of the locomotive, mildly surprising Ducky.
* TheProfiler
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: He is, of course, Scottish, but he was schooled at [[{{Oxbridge}} Oxford]]. This trope, therefore, naturally applies.
* RhymesOnADime: "Witch Hunt" has this one:
--> The sky is blue, the grass is green,
--> May we have our Halloween?
* ShownTheirWork: A meta-version. To prepare for the role, David [=McCallum=] went to coroner and medical examiner's conferences to learn the trade. He became so good the producers were tempted to pay him a consulting fee.
* TalkingToTheDead: He routinely does this with his "patients." TruthInTelevision: RealLife medical examiners have been known to do this.
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: He became a licensed psychologist in later seasons after we see him studying for his exams and is occasionally called-upon to profile a suspect.

!!Special Agent Timothy [=McGee=] (Sean Murray)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TimothyMcGeeNCIS_8580.png]]
->'''Abby:''' ''I love it when you talk geek!''
->'''[=McGee=]:''' ''I love it that you love it.''

* BigBrotherInstinct: Will do some irrational things to protect his college-age sister, some of which have jeopardized his career once.
* BunnyEarsLawyer
* ButtMonkey
* CatchPhrase: "On it, boss."
* ClearMyName
* CoolCar: Had one in high school, much to the surprise of Tony. He shares in lamenting the car's demise when [=McGee=] told him of its fate.
* DeadpanSnarker: In later seasons.
* FairCop: Sean Murray as Agent [=McGee=] would seem to be the only one to avert this, but then he lost a good amount of weight entering Season 7, and now we can pretty much include him.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leucine.
* HiddenDepths: A tech head, hacker and best selling author.
** Who loves the outdoors and has various skills from the scouts, including tracking abilities.
* HollywoodNerd: He plays role-playing games online, prompting the others to occasionally call him "Elf Lord."
* IdiotBall: When his sister showed up to his apartment obviously drugged, in a stupor saying she killed someone, and covered in blood, the seasoned investigator grabs this with a dose of BigBrotherInstinct as he doesn't take her to NCIS or even the hospital. He lets her shower and by the time she does get her blood tested, the drugs had metabolized. The Director calls him out on this, hoping it would trick him into resigning.
* LastNameBasis
* LoserHasYourBack: Plays this role once or twice in early seasons, but he's no longer enough of a loser to pull it off.
* MostWritersAreWriters: He's a successful author of novels inspired by his workplace and coworkers, which he writes under the name "Thom E. Gemcity." (It's an anagram of Timothy [=McGee=].)
* MrFixit: "Special Agent Goodwrench," season two, episode four.
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Suffers from all of Tony's Mc-names and being called "Probie."
* MysteryWriterDetective: [=McGee=] is a special agent, who wrote a best selling novel... that he would have preferred his coworkers never found out about. Later on, he was able to use his fame to get into a club that other undercover agents couldn't get in to.
* NameMcAdjective: Tony gives him a lot of Mc-nicknames to work with.
* NerdsAreSexy
* ProperlyParanoid: [=McGee=] never tells anyone where he works. He'll give out cell numbers, pages, etc, but he never mentions NCIS. Which is how he knows, when his new girlfriend shows up to pick him up after work, that she's not who she says she is. Overlaps with INeverSaidItWasPoison.
* RecurringCharacter: In season 1.
** PromotionToOpeningTitles: Starting season 2.
* [[spoiler:RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Not his own, but Ziva's, against Bodnar.]]
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Savvy Guy to Abby's Energetic Girl.
* TheSmartGuy
* TechnoBabble
* TookALevelInBadass: Between seasons six and seven. Big time. Most exemplified in the recent episode "Need To Know" when he was giving the young Special Agent Dorneget tips onto how he could possibly join the Major Case Squad as well as some of Gibbs' rules.[[hottip:*:And then Dorneget reveals he forgot his service weapon.]]
** The extra levels in badass arguably started with the sixth season episode "Caged", where he has to solve a murder case in a [[GirlsBehindBars women's prison]] pretty much on his own. Compare the phone calls he has with a car mechanic [[BookEnds at the start and at the end]] of the episode.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Tony, behaving much like a pair of [[SiblingRivalry squabbling brothers]] at times.
* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:Ziva is not hunting Bodnar on her own. [=McGee=] has been helping her track Bodnar's movements. The scene in which Tony finds out what they're doing is played [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything like he caught them sleeping together.]] ]]
* WillTheyOrWontThey: As noted above with Abby.

!!Special Agent Ziva David (Cote de Pablo)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ZivaNCIS_3255.png]]
->'''Eli David:''' ''Use her well, Leon. Ziva is the sharp end of the spear.''

->''"Have you ever been tied up by a woman before? Did you like it? Then today's not your lucky day."''

* ActionGirl: Ziva is (ex-)Mossad. The show frequently implies she ''used'' to be a DarkActionGirl.
* [[ARealManIsAKiller A Real Woman Is A Killer]]
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Ziva started out this way. She gradually mellows.
* AmbiguouslyBi: Ziva [[GirlOnGirlIsHot enjoys dropping casual hints]] to Tony that she likes girls as well. [[ButNotTooBi So far she's only been seen with male lovers though]]. Mostly played for laughs or titillation.
* {{Badass}}: Early on in Ziva's tenure at NCIS, she is not allowed to participate in taking down suspects. Another woman comments on the presumed chauvinism of this. Ziva replies that Gibbs is actually afraid she'll ''kill the suspect by mistake''.
** Then it [[FunnyAneurysmMoment happened]].
*** And again. [[hottip:First: Once when chasing an overweight suspect who has a heart attack when climbing some stairs. She's chastised despite it not being her fault, but mostly out of frustration at losing a lead and it doesn't last the scene.]] [[hottip:Second: And again, much more serious, when she punches an obnoxious suspect in the neck, causing him to drop dead despite her insisting that she does know her own strength and couldn't have killed him. [[spoiler:Ducky finds a blood clot in his brain that could have been released and gotten lodged there by the punch, but ultimately rules Natural Causes.]] [[hottip:Third: Ilan Bodnar, but whether that was accidental is debatable.]]
* BadassIsraeli: ''Mossad''
* [[spoiler: BecomingTheMask: It is suspected by Leon Vance at the end of season 6 and confirmed by Ziva in early season 7 that she was ordered by her father to kill Ari in order to gain Gibbs' trust and spy on the team. By the end of season 3, her crying over Gibbs' life threatening conditioning shows she has become closer to her targets than a cold assassin ought to be.]]
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Tony.
* BerserkButton: A couple, but God help you if you hurt Tony.
* TheBigGuy: At least in relation to the FiveManBand.
* BrainyBrunette
* BrokenBird: Though she covers it well.
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma
* BunnyEarsLawyer: {{Badass}}, indeed.
* ClearMyName: The first episode of season 4 dealt with this issue.
* ConflictingLoyalty: As of the end of season 6, she is torn between her loyalty to Mossad and her father, and Gibbs and [=NCIS=]. [[spoiler:She picked Mossad and ended up caught by a terrorist and tortured to be saved by Gibbs and the team. In retrospect, she realizes she made the wrong choice, and decides to stay in the United States from then on and becomes a US Citizen so she can become a bonafide NCIS agent.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen
* DoesNotKnowHerOwnStrength: Oh, man!
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Director Shepard once said of her, "I think she was an Eastern European cab driver in a past life."
-->'''Vance:''' Most fathers teach their daughters to drive. I have you to blame for this?\\
'''Eli David:''' This she learned from her [[JewishMother mother]].
** One of her notable driving habits is doing 80 in a 40 zone, as was noted on her speeding ticket.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: [[spoiler: How Ilan Bodnar bites it.]]
* FakeNationality: You're probably thinking, an Israeli portrayed by a Chilean?
** There are Sephardi Jews in Israel, and Ziva likely is one.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Averted. While very much the ActionGirl, she can cook quite well. According to Abby in the episode "Caged", "Her cooking rocks!"
* FireForgedFriends: With the exception of Abby, Ziva truly became close to the team after enduring some difficult investigations.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
* FunnyForeigner: Subverted, except for her tendency to ''butcher'' English-language quotes or figures of speech.
* [[IHaveNoSon I Have No Father]]: To the point of changing nations just to give him a TakeThat.
* InformedJudaism: Though considering her former profession as a Mossad operative, strict adherence to almost ''any'' religion would be tough. Pointedly, she has on occasion turned down food allegedly because it's not kosher, but she has no problem with pepperoni pizza.
** Many Israelis are fairly secular anyways.
* ImprobableAge: Ziva David is less Improbable Age and more Impossible Age. She joins the show in her early twenties, supposedly after she's graduated high school, served her two years in the IDF, attended college, applied for Mossad, become immediately tapped for inclusion into an elite and highly competitive special operations unit with a training period of several years, and still have enough time to become "an experienced agent" with multiple missions under her belt. And this is at a age the youngest CIA intelligence officers would be beginning training. (It's worth pointing out, however, that she is the daughter of the Director of Mossad, and it is heavily implied that she was all but [[TykeBomb raised from the cradle to be a Mossad operative]].)
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Ziva is forced to do this to her half-brother Ari.
* KnifeNut: Ziva is one of the few people in the world who can kill you reliably with a thrown knife. She has demonstrated this.
* TheLadette: She rotates between this and;
* LadyOfWar
* [[LockedInAFreezer Locked In A Shipping Crate]]: With Tony in "Boxed In".
* MaamShock: Another BerserkButton.
* MacGyvering
* {{Malaproper}}: Her messing up quotes, again; this is the main reason she qualified as a FunnyForeigner.
* MataHari
* MsFanservice: Sort of. She's had some big moments, but much less frequently than Abby.
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: As a trainee NCIS agent, Tony had started calling her "Probie". Gibbs had called her "Probie" on at least 2 occasions.
* MyNaymeIs: "David" has the earlier pronunciation (just as it appears, and as an iamb), rather than the Anglicized, trochaic "Dei-vid."
* [[NiceHat Nice Orange Cap]]: Her TragicKeepsake.
* OneOfTheBoys: She likes to hang around men in a nonromantic wolf-in-the-pack sort of way and she takes great pride in her skill at [[ARealManIsAKiller manly things]].
* {{Omniglot}}: She speaks ''at least'' nine languages, including the language of love.
* PhotographicMemory: ''Very'' useful in her line of work as agents who don't develop this tend not to last long in Mossad.
* [[ProudWarriorRace Proud Warrior Race Gal]] : Because she is a BadassIsraeli.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: against Ilan Bodnar, and unsubtly enough to draw attention from the CIA. [[spoiler:And roped [=McGee=] into helping, behind Tony's and Gibbs' backs. But in the end, she gets him in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.]]
* ScrabbleBabble: Subverted one time she played [=McGee=] in Scrabble. With the last Q at a corner of two Is, she makes Qi twice, read 'Chi'. Doubles as UnderdogsNeverLose as she came back from a 50 point deficit earning 62 points.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: In season 3.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The Tomboy to Abby's Girly Girl.
* TragicKeepsake: Ziva's orange cap; [[spoiler: it's a reminder of the victim from "Dead Man Walking".]]
* UnresolvedSexualTension[=/=]WillTheyOrWontThey: Done ''to death'' with Tony. (The writers seem to enjoy dropping hints that in fact they ''have'', but this is ''probably'' not canon.)
* VerbalTic: Has a slight habit of forming questions as statements with "yes?" tacked on the end.
* [[spoiler:YouKilledMyFather]]


!!Director Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly)
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JennyShepardNCIS1_3215.jpg]]
->''"Do you think it would be inappropriate if, as director, I went in there and smacked that smile off her face?"''

* ActionGirl
* DaChief
* FieryRedhead
* [[spoiler: TheLastDance: She died in a gunfight with five assassins, taking most of them with her.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: She won't let Gibbs go after Ari without proof, yet she goes after La Grenouille with a vengeance, positive he killed her father, even though ''she'' has no proof.
* IronLady
* ItsPersonal: Her [[spoiler:possibly unwarranted]] hunt for René Benoît is this, since she believes Benoît [[spoiler:killed her father. Benoît claims that he had actually been bribing her father and that he killed himself out of shame.]]
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: In a giant shoot-out with a group of mercs who'd been sent to kill everyone involved with an old operation. Slightly subverted in that she was dying anyway.]]
* LadyOfWar
* {{Meganekko}}: Whenever she wore glasses, skirting into HotLibrarian territory.
* [[spoiler: RedemptionEqualsDeath]]
* [[spoiler: SecretlyDying]]: Aww...
* SexyMentor
* [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell, Hero?]]: Abused her power to try and get revenge on Rene Benoit, the man [[YouKilledMyFather who killed her father]]
** [[spoiler: Her father's still alive.]]
*** [[spoiler: Apparently. It is heavily implied that CIA was taking advantage of [[MagicalDatabase AFIS]] to make her father appear to be alive, thus [[CassandraTruth discrediting her]] and preventing her from further ruining TheDragon's operation.]]
* WorkingWithTheEx
* YouKilledMyFather: To La Grenouille. [[spoiler:Later she does kill him, but no one figures it out until she's already dead...[[TheUnreveal or was it Trent, actually telling the truth?]]]]
* YourDaysAreNumbered: [[spoiler: Before was she killed, she was sadly already terminally ill.]]
** [[spoiler: In fact, it's implied that she preferred "hail of bullets" to "terminal illness" and that's part of why she acted the way she did leading up to her death.]]
*** [[spoiler: Considering the details of the symptoms that would lead up to her death as described by Ducky to Gibbs, I, personally, do not blame her.]]

!!Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LeonVanceNCIS_999.png]]
->'''Abby:''' ''Wow. I heard about your techy mojo.''

* BaitAndSwitchTyrant
* DaChief
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Vance is the husband and father of a respectable suburban family and unlike Gibbs, is not the type to have a series of four wives.
* GeniusBruiser: He was once a boxer, but can compete with [=McGee=] in knowledge of cryptology.
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:Until his wife is murdered.]]
* DeadPersonImpersonation: It's heavily implied in one episode that he is not the real Leon Vance, but an old boxing acquaintance thereof, and that the two switched identities at some point in the past.
* MysteriousPast: Subverted, not all of it has been explained...yet.
* OralFixationFixation: Chewing on toothpicks.
* ScaryBlackMan: He can be absolutely terrifying when he wants to be, which is probably one of the reasons he gets to boss Gibbs around. Taken to severe extremes when he put a fire safety axe through a metal table in the interrogation room to intimidate a teenage suspect who was suspected of killing one of Vance's friends.
* [[spoiler:TheUriahGambit: Vance is revealed to have been originally recruited to NIS in 1991 almost specifically for his expendability. Obviously, it didn't go as planned.]]

!!Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen)
[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JimmyPalmerNCIS_9421.png]]
->''"Is it just me or does anyone else wonder how they get [=IUDs=] in there? That probably sounded a lot more inappropriate than I meant."''

* ActionSurvivor: He works out in a gym but he isn't combat proficient.
* {{Adorkable}}
* BrainyBrunette
* ButtMonkey: If there's a chance for a character to be insulted or put-upon in any given episode, there's at least a 75% chance it'll be Palmer.
* TheConsigliere: It's revealed in one episode that whenever Tony is left in charge of a case, he secretly has meetings with Palmer to help point him in the right direction whenever Tony feels that he's lost on what to do next.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Is very intelligent and a good assistant to Ducky, but has problems with self-confidence.
* ExactWords: He uses this on Gibbs during his CrowningMomentOfAwesome (see the page), pointing out that he technically stayed in the car as he was ordered.
* FakeGuestStar: Might as well be a TropeCodifier. Dietzen was credited as a recurring guest star for the first 5 seasons and as "Also Starring" from season 6 onwards. Is even on the cover art for the Season 8 DVD but wasn's made a main cast member until Season 10.
* {{Fetish}}: He apparently has a thing for boots.
* TheGlassesComeOff: During his CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* HappilyMarried: To Breena in Season 10.
* HollywoodNerd
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Palmer has no actual firearms training, so when he finds himself with a handgun...
** Ducky, who's military training may be decades old, is smart enough to carefully push the gun away from his face and [[AvertedTrope avert]] this.
* LovedINotHonorMore: He tells his love that while he loves her more than anything, his TrueCompanions were in trouble and he needed to go and help them, even if it meant moving the wedding up to a sooner date (within the hour) and then come back for the honeymoon. She completely understands.
* {{Megane}}
* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: His story about spending time in France features a downplayed example: He was trying to tell some French friends of his how his mother used to hunt squirrels when he was a child, but he mixed up the French word for "squirrel" with the word for "shark".
-->'''Ducky:''' ''(chuckling)'' "How they must have imagined your strange homeland with your shark-hunting mother."
* NerdsAreSexy: Well, Agent Lee thought so.
** His current fiance, Breena, does also.
* NightmareFetishist
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: After eight seasons on the show, Brian Dietzen was finally upgraded to a series regular in season ten.
* RecurringCharacter
* {{Retirony}}: Subverted. One moment, Jimmy's talking with Agent Barrett about his recent engagement. Seconds later, the Port-to-Port Killer is loose and violently kidnapping Jimmy and Barrett. However, Gibbs saves the day, and Jimmy ends up surviving the episode with only a few scratches.
* ThatCameOutWrong: Happens to him a lot, and when he tries to explain, he just looks worse.
* TooKinkyToTorture: When he helps Abby solve a problem, Gibbs gives Abby a peck on the cheek and Jimmy [[DopeSlap a Gibbs slap]]. He looks just as pleased at this as Abby.
** Though that might have been because the slap meant that Gibbs considered him part of the team.
*** In an earlier episode, Ducky mentions that his attempts to emulate the [[DopeSlap "Gibbs' Slap"]] on Palmer were ineffective, as he seemed to enjoy it.
* TheWatson: To Ducky's Holmes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other NCIS Agents and Superiors]]
!!Richard Parsons (Colin Hanks)
The newest character, he is a high ranking official in the Department of Homeland Security. He [[spoiler: has Gibbs arrested for his questionable methods]]
* CondescendingCompassion: To Ziva in the tenth season finale. He tells about how much he "sympathizes" with her over the murder of her father right before taunting her about his about his ultimate goal of bringing down Gibbs, who he acknowledges is the only father figure she has left.
* IShallTauntYou: One of his ways of getting information from the subjects of his investigation. Notably, he goads Tony by insulting Ziva in his first episode.
* JerkAss: he's makes life a living hell for Gibbs and his team.
* [[spoiler: ObfuscatingStupidity: So freaking much. He starts off seeming nice but comically annoying. He ''quickly'' shows that he is not to be taken lightly and stays one step ahead of the team.]]

!!Director Thomas Morrow (Alan Dale)

* FakeAmerican: Dale is from New Zealand.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure
* PutOnABus: In the first episode of season three, after accepting an offer to become Deputy Secretary of the Homeland Security.
** TheBusCameBack: Shows up in "Chasing Ghosts" to tell Vance what Ziva's been up to.

!!Special Agent Michelle Lee (Liza Lapira)
->'''Tony:''' ''She's even more probie than Probie!''

* ActionGirl: She's not in the field often to show it, but in "Once A Hero" she goes undercover and defeats TheDragon of the VillainOfTheWeek.
* ActionMom
* [[spoiler:DoubleAgent]]
* [[spoiler:IHaveYourDaughter: Not her, but the people that were making her be a DoubleAgent.]]
* [[spoiler:TheMole: Framed Langer for her crimes and kills him.]]
* NerdsAreSexy: She definitely felt this way about Jimmy Palmer during their fling.
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: She became the HumanShield in a standoff for the culprit that kidnapped her daughter and made her the mole. Once she knew her daughter was safe, she gave Gibbs a non-verbal signal [[ShootTheHostage to shoot her]] and by proxy, shooting him as well, killing them both.]]
* [[spoiler:SympatheticMurderer: Despite killing and framing Langer, it's possible to feel bad about the situation she was put in. Even Ziva and [=McGee=] (to an extent) agreed that they may have done the same thing.]]
* WalkingSpoiler
* [[spoiler:WhackAMole]]

!!Mike Franks (Muse Watson)
[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mike_FranksNCIS_3894.png]]
->''"Don't tempt me, Jethro! I ain't nearly drunk enough."''

* AntiHero: His retired status makes him both willing and able to go into moral grey areas that are too dark for the regular team.
* {{Badass}}
** BadassGrandpa
** BadassBeard[=/=]BadassMoustache
** RetiredBadass
* CoolOldGuy
* CowboyCop
* CynicalMentor: Seems to have been this to Gibbs.
* [[spoiler: DiedInYourArmsTonight: He died in Gibbs' arms.]]
* [[spoiler:DyingMomentOfAwesome]]
* GrumpyOldMan: Image an older, grumpier ''Gibbs''.
* HeroicBSOD: The Khobar Towers bombing in '96, as well as the lukewarm response to it, prompted him to retire.
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]
* KnightInSourArmor
* PapaWolf: Towards his granddaughter Amira.
* RatedMForManly

!!Gerald Jackson (Pancho Demmings)

* PutOnABus

!!Special Agent Paula Cassidy (Jessica Steen)

* ActionGirl
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]
* HeroOfAnotherStory

!!Nikki Jardine (Susan Kelechi Watson)
* TheAtoner: To the Iraqi family who's father got shot trying to help her brother.
* HelpMistakenForAttack: Part of her {{backstory}}, her brother was injured in Iraq and when a friendly Iraqi tried to help him, he was killed by US forces.
* NeatFreak: Played with. Nikki is a Germaphobe and always using wipes to clean her hands and things she touches, but (as revealed in the episode ''In The Zone'') is a slob when it comes to leaving stuff lying around.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Vanishes without trace after her ADayInTheLimelight episode ''In The Zone''.

!!Charles "Chip" Sterling (Michael Bellisario)

!!Special Agent Brent Langer (Jonathan [=LaPaglia=])

* ClearMyName: After he had been killed.
* RedHerringMole
* WhackAMole: Subverted, due to him not actually being the mole and being killed trying to stop the mole.

!!Stanley Burley (Joel Gretsch)

Was a part of Gibbs' team before DiNozzo was hired away from Baltimore PD. Still an active NCIS agent, now working as Agent Afloat on an aircraft carrier.

* BackForTheDead: Narrowly averted.
* HeroOfAnotherStory

!!Riley [=McCallister=] (Michael O'Neill)

* {{Jerkass}}

!!SECNAV Phillip Davenport (Jude Ciccolella)

!!Erica Jane "E.J." Barrett (Sarah Jane Morris)

* ActionGirl
* DudeWheresMyRespect
* PutOnABus
* RedHerringMole
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Subverted.
* TemporaryLoveInterest: For Tony.
* TomboyishName: Her nickname.

!!Simon Cade (Matt Willig)

* ClearMyName: He goes into hiding after being framed for stealing microchips from the bodies of Watcher 8 fleet members. Tony ends up pursuing him, leading to [[spoiler:Cade getting shot and killed by the true thief, Jonathan Cole, who frames Tony for the murder.]]
* GeniusBruiser: He has an IQ of 160 and played football at Yale.
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]
* RedHerringMole
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses

!!Gayne Levin (Alimi Ballard)

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]
* [[spoiler:MauveShirt]]

!!SECNAV Clayton Jarvis (Matt Craven)

* {{Jerkass}}: Espically to Tony.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He starts treating the team a bit better later on.

!!Ned Dorneget (Matt Jones)

A relatively new probationary agent.

* ButtMonkey: Once left the dentist's office with a bugged tooth implant. Hilarity did not ensue.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: He gets mentioned a lot more than seen, and does a lot of gruntwork.
* StraightGay

!!Vivian Blackadder (Robyn Lively)

Tony DiNozzo's first onscreen partner; appeared only in the two-part pilot on {{JAG}}. It's generally assumed that she was fired after blowing the operation they were on, as Gibbs didn't like her and she's never been mentioned since.

* ThePeteBest
* [[BrotherChuck Sister Judy]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Was a member of the NCIS team in the pilot, before she was replaced by Kate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other Federal Agents]]

!!FBI Agent Tobias C. Fornell (Joe Spano)
->'''Fornell:''' ''And people say we're bastards?''
->'''Gibbs:''' ''Only because they know us.''

* AloofAlly
* AlwaysGetsHisMan
* BadassGrandpa
* HeroOfAnotherStory
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple or maybe HeterosexualLifePartners with Gibbs. This scene from [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF-qyJGAvCI "Short Fuse"]] says it best...
* TheMissusAndTheEx: Him and Gibbs are a GenderFlip of this trope.
* PerpSweating: Not seen as often, but he's brutal in the interrogation room.
* TheRival: A [[FriendlyRivalry friendly rival]], but a rival.
* SixthRanger
* UnexplainedRecovery:
-->'''Tony:''' I thought you were dead.\\
'''Fornell:''' Got better.\\
'''Kate:''' I thought he was dead.\\
'''Tony:''' Got better.
* VitriolicBestBuds: He considers Gibbs his best friend.

!!CIA Agent Trent Kort (David Dayan Fisher)

* [[spoiler: EyeScream: The Port-to-Port Killer gouged out his eye.]]
* DeepCoverAgent: CIA agent deep inside Rene Benoit's organization.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Supposedly once Benoit's NumberTwo, supposedly CIA DeepCoverAgent, it is not clear what he is up to.
* KnightTemplar: As far as we can make out.
* NoNameGiven: If we're to believe Jenny, "Trent Kort" is an alias.

!!Lt. Col. Hollis Mann (Creator/SusannaThompson)
->''"If this is going to turn into a pissing match, you'd better bring an umbrella."''

* DistaffCounterpart: To Gibbs. She's even a team leader in the Army's corresponding department, Army Criminal Investigation Division - [[FunWithAcronyms yes, that spells what you think it does]]: usually referred to as Army CID.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Her {{UST}} with Gibbs is noticed by the whole team.
* [[FieryRedhead Fiery Strawberry Blonde]]
* GirlOfTheWeek: Subverted; she appears to be this at first, but it takes her and Gibbs two episodes to get together and they remain together for almost a year. In fact, she's easily the most long-term love interest Gibbs has had on the show.
* HandsOnApproach: Gibbs does this to her in "Grace Period." She doesn't seem to mind that much.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Her career with CID could easily have been the basis for a SpinOff.
* JurisdictionFriction: This is how she meets Gibbs and what brings them back together.
* LoveInterest: To Gibbs.
* PutOnABus: To Hawaii.

!!CGIS Agent Abigail Borin (Diane Neal)
* {{Badass}}
* CoastGuard
* DistaffCounterpart: To Gibbs, to the point that the ''entire team'' lampshades it. So naturally the following apply:
** DeathGlare
** DopeSlap
** GutFeeling
** MustHaveCaffeine: It's implied she and Gibbs even take their coffee the same way.
** RuleNumberOne: Never make excuses.
** RightBehindMe
* FairCop
* HeroOfAnotherStory
* PerpSweating: At one point, she and Gibbs double team someone.
* OnceASeason: Her appearances tend to be this. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] really, really hard at the end of one of them:
--> "Same time next year, Gibbs?"
* StatuesqueStunner

!!Ray Cruz (Enrique Murciano)

Ziva's boyfriend and near-fiancee in seasons 8 and 9, and also a CIA field agent. [=DiNozzo=] refers to him as [=CIRay=]. [[spoiler:Ziva dumps him after he kills someone in the process of trying to finish up a hit he botched overseas, and Ray is arrested for the murder.]]

!!Dr. Samantha Ryan (Jamie Lee Curtis)

At work, a creepy-as-hell DoD psyops expert who's almost a match for Gibbs in the mindgames department. At home, a single mother with a divorce from an abusive husband in the past. Needless to say, she and Gibbs hit it off very well. As of the end of season 9, in hiding after CEO-turned-terrorist Harper Dearing got her abusive ex sprung from prison.
----
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Gibbs. They match very well, but they put each other on the defensive so frequently that some of their interactions can be quite angry.
* {{Gaslighting}}: What Ryan does for a living, and not just to military targets.
* PutOnABus
* RiddleMeThis: She always tells Gibbs what she thinks he needs to know, but for some reason always does so in the most infuriatingly roundabout ways possible. (One tip was delivered on the inside of a pizza box.) Gibbs does not like this.
* SilverFox: Jamie Lee may be the most triumphant example for women right now.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mossad]]
!!Mossad Director Eli David (Michael Nouri)
->''"Tell me, Leon. Are we winning?"''

Ziva's father and head of the Mossad. He is utterly ruthless in his pursuit of Israel's enemies, often using the same illegal tactics as them to hunt down and kill them.
----
* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: He uses his own children as tools in his schemes. [[spoiler:One (Ziva) ends up killing another (Ari Haswari). On Eli's orders.]] As fathers go, he's about on par with [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Fire Lord Ozai]].
* AccidentalPublicConfession: [[spoiler:Performs one because Tony goaded him not just on Ari turning traitor but an apparent habit for his agents to go rogue in general. He admits none of his men ever do something without his say, including the one Tony just killed in self-defense. The second worst part for Eli, first being Ziva saw this, is Tony was originally being interrogated by him and the guy turned it around without Eli realizing it.]]
* {{Antihero}} / TragicVillain
* {{Badass}}
** BadassGrandpa
** BadassIsraeli
** BadassLongcoat
** CulturedBadass
* TheChessmaster
* CoolOldGuy
* FallenHero
* FatalFlaw: PatrioticFervor.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Eli is easily as bad as the terrorists that he fights, to the point that [[spoiler: he drives his own son into becoming one]].
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: Though he hung on for 10 seasons.]]
* KnightTemplar
* MoralMyopia: He has repeatedly violated Israel's treaties with the USA by ordering operations on US soil, which have resulted in Mossad agents killing a number of American federal agents. When Tony is forced to kill a Mossad agent who resisted being arrested for the murders he committed under Eli's orders, Eli treats it as a horrible offense against Israel by the USA and tries to have Tony extradited.
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: To what extent is arguable, considering that before his death, he murdered a witness to his entry into the US as part of his "redemption".]]
* ShellShockedSenior: He shows weariness with the world of intrigue with every breath.
* TheSpymaster
* WasItReallyWorthIt: Seems to be asking himself this. His actions ultimately turn both of his children against him.

!!Michael Rivkin (Merik Tadros)

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]
* ProfessionalKiller

!!Malachi Ben-Gidon (TJ Ramini)

* HeroOfAnotherStory

!!Ilan Bodnar (Oded Fehr)

Eli David's former protege, and the one responsible for having him killed.

* BadassIsraeli
* EtTuBrute (from Ziva -- Eli never had the chance to find out)
* EvilFormerFriend
* SiblingRivalry: Played with. Though Bodnar isn't actually related, Ziva always resented him because she felt like he was trying to be Eli's son.

!!Orli Elbaz (Marina Sirtis)

Eli David's replacement as the head of Mossad. She doesn't get along with Gibbs right out of the gate.

* YourCheatingHeart: Had an affair early in her career with Eli David that led to David's divorce from his wife, and years of bad feelings from Ziva. Ziva had considered Elbaz to be sleeping her way to the top, but reluctantly admitted that she may have genuinely loved him when she came to the US to see what was going on with the murder investigation.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Antagonists]]

!!Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin)
->''"Sorry, Caitlin."''

* AffablyEvil
* BadassIsraeli
* BastardBastard
* BecomingTheMask: Was essentially conceived and raised to be a mole in Hamas.
* BigBad: Of seasons one and two, plus the first two episodes of season three.
* ColdSniper
* DeadlyDoctor
* DeathSeeker
* DisproportionateRetribution: His motive behind everything he does to Gibbs and NCIS in general? [[spoiler:Gibbs reminds him of his father.]]
* DoubleAgent
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: It is implied that he cared for his late mother and believes his father is responsible for her death.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He found Gerald's inability to drive Ducky's vintage Morgan painful to listen to or see.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: His fatal mistake was that it didn't even occur to him that Gibbs would really trust Ziva to watch his back and assumed Gibbs was alone when he confronted him.
* GeniusBruiser
* GoneHorriblyRight: His father raised him to be a monster... who hated him for it and did everything he could to destroy what his father had worked for.
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal]]
* RevengeByProxy: He [[WomenInRefrigerators stuffs]] [[spoiler:Kate]] into the fridge and tries to do the same to Abby, aware that it's the best way to make Gibbs suffer. He also tries to kill Jenny, snipes at [=McGee=] (who lucks out by unknowingly moving out of the way at the last second), and tries to kidnap Ducky. The only member of Team Gibbs he doesn't single out is Tony.
* TallDarkAndSnarky

!!Rene Benoit (Armand Assante)

* AffablyEvil
* ArmsDealer
* TheChessmaster
* CombatAestheticist: In a strategic rather then one-on-one fashion. If he wants someone out of the way he uses ThePlan rather than just ordering a hit because the latter would be too crude for a ManOfWealthAndTaste.
* TheDon
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[InvertedTrope Or in this case]], their children: his daughter Jeanne.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes
* FrenchJerk
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He has a fondness for fine wine.
** It was actually cognac, not wine, that he and Ducky drank when they met.
* NWordPrivileges: Only a French guy could give himself the codename ''La Grenouille'' (the Frog).

!!Mamoun Sharif (Enzo Cilenti)

!!Colonel (ret.) Merton Bell (Robert Patrick)

* BigBadWannabe
* {{Jerkass}}
* [[spoiler:OffWithHisHead]]
* [[spoiler:YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Paloma has Jason Dean kill him as part of her plan to frame Gibbs.]]

!!Jason Paul Dean

* {{Badass}}
* [[spoiler:BodyguardBetrayal: Kills Bell after Paloma makes him a better employment offer.]]
* TheDragon: To Bell, and [[spoiler:Paloma Reynosa]].

!!Alejandro Rivera (Marco Sanchez)

* BrotherSisterTeam: With Paloma.
* DirtyCop
* FauxAffablyEvil
* FeudingFamilies: With Gibbs.
* YouKilledMyFather

!!Paloma Reynosa (Jacqueline Obradors)

* [[spoiler: BigBad: Takes over for Colonel Bell in season 7.]]
* BrotherSisterTeam: With Alejandro.
* FauxAffablyEvil
* FeudingFamilies: With Gibbs.
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Gibbs tricks Alejandro into shooting into the house where she is, leading to her death and his arrest.]]
* YouKilledMyFather

!!Jonas Cobb, The Port-to-Port Killer (Kerr Smith)

* AxCrazy
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil
* BigBad: Season 8.
* DarkIsEvil
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: He killed Mike Franks.]]
* SanitySlippage: The psychological abuse of Operation Frankenstein drove him insane after he made his first kill for the project.
* SerialKiller
* SuperSoldier
* TrainingFromHell: Deconstructed.
* {{Tykebomb}}

!!Jonathan Cole (Scott Wolf)

* RogueAgent
* [[spoiler: RedemptionEqualsDeath: He is killed trying to disarm a bomb planted by Dearing.]]

!!Harper Dearing (Richard Schiff)

* BigBad: Of season nine.
* TheChessmaster
* FakingTheDead: Tries this to escape NCIS in the premere of season ten by blowing up a car with his brothers remains inside. Gibbs doesn't buy it and manages to uncover the truth.
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal]]
* WesternTerrorists
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: He exploits vulnerabilities in the entire Navy fleet to avenge his son, who died when a terrorist exploited a flaw in his battleship.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Agent's Family Members]]

!!Shannon and Kelly Gibbs

* DeathByOriginStory: Well, it WAS their deaths that made Gibbs into the agent he is today.
* {{Posthumous Character}}s

!!Jackson Gibbs (Ralph Waite)

!!Anthony Dinozzo Sr. (Robert Wagner)

Tony's father, a roaming con man who likes to live large and has always been a distant and disapointing father to Tony.
----
* ChivalrousPervert: Ziva and Abby like him, which is saying something.
* ConMan: He has been mooching off his extensive network of "friends" he made during his millionaire days for a ''very'' long time.
* CoolOldGuy
* HiddenDepths: Once managed to knock out a weapon dealer's bodyguard with one punch to the face.
* LovableRogue
* MockMillionaire: He is a formerly wealthy businessman, who is trying to keep up the appearance that he is still wealthy.
* SilverFox: Has the knack for charming any woman he crosses.

!!Jackie Vance (Paula Newsome)
->''"You are my partner now."''

Leon's wife, who is somewhat exasperated with the hours he has to work and the toll it has taken on their personal lives.
----
* [[spoiler:ADeathInTheLimelight]]
* ApronMatron
* BattleCouple
* HappilyMarried: To Leon.
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: Along with Eli.]]
* MamaBear

!!Dr. Rachel Cranston née Todd (Wendy Makkena)

Offhandedly mentioned (but not by name) as Kate's sister in Miami in season one, Cranston managed to get assigned psych eval duty on Gibbs' team just so she could meet Kate's coworkers.

!!Breena Slater (Michelle Pierce)
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other Characters]]
!!Jeanne Benoit (Scottie Thompson)

The estranged daughter of Rene Benoit, and a doctor in a DC-area hospital. Director Shepard sent Tony to seduce her to get information on La Grenouille, but [[LadykillerInLove things got complicated.]]

* HospitalHottie
* ShipSinking: In a most brutal fashion. When she found out about her father being killed, she blamed Tony, who was forced to claim he never loved her.

!!Margaret Allison Hart (Rena Sofer)

* [[spoiler: DoubleAgent: Originally worked for Colonel Bell to plague Gibbs at every turn, but would later aid Gibbs several times after defecting from Bell's camp.]]

!!Damon Werth (Paul Telfer)
[[/folder]]

----