As the daughter of a Chilean mother who moved to Miami to pursue a job at the Telemundo Network, Cote de Pablo has been around the entertainment industry from a young age. Born María José de Pablo Fernández, she later shortened her name to Cote, a common nickname for María José. While in the United States, she attended the New World School of the Arts and later Carnegie Mellon University, where she completed her studies despite the fact that she already had a foot through the entertainment industry door as a co-host of a Latin-American talk show by 15. de Pablo would go on to receive roles in small films, thereafter experiencing the difficult side of showbiz as she landed roles on promising TV shows that were canceled soon after.
After her standout role stuck, the beautiful actress’s fortunes began to change, and she was able to gain some great experience. This ultimately took her down the path that would lead to her most famous role, one she would play for eight years and use to establish herself as a star with a huge fan following. While controversy would taint the experience a little in the end, the role cemented her as a beloved TV star, lead to parts in films, and even opportunities to work as a producer. If like so many fans out there, you loved Cote de Pablo as Ziva David, here’s a look at her best performances over the years.
10Control
Back in the mid-90s, while still a teenager, Cote de Pablo earned her first showbiz job as a co-host of the Latin-American talk show Control. She co-hosted the show with Carlos Ponce for two years between 1994 and 1995. After graduating from Carnegie with a BFA in musical theater, de Pablo went on to perform in a public theater production of the Shakespeare play, Measure for Measure.
These early stints weren’t very high profile or widely watched, but they did lay some groundwork for her career and provided her with opportunities to move into screen acting. Her early role as a TV host may have been largely forgotten over the years, however, it served as the stepping stone to the rest of her career. Back then, even at such a young age, it was easy to see that de Pablo had the poise and potential to be a star.
9The $treet
The $treet was a short-lived crime drama series that aired on Fox at the back end of 2000. Its first season was meant to have 12 episodes. However, a poor showing caused the show to be canceled after only seven episodes of it were aired.
Coming early on in de Pablo’s career, it looked to be the start of something great for her career. However, she only made a brief appearance in one episode of the show as a character named Fiona before it was pulled. Despite this early setback, it wasn’t long before other TV roles would come calling.
8The Education of Max Bickford
Less than a year later, de Pablo landed another brief role on an episode of another new show. This time, it was for CBS and the show was called The Education of Max Bickford. Unfortunately, the show’s ratings began dropping dramatically in a short space of time which led to its untimely demise as well.
It wasn’t altogether clear what went wrong with the show. However, there did seem to be some internal issues at play as it was moved around across different time slots and had two executive producers removed during this period. de Pablo played a character named Gina on the show which saw Richard Dreyfuss play an aging alcoholic professor searching for ways to stay relevant with his students.
7The Dovekeepers
Playing a character named Shirah, in 2015, de Pablo appeared in two episodes of the miniseries, The Dovekeepers. Based on a historical novel, the show told the tale of four women whose lives intersected during the events of the famed Siege of Masada.
Battling against all kinds of dangers, the women show remarkable determination as they unite to survive the end of the first Jewish-Roman War. Cote de Pablo was great in the show as she starred alongside other actresses such as Rachel Brosnahan. The Dovekeepers also notably starred Sam Neill as Josephus, whose work as a historian is viewed with great significance among Christians.
6The Last Rites of Ransom Pride
Back in 2010, The Last Rites of Ransom Pride may have been nothing more than a small-budget Canadian Western film. However, looking back on it now, its meager $8 million budget probably would not have even been able to pay its cast today, considering who some of them went on to become. In this one, de Pablo had a memorable role as she played a “bruja” (witch). As famous as de Pablo would go on to become for her other characters, even her later fame paled in comparison to one of her cast mates.
The film may have been low-key back then, but it starred some heavyweights of TV pop culture. It featured the likes of Jason Priestley and Kris Kristofferson, among other names that stick out a lot more now. That’s because the film also starred Peter Dinklage and was released a year before the world would first learn what an amazing actor he was when he went on to achieve global fame as Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones.
5Prototype
In one of her outstanding roles, Cote de Pablo played Laura Kale in the TV pilot, Prototype. Laura was an intelligent, driven mom in addition to being a highly skilled professional. Together with her colleagues, they make a new discovery that could change the scientific world’s understanding of quantum physics forever.
Despite all the excitement and potential behind the discovery, complications soon arise. Laura now has to face serious setbacks and even finds her life threatened by the implications of the discovery. Despite all its potential, SYFY ultimately passed on Prototype, and it never truly got the recognition it deserved despite it being one of de Pablo’s best roles.
4Seneca
While it was a very brief role, de Pablo played a character named Celeste in Seneca. The film was a great indie flick that looked at the ups and downs of an aging Puerto Rican actor based in New York. His efforts to build up a successful career in one of the most difficult industries around are made even more challenging as he tries to balance this with being a husband and a father.
Facing a disintegrating marriage and the realization that he hasn’t been a great dad either, the man’s life begins to fall apart, and he’s forced to confront questions like what success really is and what it takes to be a good partner and parent in modern times. The film premiered at the 2019 New York Latino Film Festival and was well-received, quickly earning itself indie award nominations across the film festivals it played at.
3The Jury
In 2004, Fox aired a short-lived legal drama show called The Jury. The show featured an interesting premise as each episode took place in the same courtroom but centered around new criminal cases and the deliberations of the different juries in each case. Despite this, it suffered from low ratings and was canceled soon after. However, all 10 episodes of the show were aired before this.
Cote de Pablo played a character named Marguerite Cisneros on the show. Despite its short run, The Jury was an early indication of her talent for TV acting. Its cancelation also ended up being a blessing in disguise as it freed her up to take on different roles and less than a year later, this ultimately led her to the role that would be her big break as an actress.
2The 33
Given her Chilean roots, Cote de Pablo proved a perfect fit when she landed a role in the 2015 biographical survival drama, The 33. The film was a depiction of the tragic events that saw 33 Chilean miners being trapped in the San José Mine for 69 days. Cote played the wife of one of the miners among a great cast that included the likes of Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, and Rodrigo Santoro (Xerxes from 300).
While de Pablo has largely gained fame for primarily being a TV actress, her role in The 33 was a rare foray into films. This one proved to be the biggest one she’s been involved in since gaining fame as an actress. It was a great role for her, and she later won a Best Supporting Actress award for it at the 2016 Imagen Awards.
1NCIS
If you’re a Cote de Pablo fan, despite her talent and the other great work she’s done, you likely know her best for her standout role to date. In 2005, the now 43-year-old actress landed the defining role of her career when she was cast as Ziva David in the hit show NCIS. Ziva has gone on to become a fan-favorite character of the show and remains one of the most beloved in its 20-season history. She was a highly skilled Mossad agent who was also known for being an intoxicating mix of beautiful, brilliant, and deadly because of her formidable skills.
Part of Ziva’s allure is that she was as comfortable rocking an evening dress as she was in a knife fight. As the show grew, she also proved to have an interesting backstory and developed a lot with the other main characters on the show. Her popularity has never waned despite de Pablo abruptly stepping back from the role in 2013 after being a regular for eight straight seasons. However, she did later show up again in later seasons and has left behind one of the most memorable and enduring legacies on the hugely popular show.
