Celebs You Forgot Guest Starred On NCIS

Hollywood legend Jamie Lee Curtis had a multi-episode stint on "NCIS" in 2012. Curtis took on the role of Dr. Samantha Ryan for five episodes — something that star Mark Harmon, who has appeared in over 400 episodes since the show's premiere in 2003, was incredibly grateful for. "She's terrific," Harmon raved about the iconic actress (via Outsider). "I've known Jamie a long time. She's a treat to have on set. The rest of the cast loves her and Gary Glasberg has created a role for her that made her want to come and play in the first place, which is rare. But she's had a great time there and I think she'd tell you that as well."

The "NCIS" star went on to call Curtis "a gift," adding that it was fun to act out the friction between their characters. "[She's] such a rare talent, and as a person, a good person and terrifically good at what she does," Harmon continued. "So, we've enjoyed having her." Harmon and Curtis actually starred together in 2003's "Freaky Friday" as well, so her appearance on the show was a bit of reunion (via Entertainment Weekly). 

After Curtis' 2012 "NCIS" stint, the seasoned actress went on to star in "Scream Queens," "Halloween," "An Acceptable Loss," "Knives Out," "Senior Entourage," and "Halloween Kills," and also had a six-episode stint on "New Girl," in which she played Zooey Deschanel's character's mom.

Colin Hanks, who clearly caught the acting bug from his ultra-famous father, Tom Hanks, has a seriously impressive resume when it comes to his successful career in Hollywood. In 2013, the actor landed a three-episode stint on "NCIS," portraying the character of Richard Parsons in the episodes titled "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," "Damned If You Do," and "Double Blind." Executive producer Gary Glasberg described Hanks' character as "Ken Starr, J. Edgar Hoover and an angry pit bull wrapped into one" (via TVLine). He was undoubtedly excited to work with the accomplished actor, saying at the time that Hanks' guest starring role on the long-running crime drama "should make it a truly memorable finale."

In addition to his role on "NCIS," Hanks has starred and guest starred in a plethora of notable films and TV shows throughout the years, including the original "Roswell," "Orange County," "King Kong," "The House Bunny," "Mad Men," "Dexter," "Burning Love," "Fargo," "Life in Pieces," and "American Crime Story." 

Troian Bellisario rose to A-list fame after she landed the role of Spencer Hastings on the beloved teen mystery/drama/thriller series, "Pretty Little Liars," but before her big break, the 35-year-old actress had a handful of guest starring roles on television shows like her two-episode stint on "NCIS" as Sarah McGee in 2005 and 2006. Bellisario's father, Donald, is actually one of the co-creators of the show, and another series cast member, Sean Murray, is Donald's stepson and Troian's stepbrother.

Troian's husband, "Suits" star Patrick J. Adams, also had a guest starring role on "NCIS" in 2008. However, the pair didn't actually meet until the following year when they starred in a play together and becoming close friends on set. In 2010, the couple finally got together. "We did a play together in L.A. called 'Equivocation,'" Adams told Her World in March 2013. "She was cast for the part of my romantic interest. We met and that was it."

In honor of the milestone 300th episode of "NCIS," showrunners pulled out all the stops and tapped "Private Practice" actor Taye Diggs to play Gunnery Sergeant Aaron Davis, a Marine suffering from PTSD, for a role that executive producer Gary Glansberg called "tailor-made" for the 50-year-old actor. "For our 300th episode, we needed a guest actor who could proudly portray one of our nation's wounded warriors as well as participate in a very touching musical performance," Glansberg said in a statement at the time (via Entertainment Weekly). "This emotionally charged role is tailor-made for Taye Diggs, and we are so thrilled and honored to have him join us."

While Diggs appeared in only one episode of the long-running crime drama, he's remained exceptionally busy over the years, having starred in multiple television series like "Murder in the First," "Empire," "Muppets Now," "Ada Twist, Scientist," and "All American."

Zac Efron is now one of the most recognizable names in the industry, but before he got his big break in Disney's "High School Musical" movies, he was busy hustling like most of the young actors trying to make a name for themselves in Hollywood. In 2006, Efron guest starred on "NCIS" on the Season 3 episode titled "Deception." In the episode, he played the character of Daniel Austin, a teen who is brought in for questioning after he is caught using a phone that belonged to a Naval officer who was abducted.

Before his "NCIS" role, Efron also guest starred on an episode of "CSI: Miami" and went on to star in "Hairspray," "17 Again," "Charlie St. Cloud," "The Lucky One," "The Paperboy" opposite Nicole Kidman, the "Neighbors" movies, "Dirty Grandpa," "Baywatch," "The Greatest Showman," "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," and "The Beach Bum" — just to name a few.

The former First Lady is a best-selling author, mother of two, podcast host, and actress. Is there anything Michelle Obama can't do? In 2016, it was announced that Obama would grace small screens across America after CBS revealed that she'd be guest starring on an episode of "NCIS" in conjunction with "Joining Forces," a nationwide military initiative started by both the "Becoming" author and current First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, in 2011.

"Filming inside the White House was a dream come true for the 'NCIS' cast and crew," executive producer Gary Glasberg shared (via CBS). "It was such a pleasure working with First Lady Michelle Obama, and it's our honor to support the 'Joining Forces' initiative and the military families that benefit from it."

"We've known about it for a while. It's about to celebrate its [Joining Forces] fifth anniversary," Glasberg explained to E! News. "Whenever we can do a story that supports and explains the difficulties of our military families, we embrace it and we want people to understand. This was natural for us."

Another actor who played a recurring role on "NCIS" was Ralph Waite, best known for starring in long-running 1970s TV drama "The Waltons." In eight episodes of "NCIS," spanning from 2008 until 2013, Waite played Jackson Gibbs, father of Mark Harmon's NCIS chief Leroy Jethro Gibbs. "It's probably the best set I've ever worked on," Waite said of his experiences on "NCIS" in an interview for the Presbyterian Church. "And I've worked on a lot of sets."

Waite died at age 85 in 2014. As late "NCIS" showrunner Gary Glasberg wrote in a guest column for Entertainment Weekly, he'd briefly considered adding a "in memoriam" tribute to Waite at the end of an episode, but realized it wasn't enough. "Ralph deserved more. He would have wanted us to stretch, to push the story envelope, to leave people feeling the loss of Jackson Gibbs, not just reflecting on it," Glasberg wrote.

As a result, "NCIS" writers crafted a special storyline for the 11th season finale, in which Gibbs mourned his father's passing, and attended his funeral. "I think it was a fitting tribute to Ralph, and done in a very different way, and certainly for us, a different kind of season ending," Harmon told Assignment X of that unique episode. "We wanted to do this properly and say goodbye to a character that we all really enjoyed writing over the years, and goodbye to an actor that meant a lot to us," Glasberg told TV Guide.

Lily Tomlin skyrocketed to fame in the late 1960s thanks to hippy, trippy TV comedy "Laugh In," which led her to movies (including Robert Altman's Oscar-winning "Nashville," and the classic "9 to 5"), Broadway (her Tony-winning one-woman show "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe"), and numerous television roles. Among the latter was a 2011 guest-starring appearance in "NCIS," in an episode titled "The Penelope Papers." 

Tomlin played the titular character, Penelope Langston. Grandmother of Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), she wound up embroiled in a case involving a murdered Naval officer. "Penelope is sharp as a tack and we're about to learn some things about McGee's family that have never been revealed," teased "NCIS" showrunner Gary Glasberg of her character, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. "She's a scientist, and she's very sharp," Tomlin said of Penelope during a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour, as reported by TV Line. "She was an admiral's wife for many decades, and she's the mother of McGee's father ... It was a really good part, and I was really delighted to get it."

One thing about her "NCIS" character that particularly appealed to her, Tomlin told Deadline, was that it dovetailed nicely with other roles she'd been embracing that broke the stereotypical mold of how older women are generally portrayed in film and television. "The young guy on 'NCIS,' I played his grandmother, and she was a very strong, capable, productive person," Tomlin explained.

In 2004, the first episode of the second season of "NCIS" — titled "See No Evil" — featured young child actor Abigail Breslin, who played a little girl named Sandy Watson. At that point, eight-year-old Breslin already had several screen credits under her belt, but would quickly go on to far greater fame thanks to her Oscar-nominated performance in 2004's "Little Miss Sunshine," followed by subsequent movies including "Zombieland," "Maggie," and the made-for-TV remake of "Dirty Dancing."

In the episode, Breslin plays a young blind girl who, along with her mother, is abducted as part of a blackmail scheme. The kidnapper is eventually revealed to be a disgraced former Naval officer, Kyle Grayson (played by actor William Mapother, a.k.a. cousin of Tom Cruise), with the whole scheme eventually revealed to have been orchestrated by Sandy's father, Captain Mike Watson (David Keith).

Four years after her "NCIS" guest spot, in a 2008 interview with the East Bay Times, 12-year-old Breslin was asked how she decided which roles to accept and which to turn down. "I guess if it's somebody I would like to know," she said. "My mom will read [the script], then I'll read the script, and if we all like it and I want to do it, we'll say yes."

Jesse Plemons has experienced a career trajectory that can be described as meteoric. Beginning as a child actor, Plemons broke through with his portrayal of Landry Clarke in TV's "Friday Night Lights," which he followed up as hit man Todd in "Breaking Bad." Then came gripping performances in FX's "Fargo" (in which he co-starred with future wife Kirsten Dunst), Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman," and "The Power of the Dog," for which both he and Dunst earned Oscar nominations. 

Before all of that, though, Plemons guest-starred on "NCIS" in the 2006 episode "Deception." He played Jason Geckler, a teenager who sold a cellphone that had been pilfered from a female Naval officer who mysteriously vanished while in charge of overseeing a shipment of nuclear weapons. The team's investigation ultimately uncovered that her membership in a clandestine organization, dedicated to combating online pedophilia, was connected to her disappearance.

While "NCIS" was one of Plemons' numerous TV guest spots, he credits the five seasons he spent on "Friday Night Lights" for truly teaching him how to evolve a performance over the course of several years. "It was the first time I felt like I got to grow up with a character," Plemons told Interview. "There's something unique to TV where you have more time, and you don't always know what's coming."

Misha Collins made his first appearance on The CW's "Supernatural" in 2008, with the role of angel Castiel becoming a fan favorite — and Collins eventually bumped up from recurring guest star to series regular on the show. After the show's end, Collins went on to star as Harvey Dent in the network's Batman-inspired series "Gotham Knights," which ran for one 13-episode season in 2023 before its cancellation. 

‌Prior to being cast in "Supernatural," Collins appeared in a 2006 episode of "NCIS," titled "Singled Out." Collins played Justin Farris, who's seen before the opening credits driving an SUV that appears to have a bloodied woman screaming for help in the back of the vehicle, noticed by some other motorists. Farris is then apprehended and brought into NCIS HQ for questioning. Under interrogation from Gibbs, Farris admits that he ripped off the vehicle, but had no idea there was a kidnapped woman in the car — a revelation that checked out, and sent Gibbs and the team in a whole other investigative direction. 

While Collins' single guest-starring appearance on "NCIS" didn't lead to a return engagement, his "Supernatural" role could easily have followed that same path. "I just sort of saw it as another guest spot that wasn't a big deal," he told TVLine of the first time he played Castiel. "It was originally only three [episodes] and now it's amazing," he told ET of the role in a 2015 interview.

Drew Carey began his career in standup comedy before bringing his persona to TV for the hit sitcom "The Drew Carey Show." In 2007, he made a move that few of his fans saw coming when he was tapped to replace Bob Barker as host of CBS game show "The Price Is Right." 

Carey stepped out of his comfort zone when he guested in a 2018 episode of "NCIS." In the episode, "Handle With Care," Carey played John Ross, a now-retired Marine who sent care packages to troops on active duty overseas. When a Marine stationed in Spain dropped dead after eating cyanide-laced cookies from one of Ross' parcels, he becomes the prime suspect (spoiler alert: he was framed).

Guest-starring on "NCIS" fulfilled Carey's long-held dream of showcasing his abilities as a dramatic actor. In an interview with CBS Mornings, Carey revealed that he'd been semi-retired since the end of his sitcom, but was eager to stretch as an actor. "And then I'd been taking acting lessons, and thought, maybe I'll do little small parts in movies, independent movies and stuff," he explained. When his agent called about an offer from CBS, Carey figured those lessons were about to pay off. "I was like, 'Oh, maybe they want me for 'CSI' or something like that,'" he said. "And when he said 'Price Is Right,' that was the opposite of what I was thinking."