Sasha Alexander is a Serbian-American actress, director, and producer. She is known for her roles on both the small and big screen in such works as Dawson’s Creek, Yes Man, He’s Just Not That Into You, Rizzoli & Isles. After playing Caitlin Todd in the first two seasons of NCIS, she left the series, which caused many a fan to fume. Find out why she left the show here and learn more interesting details about her.
Who is Sasha Alexander? Bio
On May 17, 1973, Suzana S. visited Los Angeles, California, the nation’s national entertainment center. Drobnjakovic Ponti, who would become known as Sasha Alexander, was born. Her parents are of Serbian descent, although part of her family lived in Italy. Therefore, apart from English, she speaks Serbian and Italian fluently.
As a primary school student, Sasha was very active and took part in activities that involved not only her mind but also her body. When she was in seventh grade, she starred in her first school production when she was cast as the female lead in Baby. Her performance was well-received by the audience, and her star has shone brighter and brighter ever since.
She was also a figure skater, but a knee injury kept her dream of becoming a professional in dreamland alive. She also dances very well and was in a pop music group called Everything Nice when she was 14. She wanted to become an exotic dancer but switched to acting instead because the prospects were not good.
Sasha continued her acting career in high school and college. Eventually, she moved to New York City to star in the Summer Stock and Shakespeare Festival production of “The Taming of the Shrew as Katherine. Following the festival, her phenomenal performance there earned her a study place in London with Cicely Berry and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sasha Alexander attended the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California, where she studied directing and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta student association.
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Sasha Alexander Career
With some acclaimed skills both on-screen and behind the scenes, Sasha Alexander embarked on a full-fledged acting career. She appeared in several short-lived series, including ABC’s Wasteland (1999), the medical drama Presidio Med by CBS (2002-2003), Greg the Bunny by Fox (2002), in which she took the role of lesbian TV guide reporter Laura Carlson and shared a kiss on screen with Sarah Silverman. In her early years on the silver screen, she also appeared in the fourth season of Dawson’s Creek (2000-2001) and in one episode each of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2001) and Friends (2002). Her role in the former as Gretchen Witter, who dated the title character, earned her wide media attention and critical acclaim.
She also complimented her acting career by appearing in several critically acclaimed independent films and musicals, such as The Last Lullaby, The Girl from Nagasaki, which was shown at film festivals. Her films also include All Over the Guy (2001), Lucky 13 (2005) starring Lauren Graham, which she also co-wrote and produced, Yes Man (2008) starring Jim Carrey, He’s Just Not That Into You (2009) Tenure (2009) and Bernard and Huey (2017).
After a year and a half at NCIS (2003-2005) as Special Agent Caitlin Todd, she had a small role in Mission: Impossible III (2006) and joined the cast of The Nine (2006) as Juliana. Starting in 2010, Sasha starred with Angie Harmon (Jane Rizzoli) in the television drama Rizzoli & Isles as Dr. Maura Isles in the seven seasons of the TNT series. In return, she won the People’s Choice Award 2016 as a favorite actress on cable television. Then in 2015, she took on the recurring role of Helene Runyon in Showtime’s Shameless. In 2016, she appeared on the cooking channel television series Dinner at Tiffani’s and the syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game, while she played the role of Anna Mill in an episode of Law & Order: LAW AND ORDER: SVU (2018).
Married Life
Since August 11, 2007, she has been married to the Italian director Edoardo Ponti, after the latter had hired her in January 2006 as the daughter-in-law of the actress Sophia Loren. The marriage was contracted in Geneva, where her daughter Lucia Sofia Ponti was born on May 12, 2006. The couple is also the parents of a son, Leonardo, who was born in 2010. Before her marriage to Ponti, she was married to Luka Pecel from September 18, 1999, until the annulment of the marriage in 2003.
Net Worth
While some sources have put their net worth at an outrageous $215 to 225 million, others, such as Celebrity Net Worth, have put it at less than $10 million. Considering that she has been in show business for more than two decades, Alexander would undoubtedly have amassed a fortune through her acting career. Even if a certain amount has not yet been agreed upon, it would be nothing less than impressive.
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Why Did She Leave NCIS?
In 2003 Alexander joined the NCIS cast as Special Agent Caitlin “Kate” Todd to take the place of Robyn Lively, who played Vivian Blackadder. While Vivian only appeared in the backdoor pilot episodes “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown” on JAG, Kate stayed on at NCIS for a season and a half. Her departure from the series was the result of the murder of her character by a terrorist, Ari (Rudolf Martin), who shot her between the eyes during the finale of the second season in May 2005.
Was her death part of the plot or was there another reason why she was killed, leaving her fans behind? It was officially stated that the actress asked to be released from her contract so that she could pursue and explore other options such as starting a family.
According to her, she does 24 episodes a year in a network show, which corresponds to 10½ months a year and 17 hours a day. She added that although people loved her character in a truly shocking way, she didn’t want to wake up in her forties with the regret of not having done what she did; getting married, being a mother, and doing things creatively that she wanted to do.
She did, however, reappear on the show as a special guest star in season 3, did some voice work in season 8, and Todd in a “what if” scenario with Anthony DiNozzo for the 200th NCIS episode “Life Before His Eyes” in 2012.
