María José de Pablo Fernández, better known as Coté de Pablo (born November 12, 1979), is a Chilean-American actress and recording artist. De Pablo has won an ALMA Award

Alma Award

The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...

 for her role as NCIS Special Agent Ziva David

Ziva David

Ziva David is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Chilean actress Coté de Pablo....

 in the television series NCIS

NCIS (TV series)

NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

. She has also embarked on a career as a songwriter and vocalist.
De Pablo was born in Santiago, Chile, to an upper-class Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 family. She has a younger sister,Andrea, and a brother who works as a deejay

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

.