"NCIS" actor Rocky Carroll celebrates 1,000 franchise episodes

NCIS recently marked its one thousandth episode across all of its many franchises. That is so impressive, I’m going to say it again 1000 different episodes across the many different realms of the NCIS universe are now multiple franchises. Fans have followed the agency to Los Angeles, to Hawaii, to Australia. But viewers first came to love the original team. The Washington, DC team LED for more than a decade now by director Leon Vance, serving those who protect, protecting those who serve. What does it mean? It’s the NCIS motto. And it’s very important because it’s a promise to do what. It’s a promise to try and do good. Well, director Leon Vance, actually, actor Rocky Carroll joins us here. I in Studio 57 live. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me in Studio 57. I appreciate it. Well, congratulations on the wild success of the series. You have had beloved roles in Chicago, hope and CIS. Talk to us about how you started your career. I understand it was in theater around here in New York. Yeah, I was a A theater classically trained stage actor who moved to New York City with dreams of working on Broadway, and I was fortunate enough to achieve that. 1990 I was in an August Wilson play called The Piano Lesson, and then on a whim, I went out to Los Angeles to audition for a sitcom. I didn’t even know what a sitcom was. It was a pilot. I didn’t know what a pilot was. So a friend of mine said come out, audition for this pilot. And I thought, long weekend, the worst case scenario is I get a free weekend in Los Angeles. So I went there and 33 years later that was my introduction my introduction to television and film and and that’s and my relationship with CBS now has spanned like well over 25 years. Well, that speaks to your great talent. So with NCIS, when you get, when you when you audition for that, then you get the job and you do the first episode. Is any part of you thinking this is going to go on for 1000 different episodes and you’re going to be part of 350 odd of them? No. Literally, NCIS was already on the air, was already a pretty successful franchise the show had been on. I came on in the last few episodes of Season 5 and I remember thinking to myself, you know what? It’s pretty good if if this goes seven seasons, if I get if I if it goes to season seven, I will have come in on the tail end of a pretty good show. Two years on a on a on a hitch on a show that’s already a hit. I was already thinking seven seasons would be great. That was 17 years ago. Wow. And you’ve also directed episodes. What’s it like to work behind the scenes to direct your colleagues and and to be playing in front and buying the camera? It’s what I would. I think it would be something akin to being the royal wedding planner. People ask me which is easier. I said there’s there’s, there’s no comparison. As an actor, I get up in the morning, I’ll look over my script. I’ll have a cup of coffee. I’ll read the paper. When I’m a director, when I’m directing an episode, I wake up 3 hours before my alarm clock and I’m staring at the ceiling and thinking to myself, please don’t mess this up make just because it’s there’s so many things to think about but it’s a it’s a great group. It’s a great my you know the crew you’re in you’re responsible for so many other elements and there’s there’s it’s just a it’s it’s you know you’re you’re it’s it’s just constant information. Constant questions hair lighting makeups effects you know all all all the things that you’d be responsible for. But I must have done something right because they’ve they’ve let me do about 25 episodes now. So that’s the same thing Tony tells himself every morning when he opens his eyes doing something right. Rocky your your character. Director Vance has taken a bullet recently, reconnected with his son, recently tracked down an old enemy. A lot going on. Yeah. What can fans expect in the in the tail end of this season and beyond. Well, one of the things I I love about my characters started out sort of as the boss from hell. That was sort of kind of this guy who kind of seemed to work in his own orbit but but so many of his personal challenges family is like you said his own personal life things were in jeopardy for him I think which is now endeared him and made him more of a a part of the the the NCIS nucleus there. The season finale once again it takes the team and the couple of members outside of the NCIS out of the mothership as I call it. We we reach out to the NCIS universe to help solve this. This case. Special Agent Knight that’s played by Katrina Law has to make some very big decisions regarding her life and her career at NCIS. And that’s what fans can look forward to. Rocky, we got about 30 seconds left. But you know, actors always bring something of themselves to the character. But when you play a character this long, the character rubs off on the ACT. Absolutely. Has that happened here? Slightly. But I realize I don’t carry the same weight at at home, but nobody listens to me the way they listen to me. Rocky, Carol, thank you so much for being here with us. My pleasure. Appreciate. Good luck. And NCIS airs Mondays at 9:00 PM Eastern on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.