Background and career
Michael Weatherly Jr. (born July 8, 1968) is an American television actor, producer, and director, known for playing the roles of Logan Cale in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002), Anthony DiNozzo in NCIS (2003–2016, 2024, 2026–present) and in NCIS: Tony & Ziva (2025), and Dr. Jason Bull in Bull (2016–2022).
Weatherly was born in New York City and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut. His parents are Patricia (née Hetherington) and Michael Weatherly Sr. He is of Irish descent. Weatherly attended Fairfield Country Day School and graduated from Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts in 1986. He attended Boston University, Menlo College, American University, and the American University of Paris, but left college to pursue acting.
Weatherly began his acting career with a minor television role on The Cosby Show as Theo Huxtable's roommate. He played the role of Cooper Alden in Loving and later, The City, appearing in the role from 1992 until 1996. Weatherly moved to Los Angeles, soon landing a role as a series regular on the FOX television series Significant Others with Jennifer Garner, though the show only lasted six episodes. He then met director Whit Stillman, who cast him in the 1998 film The Last Days of Disco as Hap, opposite Chloë Sevigny. Weatherly also appeared as a conflicted warlock in the series Charmed during its first season in 1998. His movie credits include Meet Wally Sparks (1997) with Rodney Dangerfield, Gun Shy (2000) with Liam Neeson, Cabin by the Lake (2000) with Judd Nelson, and the independent film Trigger Happy opposite Rosario Dawson. Weatherly starred in Dark Angel for the two seasons it was on the air. This role earned him three award nominations, two Saturn Awards for best supporting actor on television in 2001 and 2002, and one Teen Choice award for choice actor in 2001.
In 2003, he appeared as Senior NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo in two episodes of the CBS series JAG, a role he continued to portray in the spin-off series NCIS. He made subsequent guest appearances on both NCIS: New Orleans (2014) and NCIS: Los Angeles (2015). Together with Pauley Perrette, who played Abby Sciuto, he is one of only two actors who have appeared in all four shows (JAG, NCIS, NCIS: LA, NCIS: NO). In 2004, he starred in the television film The Mystery of Natalie Wood, portraying Robert Wagner. Since 2010, Robert Wagner had made 12 guest appearances on NCIS as Anthony DiNozzo Sr., the father of Weatherly's character.He was a guest presenter at the Australian Logie Awards of 2007 on May 6, 2007, and was a guest on Rove Live. Weatherly made his directing debut with the season-eight episode of NCIS titled "One Last Score", which aired March 1, 2011, and also directed the NCIS season-10 episode "Seek", which aired March 19, 2013. He portrayed Jesus Christ in a YouTube video that also featured comedian Sarah Silverman and was sponsored by a pro-choice organization. In 2015, Weatherly participated in the #Tapped challenge by posting a video of himself dancing to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. CBS announced in January 2016 that Weatherly would be leaving NCIS after 13 seasons of starring as main character Anthony DiNozzo. At the same time, the network announced he would star in a new series called Bull in fall 2016, loosely based on the real-life trial consultancy of Dr. Phil McGraw. In 2024, after a cameo appearance on NCIS the week before, CBS announced that Weatherly would reprise his role as DiNozzo with on-screen love interest Cote de Pablo reprising as Ziva David in a new NCIS spin-off series called NCIS: Tony & Ziva on Paramount+. Weatherly was a presenter at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2016, and the 40th People's Choice Awards in 2014. He has appeared on numerous talk shows including The Rachel Ray Show, CBS This Morning, Live with Kelly and Ryan, the Today Show, the Late Show, and The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Weatherly has directed numerous short films and television episodes from the series NCIS and Bull. He directed the 2017 documentary Jamaica Man, about the life of British expatriate Nigel Pemberton, which premiered at the 2017 Telluride Film Festival. Jamaica Man won "Best Documentary Portrait" at the 2017 Doc LA - Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, and "Best Documentary" at the 2018 NYC Independent Film Festival. The film was also screened at the 2018 Tiburon International Film Festival and TMFF festival.
Weatherly sings and plays several instruments, including piano and guitar. He has written several songs, including two songs from the NCIS soundtracks, "Bitter and Blue" and "Under the Sun". He played in a band and performed music on his own while pursuing his early career in New York City. Another early project was a video shoot for a karaoke CD: A Taste of Honey's version of "Sukiyaki".
