Anthony D. "Tony" DiNozzo, Jr.[1] is a fictional character from the CBS TV series NCIS portrayed by American actor Michael Weatherly.[2] An original cast character created by producer Donald P. Bellisario, he is credited in 306 episodes, but actually appearing in 305 of the series. He has also made guest appearances on the spin-offs NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans.
Tony DiNozzo, born in 1972 (as guessed correctly by Caitlin Todd in the season 1 episode Split Decision), is the senior field agent of the fictional Major Case Response Team (MCRT) led by Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), a Marine Gunnery sergeant. The team investigates major crimes involving military personnel, often dealing with local law enforcement officers (LEOs). A former police detective, he is characterized as an outgoing, joking, charismatic former jock and frequent lothario. His charisma helps him do undercover work and to deal with intra-agency conflicts. He often leads the team's crime scene investigations, where medical examiner Dr. Mallard (David McCallum) would put him through physical exertion for evidence retrieval. Over the course of the series, he carries a few storylines, including an undercover assignment that goes through seasons four and five to catch an international arms dealer. DiNozzo provided some comic relief for an otherwise serious drama, regularly spouting movie trivia, especially in the early seasons, and, as a womanizer, his dating provided many roguish experiences. The death of agent Caitlin Todd and DiNozzo's relationship with agent Ziva David becomes fundamental to his subtle shift in attitude and the character's development.
The character drew mixed reactions from the audience. According to Bellisario, Tony was often criticized by the female audience at the beginning of the show's run for his male chauvinism.[3] This softened after Weatherly decided to tone down that aspect of his portrayal, and afterwards the character was better received.[3] Critics continued to be both amused and annoyed by his "charming goofball" persona.[4] By 2011, Weatherly was listed among the top-10 most-popular actors on primetime television, according to Q Score.[5][dead link]
In January 2016, Weatherly and CBS confirmed that season thirteen would be DiNozzo's last as a series regular.[6] In the show, DiNozzo leaves after learning that he has a daughter with his former partner Special Agent Ziva David, who apparently died in a mortar attack on her home in Israel.[7] DiNozzo leaves NCIS to "look for some answers" and to care for their daughter.
Character creation and casting[]
Michael Weatherly was cast for the role of Tony DiNozzo Jr. in 2003. Series creator Don Bellisario related the events that led to Weatherly being selected:
- “I liked him from the first moment I met him. I first met him in Australia, where he was doing The Natalie Wood Story, and he was playing R.J. and the agents called me, or the casting director called me, and said, "I would like you to meet Michael Weatherly." And I was on my last day down there, and I said, "Yeah, I'm going home tomorrow. You know, I'll meet him when he comes back to the States. I'm going out to dinner with my family tonight. I just don't have the time." I received a phone call from Michael, and Michael knows how to flatter you. He started off by saying, "Oh, I love Magnum, P.I...." And then he started telling me all the things he knew about Magnum. And I said, "Look, if you want to go to dinner with me and my wife and two of my boys, you're welcome." Well, that ended up to be a three-hour dinner. It might have gone longer. I liked him so much that I cast him in the show after that meeting.[8]”
- ―{{{2}}}
On another occasion, Bellisario stated, "I can't say enough about Michael Weatherly...He started out on NCIS [playing] a character who was just very unlikable to some women because he was just such a chauvinist, and he has gradually over the [seasons] changed—taken his character and softened it."[3]
Weatherly said that he had initially been reluctant to join a JAG spin-off and explained, "But I went and had this dinner with Don Bellisario in Australia and his personality, his storytelling and his presence and everything kind of won me over."[9] He later commented, "I got very lucky with Don Bellisario. He directed two of the first three episodes, and he really pushed me to try things and experiment and some of the wacky comedy came out of that. And it was kind of unexpected and I didn't really know what I was going to find."[10]
At another point, Weatherly said, "It's kind of fun to play a total dinosaur in terms of sexual politics...The shallow end of the philosophical pool is obviously where Tony paddles around." In the same interview, actress Cote de Pablo (who portrays character Ziva David) added, "There's something deeper about that character. We always talk about the superficial element and the things that make us laugh. But he wouldn't be doing what he does if he wasn't really good at it. It's a complex character, and that's why people love it."[11]
Weatherly directed the 2011 episode "One Last Score"[12] and the 2013 episode "Seek".[13]Template:Relevance inline
Personality[]
Witty and arrogant, egotistical and charming, intelligent and overbearing, Tony's complicated personality was only surpassed by his skill and ability as a federal investigator. As far back as his teenage years, Tony was athletic and confident, often masking any fears or insecurities behind a vain exterior. He disliked talking about his own past, in part due to a difficult childhood, but enjoyed being the center of attention and proving himself right. This overbearing nature sometimes complicated investigations, making others find him abrasive, but Tony consistently redeemed himself on the job with his ability to consistently produce results. Even into his 40's, Tony remained defiantly boyish and immature, making jokes, movie references, and playing pranks that others often considered beneath a man of his age.
Tony was most charming with women, and had a long string of relationships and one-night-stands over the years, preferring to avoid commitment until he unexpectedly became a father. Tony's approach sometimes struck others as sexist, but he was able to work with female colleagues and superiors with no hint of resentment or annoyance as to their gender. Tony's liking for films and the arts would sometimes come out with flair, such as when he made a show of informing his coworkers that he had bought a suit from Sy Devore because they had also sold suits to Frank Sinatra.
Coming to terms with his past and with people he had given loyalty, friendship and trust to was often difficult for Tony; he remained angry at his father for neglecting him as a boy until he was in his 40's, and the two men, proud and touchy, found it difficult to reconcile at first. His lack of a father figure in childhood led him to look up to Leroy Jethro Gibbs as one, a status Gibbs honored behind his gruff persona. Tony valued loyalty highly and hated betrayers and liars; his career at NCIS started in part because Tony found out his partner in the Baltimore, Maryland police was "dirty", leading him to quit.
Biography[]
Pre-Series[]
Born in an unknown state, presumably New York, DiNozzo was the son of wealthy businessman Anthony DiNozzo Senior and an unnamed woman (whose maiden name was Paddington), with the family residing in Long Island, New York and also harboring some wealth although the degree of wealth they had was never revealed.
At the age of five, young DiNozzo endured nightmares about vampires due to his mother going through a phase involving Louis XV that inspired the decor of his room.
During his childhood, DiNozzo also owned some Sea Monkeys until his mother accidentally drank them, having confused their sea castles with her mint julep.
Due to the fact that his father was a Civil War re-enactor, young Tony was forced to carry the poop bucket during scenes, causing the other re-enactors to call Tony "their little poo boy".
DiNozzo's mother loved movies and used to take him to the theatre with her to watch movies, with DiNozzo later telling Ziva that she was the person who got him interested in movies. "The Little Prince" was the last movie they saw before his mother's death.
DiNozzo's mother died when he was only 8 and this triggered DiNozzo's own miserable childhood as his father struggles to look after him on his own and he was left behind in a hotel room on his own for several days at one point.
DiNozzo Senior would later remarry, choosing various women who would become young Tony's stepmothers with Tony having no positive or pleasant memories of any of them.
At some point, DiNozzo as a teenager was shipped off to boarding school. He attended six boarding schools in the four years he spent in high schools, making a habit of getting expelled from each one. The seventh and last one was Remington Military Academy, a private boarding school in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Tony completed his 12th grade year there, graduating high school sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Tony then attended Ohio State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education.
During his time at Ohio State, he was on the varsity basketball team and made it to the Final Four before losing to UCLA. He later participated in a football game leading a team against one from Michigan that was led by Doctor Brad Pitt who appeared in SWAK (episode). Tony broke his leg during the game which was revealed to have been broken by Brad himself.
At some point, Tony was also in the Ohio State Alpha Chi Delta class of 1989. He also received a combined score of 950 on his SATs.
While in Ohio State, Tony saw a townhouse on fire and rushed inside, finding a young boy inside a closet.
As Tony carried the boy out of the building, the boy mentioned his sister, Amber and as Tony attempted to save Amber, a part of the ceiling fell in front of him and as such, Tony decided to leave Amber and save the boy instead.
It was later revealed that Tony had a choice: save the boy or risk their lives to save Amber. Tony ultimately choosing to flee the building with the boy in tow.
Upon becoming a Detective, Tony spent two years in Peoria and Philadelphia before moving to Baltimore which was revealed in the Season 1 episode, High Seas (episode).
While at Baltimore, Tony ran into his future boss: Leroy Jethro Gibbs and the two sides worked together on a money laundering case.
Tony eventually discovered that his partner, Danny Price was a dirty cop which ultimately prompted Tony to resign from Baltimore PD for good and join NCIS instead, Gibbs having suggested it to him earlier.
Tony eventually joined NCIS and presumably began as an NCIS Probationary Agent before eventually being promoted to the rank of Senior Special Agent of the team.
JAG Season 8[]
Tony made his debut appearance in the JAG Season 8/NCIS backdoor pilot episode, Ice Queen (episode) where at the time of his introduction, he was the Senior Special Agent of the main NCIS Major Case Response Team led by NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs which also included Agent Vivian Blackadder, Dr. Donald Mallard and Forensic Scientist Abigail Sciuto.
He was first seen driving to Potomac Park in the NCIS Major Case Response Team Truck.
Behind the scenes[]
Their is a Letter sent containing Y. pestis that led to Tony's near-death experience in season two. During the run of NCIS, Tony consistently speaks at great length about women. He pursues women on a regular basis, typically indiscriminately. Most of these relationships fail to progress past a certain point and have occasionally ended with humorously disastrous results. He has admitted to having commitment issues.
References[]
- ↑ Season 3, Episode 9 "Frame Up"
- ↑ "CBS Bio of Michael Weatherly". CBS (August 6, 2008).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 NCIS Angel of Death 4x24 => Audio Commentary by Donald P. Bellisario.. CBS Home Entertainment.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedAOL - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHP - ↑ Egner, Jeremy. "Michael Weatherly Leaving 'NCIS'", January 6, 2016.
- ↑ "Family First". NCIS. Season 13. Episode 24. May 17, 2016. Event occurs at 09:41. CBS.
DiNozzo: "What do we know? What are the facts? 'Cause we don't assume, we verify. Do we know she's dead? 'Cause if we know she's dead, we're gonna get him." Gibbs: "Yeah, she's dead, and we will get Kort."
Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto"). - ↑ NCIS Kill Ari 3x01 => Audio Commentary by Donald P. Bellisario.. CBS Home Entertainment.
- ↑ Ford Sullivan, Brian (February 27, 2007). "Interview: 'Ncis' Star Michael Weatherly". The Futon Critic.
- ↑ "Video Interview: NCIS's Gary Glasberg & Michael Weatherly". World Screen (March 5, 2013).
- ↑ "Exclusive: NCIS Cast Gathers for Roundtable Tell-All!" (November 6, 2012).
- ↑ Willman, Chris. "First Look: NCIS' Michael Weatherly Gets His Shot".
- ↑ Williams, Scott (March 20, 2013). "INSIDER'S BLOG: "SEEK"". CBS.
External Links[]
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