Sasha Alexander

Suzana Drobnjaković (born May 17, 1973), known by her stage name Sasha Alexander, is an American actress. She played Gretchen Witter on Dawson's Creek and has acted in films including Yes Man (2008) and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). Alexander played Caitlin Todd for the first two seasons of NCIS. From July 2010 through September 2016, Alexander starred as Maura Isles in the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles.

Sasha Alexander, who is of Serbian descent, was born Suzana Drobnjaković in Los Angeles, California. She began acting in school productions in the seventh grade. She was also an ice skater, but stopped due to a knee injury. She continued acting through high school and college, then moved to New York City to act in summer stock and Shakespeare festivals. She graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, where she was a member of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.

Alexander got her acting start on two short-lived series: the medical drama Presidio Med and ABC's twenty-something drama Wasteland. She achieved widespread media attention and critical praise when she appeared in the fourth season of Dawson's Creek as Gretchen Witter, the sister of Pacey Witter, and dated the title character. Alexander was also in an episode of the short-lived Fox comedy series Greg the Bunny, in which she played the role of a lesbian TV Guide reporter and shared an onscreen kiss with Sarah Silverman.

Alexander also appeared in the films Lucky 13 and All Over the Guy, as well as He's Just Not That Into You (in the role of Catherine), the independent movie The Last Lullaby, and Yes Man (as Lucy) starring Jim Carrey. She also appeared as District Attorney Robin Childs in the CSI episode "Alter Boys".

Alexander joined NCIS as Secret Service/NCIS Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd in 2003. She replaced Vivian Blackadder, played by Robyn Lively, who had appeared in the back-door pilot episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" on JAG. The official pilot episode "Yankee White" aired September 23, 2003, on CBS. Alexander's year and a half tenure on the show ended in May 2005 when her character, Kate, is killed by a terrorist who shoots her in the head during the last few seconds of the season-two finale, "Twilight". The "official explanation" for the actress's departure was that "she asked to be let out of her contract to pursue other opportunities". In statements made by Alexander since her departure from NCIS, she has made clear, that her problem with the show was that she felt the workload was too physically demanding for her. In subsequent television series work, episode counts were considerably smaller, and her character portrayals required less physical effort than her role on NCIS. In her final appearances in the two-part episode "Kill Ari", Alexander was credited as a special guest star. Alexander reappeared as Todd in a "what if" scenario with Anthony DiNozzo for the NCIS 200th episode "Life Before His Eyes" in 2012.

She also had a small role in 2006's Mission: Impossible III. She joined the cast of The Nine in the role of Nick's ex-wife, and also appeared in one episode of Friends ("The One with Joey's Interview"), playing a Soap Opera Digest reporter who interviewed Joey.

From 2010–16, Alexander played Dr. Maura Isles for seven seasons on the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles – the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Chief Medical Examiner, who works with the Boston Police Department. Alexander costarred with Angie Harmon, who played Boston Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli, Isles' best friend on the show.

In 2015, Alexander began a recurring role on Showtime's Shameless portraying Helene Runyon, one of Lip Gallagher's college professors. Her character Helene maintains an open relationship with her husband Theo (played by Michael Reilly Burke) which allows her to sleep with Lip. The relationship between Helene and Lip is both romantic and one which provides him with guidance in his college career, but the affair blows-up in season six (2016).

On September 18, 1999, Alexander married Luka Pecel, but this marriage was later annulled.

On August 11, 2007, Alexander married director Edoardo Ponti (the son of actress Sophia Loren and the film producer Carlo Ponti) in Geneva, Switzerland. They have two children, a daughter Lucia (born in 2006) and a son Leonardo (born in 2010). Jessica Capshaw is godmother to Lucia. Alexander speaks English, Serbian, Italian, and some French.