NCIS stars who almost took different career paths: From Mark Harmon to David McCallum and Emily Wickersham

NCIS has gifted fans with some of TV’s most memorable characters. But, if fate hadn’t intervened, some of our favourite actors might not have entered the industry at all.

Mark Harmon had a completely different job before a chance meeting changed everything, and the late David McCallum had assumed he’d simply follow in his father’s footsteps. Here, we reveal which cast members had alternative career paths in mind…

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Mark Harmon
It’s impossible to imagine the NCIS universe without Mark Harmon – aka Leroy Jethro Gibbs – but acting wasn’t always on the cards for the A-lister. During an interview with Men’s Journal, the 72-year-old explained that he’d started out as a carpenter.

Asked what he’d be doing if he wasn’t in the world of TV and film, he told the publication: “I’d be a carpenter. I tried to do that, but I just couldn’t get hired. I enjoyed getting up and doing that in the morning; I enjoyed the drive to work. For me, it was about materials and doing right. If you did it right, [the project] outlasted you.”

“I still enjoy [carpentry], but I think that’s probably what I would have been trying to do had I not been [acting],” he continued.

Mark also went on to reveal that he’d then bagged a job as a shoe salesman but after overhearing a stranger’s conversation, he realized that acting was his true passion.

“When I was doing that shoe salesman job. I was coming back from Boston and I was sitting next to a 33-year-old who was talking about trying to make pension at 65,” he recalled.

“He was drinking his second martini by the time we were wheels up. He was miserable in his job and he was trying to maintain the job for another [32] years. I went home, got in my car, drove out to the place where I worked, and gave my notice.”

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David McCallum
Having hailed from a musical family, David McCallum thought he’d dread a similar path. His father, David Sr, was a famed violinist renowned as the Scottish leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, while his mother, Dorothy, had been a talented cellist.

“At home, music was omnipresent, and my parents both assumed at first that I would follow them into the family business,” David told Mail Online in 2010.

“My father polled friends about which instrument I should study, with a view to future employment opportunities, and settled on the oboe. There was I, still a young boy, and he was choosing my profession; but I was happy to comply. I was in the school orchestra and gave the odd recital. But I was also involved in amateur dramatics. I still play the oboe, but music never grabbed me the way that acting did.”

After appearing in a production of Shakespeare’s King John, David eventually decided that acting was the way to go, and the rest is history!

Guignebourg Denis/ABACA/Shutterstock
David McCallum
Having hailed from a musical family, David McCallum thought he’d dread a similar path. His father, David Sr, was a famed violinist renowned as the Scottish leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, while his mother, Dorothy, had been a talented cellist.

“At home, music was omnipresent, and my parents both assumed at first that I would follow them into the family business,” David told Mail Online in 2010.

“My father polled friends about which instrument I should study, with a view to future employment opportunities, and settled on the oboe. There was I, still a young boy, and he was choosing my profession; but I was happy to comply. I was in the school orchestra and gave the odd recital. But I was also involved in amateur dramatics. I still play the oboe, but music never grabbed me the way that acting did.”

After appearing in a production of Shakespeare’s King John, David eventually decided that acting was the way to go, and the rest is history!

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Emily Wickersham
Emily Wickersham had always been creative, but when she headed to university, her focus was on painting.

“After high school, I majored in painting for two years at Muhlenberg College—my mother is a painter, my father does art, too, and my brother is a photographer, so there are lots of artists in my family—but it didn’t feel quite right, so I dropped out and moved to New York City,” she previously shared with CBS.

After making the move to the Big Apple, Emily managed to bag roles in episodes of The Sopranos, Gossip Girl and The Bridge before joining the cast of NCIS as Ellie Bishop.

CBS Photo Archive,Getty Images
Emily Wickersham
Emily Wickersham had always been creative, but when she headed to university, her focus was on painting.

“After high school, I majored in painting for two years at Muhlenberg College—my mother is a painter, my father does art, too, and my brother is a photographer, so there are lots of artists in my family—but it didn’t feel quite right, so I dropped out and moved to New York City,” she previously shared with CBS.

After making the move to the Big Apple, Emily managed to bag roles in episodes of The Sopranos, Gossip Girl and The Bridge before joining the cast of NCIS as Ellie Bishop.

Maria Bello
Maria Bello was going to be a lawyer. Sitting down with WebMD Magazine, the A-lister was quizzed about her early career plans, which saw her majoring in peace and justice education at Villanova University.

“Politics and diplomacy are not in my repertoire,” she reflected. “Still, my education has served me well, especially in international women’s rights as I meet remarkable women from so many places who share their hopes, lives, and dreams with me.”