NCIS helped turn many of its stars into popular names worldwide after its success, including Michael Weatherly. But even after years on the procedural, it took some time before Weatherly experienced worldwide recognition.
Weatherly might’ve already been a fairly well known name in the world of acting before NCIS. He already starred alongside Jessica Alba in James Cameron’s Dark Angel. Being associated with a Cameron project, and co-starring alongside Alba at the time, might’ve helped familiarize Weatherly with the audience. But NCIS was what put millions of eyes on Weatherly on a weekly basis, garnering him fans and attention from around the world.
It took some time before NCIS gained some momentum, however. Initially, the show was simply getting by.
“We were able to keep it afloat a couple of years because we weren’t good enough to get all the attention and we weren’t bad enough to get canceled,” Harmon …
