Chilean-American actress Cote de Pablo is best known for her role as Ziva David in the CBS drama, "NCIS."

Her previous credits include co-hosting the Latino discussion program "Control" and a starring part in the canceled Fox courtroom drama "The Jury" and stared on "The 33" and "The Dovekeepers" miniseries.

Cote was born on November 12, 1979, in Santiago, Chile, as Maria José de Pablo Fernández, according to Celebrity Net Worth. She has two siblings, Francisco Jr., and Andrea, from her parents Francisco and Mara.

Cote's family moved to Miami, Florida, when her mother got a job at a Spanish-language TV network there. She was 10 years old at the time.

After finishing middle school at Arvida, the actress attended the New World School of the Arts in Miami, where she studied musical theatre.

She then attended Carnegie Mellon University to pursue her music and theatre education, where she appeared in productions of "The House of Bernarda Alba," "The Fantasticks," and "A Little Night Music."

READ NEXT: 'NCIS' Casting News: Cote de Pablo to Return to Ziva? 

Cote de Pablo's Net Worth and 'NCIS' Career

Cote de Pablo's first professional experience came while she was still in school, when she and Carlos Ponce, a former anchor of "Entertainment Tonight," co-hosted episodes of the chat show "Control" for a year.

After finishing college, she came to New York to pursue an acting career while working as a waitress at two restaurants to make ends meet, according to Affair Post.

Cote worked on stage, appeared in commercials, and had a cameo on "All My Children." Eventually, she was cast as Marguerite Cisneros on the TV show "The Jury."

Fox aired the show where viewers saw a 12-person jury deliberate over a criminal case. However, the show barely lasted 10 episodes before being canceled due to low ratings.

Cote also played the character of Dolores Fuentes in the 2005 Broadway production of "The Mambo Kings," a musical based on Oscar Hijuelos's novel "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," which unfortunately closed after a short run in San Francisco.

She sent a videotaped audition for "NCIS." while waiting for "The Mambo Kings" to start. She then flew to Los Angeles for a screen test with series regular Michael Weatherly. 

Coto successfully maintained her character throughout the audition so she was cast as Ziva David, an Israeli Mossad officer turned NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) agent.

Crimes committed against the United States Navy and Marine Corps were the focus of the episode, which followed a team of special agents.

The Chilean-American actress previously said she had never encountered a character like her because she usually deals with authoritative male figures.

Her work as a supporting actress on NCIS earned her an Imagine Award in 2006. Years later, many nominations followed for the same award and an ALMA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Drama.

She won the ALMA Award for Favorite Television Actress - Leading Role in Drama in 2011. It was announced two years later that she was departing the show. However, the reasons were never clarified.

She stayed until her character's story at the start of season 11 was concluded. After reports that her character had been killed off in the season 13 finale due to an explosion in Israel, she later told the media that she was considering a return.

She was paid $120,000 per episode at her peak, earning an average of around $3 million per season. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cote de Pablo's net worth is $6 million.

Why Did Cote de Pablo Abruptly Leave NCIS?

Cote de Pablo did not explain her choice to leave at the time, but in 2016 she explained that she did not like the direction the show was taking with her character, Hello Magazine reported.

"Unfortunately, because of political things and scripts not being good enough, I chose not to [return to NCIS]," she explained.

"Look, I love this character!" She continued, adding that she worked for eight years to develop Ziva and felt the character needed to be treated with the respect she deserved.

"They were going to send [Ziva] back to Israel and make her an unfortunate, miserable woman. I didn't think it was fair. I told them until someone can write something fantastic for Ziva, I won't come back."

Despite her initial statement, the actress still returned to "NCIS" in seasons 16 and 17 and later explained that what she had initially said was not exactly correct.

Cote told USA today in 2019: "I think that was taken out of context at a certain point, and people start writing that to justify the idea of leaving."

"But I didn't leave because I wanted to go or because I was ready or because I was tired. I didn't really have an option," she added.

READ MORE: George Santos Net Worth 

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Cote De Pablo's Complete Transformation - From The List