Carnival to crime fighter:

NCIS’s new recruit has come a long way in a short time.

NCIS’s newest recruit Diona Reasonover suspects her days trawling websites for jobs are over.

“I don’t know that I’ll be allowed to do that now,” she says, acknowledging her new status as a permanent cast member of the US’s second-longest-running drama (behind Law And Order).

However, she admits she did find one her most memorable jobs on Craigslist, the American classified advertisement website.

“I was supposed to be selling posters but that job fell apart when I was on the road and I didn’t have enough money to get back home so the only other job available at the time was as a carnie (carnival worker),” the 26 year old says.

“I was running a dart game – one dart for $5 ... hit the top star get a prize. I was very good at it and I am trying to convince them to do NCIS: Carnie Edition. So far the network has not bought it.”

Reasonover also had guest stints on several shows including 2 Broke Girls, Transparent and Grace And Frankie. It was another guestie – this time as forensic scientist Kasie Hines on NCIS – that led to her big break.

The show’s producers liked what they saw and, when Pauley Perrette left the series after 15 years playing forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, Reasonover got her job in the lab.

“I didn’t really expect it,” she says. “You know, you’re hopeful but you don’t really know. The first time I saw my name on the opening credits I definitely jumped up and down.”

However, she was also nervous. Reasonover was still in primary school when NCIS made its debut in 2003. Along with the show’s star Mark Harmon, who plays NCIS special agent Leroy Gibbs and David McCallum who plays Dr Donald ‘Ducky’ Mallard, Perrette was a foundation cast member of the series which follows the work of the agency that investigates crimes

involving American naval personnel. They were big shoes to fill.

“I mean, how can you come in and replace that? I was just hopeful that I could create my own character and my own path while still honouring all the work she had done,” Reasonover says.

“I know I keep saying I’m fortunate and I’m lucky but I truly feel that I am because having worked a bit in Hollywood, I know a lot of people just don’t get this.

“You don’t get this show that’s got so many viewers, such a hardcore fan-base. You don’t necessarily get a number one like Mark Harmon who is very generous and kind in ensuring everybody is working together wonderfully. You don’t get this.”

Reasonover admits she felt intimidated the first time she went on set.

“It’s a great cast, and people in that cast have been knocking it out of the park for a very long time, but it was like walking into a family that was very willing to welcome you and make sure you felt comfortable and that you knew that this was potentially your new home,” she says.

It also helps that, like her, Kasie is the new girl on the block – and a bit of a mystery.

“I knew that she had lost someone close to her. I knew that she worked for Ducky and had a good relationship with him but other than that she was an open book,” Reasonover says. Unlike her predecessor Abby, Kasie is sent into the field with other NCIS personnel. “Kasie thinks she is just going to be a lab rat but they get her out in the field sometimes and it does not work out,” she says. “She is not used to being out in the elements and I’m not sad about that because I’m not great in the elements either. You will not catch me scaling mountains.” However, even more challenging for her is the scientific terminology the role requires. “Hi, my name’s Diona. I’m no good at science. Nice to meet you,” says Reasonover, adding she has to work hard to sound like she knows what Kasie is talking about. “I wish I was one of those people where it just rolled off the tongue but that’s not me. It’s a fun challenge. It’s kind of like doing Shakespeare. “I actually call people and go, ‘Help, what’s this?’ My sister’s a doctor, one of my best friends is an actor but who studied bio-chemical engineering and another friend is a graduate student in sciences. I have them on speed dial. It’s good to have friends in medical places.”

“I was just hopeful that I could create my own character and my own path while still honouring all the work she had done.”

– Diona Reasonover on replacing Pauley Perrette