Checking in with CCH POUNDER

As “NCIS: New Orleans” nears its end, CCH Pounder is getting ready for her next professional chapter.

The accomplished actress is a founding cast member of the Sunday drama, which concludes its seven-season CBS run May 23. In keeping with the history of her character – medical examiner Loretta Wade, who regularly assists Naval Criminal Investigative Service team leader Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula) – she isn’t going out quietly. At the same time, though, Pounder has her eyes open for new opportunities.

“I always knew what I wanted to do,” the pleasant Pounder reflects. “I wanted to be in every genre that I could, and not do only one thing well that you then end up doing in perpetuity. I played a lot of prostitutes and girls who made awful choices, then I realized how powerful television was, and I decided that I needed to be a little more upstanding.

“Then, for years, I played women of authority,” Pounder adds. “I did my very best in a genre that likes to recognize familiarity and not change too much. Wiggling my way around that and adding something else to the characters has always been my biggest pride.”

Pounder gave up her California home for one in New Orleans during her “NCIS” gig, and she plans to remain based in the Big Easy, at least for now. “I’m in a transition that I think will require a couple of more years of work,” she says. “Many moons ago, someone told me, ‘Nothing is really going to happen for you until you’re quite an old lady.’ And I thought, ‘Well, OK. I’ll just practice in the meantime.’ ”

Birthdate: Dec. 25, 1952

Birthplace: Georgetown, British Guiana

Current residence: New Orleans