Dawson's Creek

Background:

“We're often attracted to people who are opposite ourselves because they have qualities we want and vice versa.” Sasha Alexander

Sasha Alexander is recognized for her roles of Jesse Presser, a harried New York City publicist obsessed with the downtown dating scene, on the ABC drama created by Kevin Williamson, "Wasteland" (1999), Gretchen Witter (2000-2001), the sister of Pacey (played by Joshua Jackson) and friend of Dawson (played by James Van Der Beek), on the WB primetime teen soap "Dawson's Creek," and as Special Agent Caitlin 'Kate' Todd (2003-2005) on the CBS Emmy Award-nominated police procedural television series "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service." She has also appeared in "Presidio Med," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Friends," "E-Ring," "The Nine" and "Prison Break."

On the big screen, the 5' 7" actress could be seen in the films "Twin Falls Idaho" (1999), "All Over the Guy" (2001), "Mission: Impossible III" (2006) and "The Last Lullaby" (2008). She will soon appear in the upcoming films "Play Dead," "He's Just Not That Into You," "Yes Man," and "Tenure."

Sasha is married and has one daughter.

Suzana Drobnjakovic

Childhood and Family:

Serbian and Italian descendant Suzana S. Drobnjakovic, who would later be known as Sasha Alexander, was born on May 17, 1975, in Los Angeles, California. She has a brother named Alexander. In the seventh grade, she began acting in school productions and later continued acting through high school and college. She then moved to New York to act in summer stock and Shakespeare festivals. She received a BFA degree in directing from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema & Television.

“I went to film school at USC for directing and I graduated wanting to make movies. I acted when I was younger, mostly stage, but when I got to college I really wanted to expand my knowledge of filmmaking and I just loved movies.” Sasha Alexander

Sasha was also a figure ice skater and dancer, but had to give up going pro because of an injury to her knee. She was also a singer and in a band at the age of 14 called “Everything Nice.”

On September 18, 1999, Sasha married Luka Pecel, but the marriage was annulled. She married her present husband, Edoardo Ponti, at the Russian Orthodox Church in Geneva, Switzerland on August 11, 2007. They have one daughter, Lucia Sofia Ponti (born in Geneva, Switzerland on May 12, 2006).

Sasha, whose role model is her mother, enjoys traveling the world.

“I love to go out. I love the outdoors. I love outdoor sports. I'm a big traveler.” Sasha Alexander

NCIS

Career:

“Actually my parents wanted me to go to law school. I actually wanted to be an exotic dancer, but that didn't work out so I thought I'd take on acting.” Sasha Alexander

A former ice skater, dancer, and singer, Sasha Alexander moved to New York to act in summer stock and Shakespeare festivals, where she portrayed Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew." Afterward she studied in London with Cicely Barry and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In 1997, Sasha appeared in the TV movie "Supply & Demand" and the short films "Battle of the Sexes" and "Visceral Matter.” In 1999, she portrayed Miss America in the Michael and Mark Polish's independent feature "Twin Falls Idaho" and starred as Jesse Presser, a harried New York City publicist obsessed with the downtown dating scene, on the ABC drama created by Kevin Williamson, "Wasteland." Unfortunately, the show only aired three episodes in October 1999 before ABC canceled it.

Meanwhile, Sasha, who received a BFA degree in directing from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema & Television, also co-produced and starred in the independent comedy "X-Girlfriends."

Entering the new millennium, Sasha got her first big break when she played Gretchen Witter, the sister of Pacey (played by Joshua Jackson) and love interest of Dawson (played by James Van Der Beek), on the WB primetime teen soap "Dawson's Creek." She played the character from 2000 to 2001.

“I'm not going to rush into another show unless it's really something I feel special about, like really attracted to.” Sasha Alexander

During this time, in 2001, Showtime began airing unseen episodes of the show "Wasteland." Sasha also starred opposite Adam Goldberg in Julie Davis' independent gay-themed romantic comedy feature "All Over the Guy" (2001).

In the following years, Sasha co-starred as Dr. Jackie Collette in the CBS series "Presidio Med" (2002-2003) and played the regular role of Special Agent Caitlin 'Kate' Todd on the CBS Emmy Award-nominated police procedural television series "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service." She stayed with the show from 2003 to 2005 until her character was killed in the line of duty by terrorist Mossad agent Ari Haswari (played by Rudolf Martin) in the Season 2 finale "Twilight."

About her typical day when filming “NCIS,” Sasha said, “Well, yesterday was Monday and I started my day at 4:30 in the morning. I had to be at work at 5:30 a.m. and I got home at midnight. But that's not typical. That was a brutal day. Today I started at 10 a.m. and I'll be here till about midnight.”

Sasha was subsequently cast opposite Tom Cruise in the third action film based on the spy-themed television series, "Mission: Impossible III" (2006), and co-starred with Tom Sizemore in Jeffrey Goodman's mystery movie "The Last Lullaby" (2008). She was also spotted as a guest in an episode of ABC’s serial drama "The Nine" and Fox’s Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated action drama series "Prison Break."

“I think we find a little bit of ourselves in every role we do.” Sasha Alexander

Sasha has completed her new films, Jason Wiles' action/comedy starring Chris Klein, "Play Dead," and Ken Kwapis' comedy based on the self-improvement book written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, "He's Just Not That Into You," alongside Jennifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, and Drew Barrymore.

She is now working on her upcoming film projects, "Yes Man," a comedy by Peyton Reed based on the memoir by British humorist Danny Wallace, and "Tenure," a comedy by Mike Million in which she stars opposite Luke Wilson.

“I believe life takes us where we need to be.” Sasha Alexander

Awards:
---