Rocky Carroll

Rocky Carroll is an American actor and director. Television audiences know him best for his role as agency director Leon Vance on NCIS, which he played for nearly eighteen years.

The actor, whose real name is Roscoe Carroll, was born on July 8, 1963 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati in 1981, then went to St. He graduated from the theater conservatory of Webster University in St. Louis with a bachelor of fine arts degree.

From theater to television

He rose to prominence in the theater during the early part of his career; He appeared in Joseph Papp's Shakespeare productions on Broadway. His performance in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson earned him Tony and Drama Desk nominations. His first major television role was as Joey Emerson on the Fox series Roc, which aired from 1991 to 1994. Between 1996 and 2000, he played Dr. in the CBS hospital series Chicago Hope. He played Keith Wilkes.

NCIS era

Carroll, who joined the NCIS cast in 2008, played the character of director Leon Vance both in the main series and in spin-off productions such as NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. Since 2015, he has also directed many episodes of the series; directed by Magnum P.I. It also expanded to other series such as. His character was killed off and removed from the series in the 500th episode, which was released in March 2026.

As an actor with stage roots, Carroll is a name that has left his mark both in front of and behind the camera on one of television's longest-running series.