Daniela Ruah

“As I understand from the real military personnel who I've had the opportunity to speak to over the last few years, humor is very much used to diffuse stress. I think that if they were to keep it as serious as the situations often are, there would be a lot more nervous breakdowns.”

“After River was born, I remember being in the bedroom by myself, overwhelmed because he wasn't latching well, and I yelled, 'Dave, I need help! Can you get in here?' Suddenly my husband, my mom, and my in-laws were all in the doorway. I just melted into tears. It really does take a village.”

“I was born here in the States. I moved to Portugal when I was five. And then my parents put me in an English school.”

“There's this accent that I think everybody has when they grow up going to an international school. It's a mix of not quite English, not quite American. When I moved to L.A., it just went completely American.”

“I'd rather have a house that's nice but usable.”

“I really thrive being onstage.”

“A Portuguese is not going to punch you for no reason.”

“I try to be as full-time mommy as possible and also full-time working woman. That is the example I grew up with. Working mommy but also very present.”

“I'm always competitive, but if I didn't win fair and square, I didn't win. And I want to win if I'm genuinely better than my competitor.”

“I was born in Boston, and when I was two and a half, my parents moved to Minneapolis. And then from there, when I was five, we moved back to Portugal. But before that, a lot of family members had come to visit us, and we had been back to Portugal many times because my whole family lived there.”

“I do go online a lot.”

“Acting with your mom? It's not something you get to do very often.”

“When you go to an audition, don't hang on to it because no matter how well you feel it went or how badly, you just never know what the outcome is going to be.”

“I've met real female NCIS agents who were smaller than I am. They were very petite.”

“Early on, my parents noticed an aptitude for being a show-off. I loved attention. I was always saying, 'Watch me do this, watch me do that,' which I now realize with my own kids is a phase that most kids go through.”

“Having a gun in your hand is very empowering.”

“I know a lot of procedurals have huge viewership, yet they're never nominated for awards.”

“The goal is to work as much as possible in projects I respect and that will help me grow.”

“It's a birthmark called nevus of Ota. It covers the whole white of my eye and darkens it. The square of the eye, the white part, is completely dark on my right eye, not just the iris.”

“I do have a huge fascination for science, and I love to hear what my dad has to say. He used to take me into minor surgeries when I was a kid and let me watch, so I definitely have a passion for it, but it's not as big a passion as I have for acting and creating characters.”