SUMMARY
- Mark Harmon’s new movie role is a refreshing change from his iconic NCIS character, showcasing his extensive acting abilities.
- After nearly two decades as Gibbs, Harmon’s return to acting in Freaky Friday 2 reminds fans of his versatile career before NCIS.
- Harmon’s upcoming role as Ryan Volvo will help audiences see him beyond Gibbs and highlight his diverse acting range.
Mark Harmon’s upcoming movie role is a necessary career step away from NCIS central character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, whom he played for nearly two decades in over 400 episodes. Harmon’s lengthy effort stretches back to when he, a few other original NCIS characters, and the concept of the military police procedural were introduced in the legal drama JAG. What started as a two-part backdoor pilot (JAG season 8, episodes 20 and 21) burgeoned into a popular, long-running TV series that’s still being made today and inspired the creation of four NCIS spinoff series and an upcoming NCIS prequel series.
In the role of Gibbs, the honorable supervisory special agent in command of a DC-based NCIS team, Harmon was the face of NCIS until around season 19. After 18 seasons and a limited appearance in the 19th, Harmon decided to move on from NCIS, but it did little to break the inextricable link between the actor and the franchise. Harmon’s widely-revered performance and longevity in the original series made it hard to see him as more than Supervisory Special Agent Gibbs. Yet, Harmon boasts an extensive and layered acting career that his new movie role will remind everybody of.
Returning As Ryan In Freaky Friday 2 Is A Change Of Pace After Mark Harmon’s NCIS Run
Harmon Is Returning To Family Comedy After A Long Military Police Procedural Stint
Harmon hasn’t been active since leaving NCIS, but he’ll soon be back on-screen, albeit on the big screen, for the forthcoming Freaky Friday sequel. 20-plus years after Walt Disney Pictures’ 2003 Freaky Friday adaptation, the cult classic body-swap movie is finally getting a new installment, and much to fans’ delight, original stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan will return as the mother/daughter duo, Tess and Anna Coleman. Other original Freaky Friday cast members are slated to return, including Harmon in a role that’s a big change of pace from Special Agent Gibbs.
Freaky Friday 2 Will Remind Everyone That Harmon’s Career Was Always More Than NCIS
Harmon Acted In Movies And TV Series Dating Back To 1973 Before NCIS
Even more than disrupting Harmon’s link to the NCIS franchise, the actor’s Freaky Friday role will remind audiences of the variety of film and TV characters he played before Gibbs. Harmon has acting credits dating back to 1973 when he featured in a single episode appearance in the sitcom Ozzie’s Girls as Mark Johnson. Consequently, he forged an extensive television career, from short roles in series such as Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat, and The West Wing to longer-term roles in St. Elsewhere as Dr. Robert Caldwell, Reasonable Doubt as Detective Dicky Cobbs, and Chicago Hope as Dr. Jack McNeil.
Harmon wasn’t a stranger to film either and has appeared in or led the cast of Chasing Liberty, Summer School, Local Boys, and The Last Supper, among others. His career spans across genres as well, showing that he’s just as adept at comedies or romances as he is at the military procedural format. Mark Harmon’s contribution to NCIS will always be iconic, that’s a given, but it’s important to remember that his acting career is so much more than Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
