Sasha Alexander is a known Serbian-American actress who became popular all over the world with her role as Kaitlin Todd in “NCIS” and later as Dr. Maura Isles in “Rizzoli & Isles”.
Early life:
She was born on May 17, 1973 in Los Angeles in California to parents who are both of Serbian ancestry. Her birth name is Suzana S. Drobnjaković but she eventually changed it into Sasha Alexander.
She has a brother named Alexander. Alexander is a commom Russian and Serbian name.
Sasha began acting in the seventh grade and got involved in almost all school productions.
Once she acted as a leading female in the production of “Baby” at her school. The same day her partner who was also the leading male actor decided not to show up at the play and she was left all alone in front of the audience.
That hasn’t stopped her to use her skills as a comedian and she played out the whole play by acting both roles.
The audience was stunned by her performance and that gave her the wings to continue her dream. She knew that she has theatre in her blood.
She was also an avid ice skater, greatly talented but had to quit her skating career due to a knee injury.
She continued acting both in high school and in college. Sasha tried herself as a band singer in 1987 (when she was 14). The band was called “Everything Nice”.
She is a graduate of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television where she studies directing. Kappa Alpha Theta was her college sorority.
She always wanted to be involved in Shakespeare’s festival programme so she relocated to New York. With her role of Katherine in “The Taming of the Shrew” she received great critics and a place on the Royal Shakespeare Company opened for her.
Career development:
Sasha starred getting a lot of offers and played in a lot of festivals, and besides that she has written numerous productions, such as “Lucky 13”, a comedy with Harland Williams and Lauren Graham. She also acted in this film.
She was involved in many aspects of movie making, not only in acting. She produced an independent comedy film called “X-Girlfriends.” She also starred in it.
In 1997 she was a cast member in “Supply & Demand”, “Battle of the Sexes” and “Visceral Matter.”
She co-starred in a TV drama “Dawson’s Creek” in 1998. Her role in this popular series was as Gretchen Witter who dated the leading character. She was a cast member of this series almost two years.
In 1999 she acted in “Twin Falls Idaho” and in “Wasteland”.
She also starred in “Greg the Bunny”, but the series ended quickly. In this role, of a Lesbian reporter she did her first onscreen kiss with another woman, Sarah Silverman.
Some of the movies she worked on or played a role in were: “All Over the Guy” , “The Last Lullaby” and “Yes Man” (where she acted alongside Jim Carrey). “Yes Man” is a comedy based on the memoir by British humorist Danny Wallace and produced and directed by Peyton Reed.
In Jeffrey Goodman’s “Last Lullaby” ( 2008) she starred alongside Tom Sizemore.
She once played in CSI in an episode called “Alter Boys”.
Sasha also starred as Dr. Jackie Collette in “Presidio Med” , a CBS series.
She became widely popular for her role od NCIS special agent Caitlin Todd in 2003. Her career in NCIS role ended in 2005 when she was killed by a terrorist. It is known that she asked for her departure from the show.
She also appeared in a few episodes if JAG.
In 2006 she gained a small role in “Mission Impossible III.
She shortly joined the acting crew on “The Nine” and she was in one episode of “Friends” (where she interviewed Joey).
“He’s Just Not That Into You” in 2009 was also a very successful film in which she played where the leading roles were given to Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck.
In 2010 she started playing one of her most famous roles – she became Dr.Maura Isles in a popular “Rizzoli & Isles” series, where she acted as the medical examiner. The other leading role in the series, a detective Jane Rizzoli, was played by Angie Harmon who became her best friend there.
In “Shameless”, which was produced by “Showtime” she played a college professor.
She won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Cable TV Actress forr her great work in “Rizzoli & Isles”.
She has an award from San Diego Film Festival Award which she received for her work on “The Last Lullaby”.
Personal life:
In 1999, when she was 26, she married Luka Pecel, an American film director, but the mariage was ended in a few weeks.
Eight years later she married Edoardo Ponti, a known movie director and the son of Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. Sophia Loren is a known actress and his father Carlo was a film producer.
Sasha and Edoardo got married in 2007 at the Russian Orthodox Church in Geneva in Switzerland.
Together they have two kids: a daughter Lucia Sophia Ponti born in 2006, and a son called Leonardo Fortunato Ponti, born in 2010. Both children were born in Geneva.
Sasha is involved in a lot of activities and she is keeping her body in shape by her healthy diet and exercise.
She uses ice-skating and dancing for her routine exercise and learns her kids to skate too.
Meditation is her another tool to keep her body in balance.
She is very rich and owns large properties. She is the face of Cover Girl cosmetics. Sasha owns a few restaurants and has has her own brand of Vodka. It us called “Pure Wonderalexander US”.
She released her own perfume called “With Love from Sash”.
She loves travelling and she plans visiting China and Japan in the near future. It was hard to travel when her kids were young but now it is much easier.
Quick summary
Full name: Suzana Drobnjaković
Date of birth: May 17, 1973
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Age: 44
Profession: actress
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 57 kgs
Net Worth: $4 million
