Daniela Ruah is an American‑Portuguese actress and director best known for playing NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye on the CBS series “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

Who Daniela Ruah Is

  • Full name: Daniela Sofia Korn Ruah Olsen.
  • Born 2 December 1983 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Portuguese Jewish parents.
  • She holds both Portuguese and American citizenship and grew up between the U.S. and Portugal.
  • Professionally, she is an actress and, more recently, a television director.

Early Life and Background

  • Ruah’s parents are Portuguese doctors who were living in Boston when she was born.
  • The family moved back to Portugal when she was about five, and she attended St Julian’s School near Lisbon.
  • She comes from a Jewish background with Sephardic roots on her father’s side and Ashkenazi roots (Russia/Ukraine/Portugal) on her mother’s side.
  • She has a distinctive birthmark in her right eye (a nevus of Ota), which gives her eyes different coloration and is often noticed by fans.

Acting Career Highlights

  • She started acting at 16 in Portuguese telenovelas, debuting as Sara in the soap “Jardins Proibidos” (“Forbidden Gardens”).
  • After a performing arts degree at London Metropolitan University, she returned to Portugal and became a familiar TV face, including starring in several soaps and winning the dance show “Dança Comigo” (Portugal’s “Dancing with the Stars”).
  • In 2007 she moved to New York to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, which helped launch her U.S. career.

International Breakthrough

  • Her big international break came in 2009 when she was cast as Special Agent Kensi Blye on “NCIS: Los Angeles,” where she was a series regular through the show’s full run (more than a decade of seasons).
  • She also appeared as Kensi in crossover episodes of “NCIS” and “Hawaii Five‑0.”
  • Film work includes a role in the WWII drama “Red Tails” and voicing Merida in the European Portuguese version of Pixar’s “Brave.”

Directing and Recent Work

  • While still on “NCIS: Los Angeles,” Ruah began directing multiple episodes of the series between 2021 and 2023.
  • She has since directed episodes of other TV shows in the broader “NCIS” universe and network dramas, expanding her career behind the camera.
  • In Portugal, she has acted in projects like the spy miniseries “A Espia” and the Netflix thriller series “Turn of the Tide,” as well as hosting reality/competition formats such as “The Traitors.”
  • She also co‑hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, further boosting her profile in Europe.

Personal Life Snapshot

  • Daniela Ruah is married to David Olsen, the older brother and former stunt double of her “NCIS: Los Angeles” co‑star Eric Christian Olsen.
  • They married in 2014 in an interfaith ceremony and have two children, a son and a daughter.
  • She is fluent in Portuguese and English and has even learned other languages (like Italian for “Red Tails”) for roles.

Simple TL;DR

  • Daniela Ruah = American‑Portuguese TV star.
  • Famous for: Kensi Blye on “NCIS: Los Angeles.”
  • Started in Portuguese soaps, studied in London and New York, now works as both actress and director in U.S. and Portuguese projects.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.