Diane Neal

Diane Neal (born November 17, 1975[1]) is an American actress best known for her role as New York Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak in the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which she played from 2003 to 2008 and 2011 to 2012. She is also known for portraying Coast Guard Investigative Service Special Agent Abigail Borin in the NCIS franchise.

Diane Neal
Neal at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Television Festival
Born	November 17, 1975 Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Education	Harvard Extension School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001-present
Notable credit(s)	Casey Novak on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Abigail Borin on NCIS
Spouse(s)	Marcus Fitzgerald ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2014)​

Early life

Diane Neal in 2008.

Neal was born in Alexandria, Virginia,[1] the daughter of Colleen, a math teacher, and Christopher Neal, a federal attorney, the youngest of three sisters, Leigh, Erin, and Diane. She was raised in Littleton, Colorado,[2] and Ohio.[3] After Neal graduated from Littleton's Heritage High School, she moved to Hawaii to attend college, but later left school to become a model and travel. Neal started modeling for Shiseido and Pond's skin-care ads. After deciding to resume her education, Neal began attending Harvard University's Extension School in 2009, and graduated with an associate degree in May 2018.[4][5]

Career

Acting

Neal first appeared on Law & Order: SVU as a guest star, playing a rapist in the Season 3 episode "Ridicule". Neal first appeared as Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak in the show's fifth season, replacing Stephanie March, who played Alexandra Cabot.

Neal portrayed Novak through the end of Season 9, when the character exited the series after being censured by the New York State Bar. In 2011, Neal reprised her role as Novak in the Season 12 episode "Reparations", when Novak returned to SVU as their temporary ADA. After that appearance, she became a recurring character in Season 13. She was last seen in the episode "Valentine's Day". Neal said of her return to the series in Season 13 to TV Guide, "It's back on track to what the original SVU was intended to be, which is about sex crimes and crimes against children, it's got more of a nitty-gritty feel." She says that March's and her return to the fictional universe of the series provided a familiarity for viewers following original cast member Chris Meloni's departure. "I think they should put us in the court room together!" she says about March.[6]

Politics

On February 6, 2018, Neal announced that she would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 19th congressional district as an independent.[7] She described her political views as "a little libertarian, I'm a lot liberal, mostly progressive, but I have this amazing ability to be able to take really complicated policy and break it down into edible sound bites, which is something most progressive liberals cannot do."[7] Nevertheless, Neal finished with 1% of the vote.[8]

Personal life

In 2005, Neal married Irish model Marcus Fitzgerald in a ceremony in the Dominican Republic.[9] Neal and Fitzgerald divorced in 2014.[10]

Neal was later involved in a relationship with magician JB Benn.[11] It ended acrimoniously, and in November 2019 Neal became the plaintiff in a lawsuit in which she made allegations against Benn including fraud and identify theft, and she claimed Benn had subjected her to physical and sexual abuse.[11] Benn denied the allegations and released audio recordings in which Neal can be heard berating Benn and making threats including promising to kill Benn's dog in retaliation for slitting her Poodle’s throat.[12]

In 2013, Neal was involved in a car accident which fractured her spine.[11] In announcing her 2018 Congressional candidacy, Neal indicated that the long recuperation from her injuries had caused her to place her acting career on hold.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra	Cleopatra (voice)	English version
2003	Dracula II: Ascension	Elizabeth Blaine	Video
2003	Second Born	Natasha
2005	Dracula III: Legacy	Elizabeth Blaine	Video
2007	BelzerVizion	Dr. Ryan	Short film
2011	Dirty Movie	Nancy
2013	Newlyweeds	Manny
2013	Mr. Jones	The Scholar
2013	Santorini Blue	Florist—"Flowers of the World"
2014	After	Kat
2014	A Warden's Ransom	Warden Samantha Brandt
2015	The Emissary	Christine	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Ed	Vanessa	"Loyalties"
2001	Fling	Prudence Fisher	"At the End of the Day"
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Amelia Chase	"Ridicule"
2002	The American Embassy	Molly	"Pilot"
2002	Hack	Patricia Bennet	"Husbands and Wives"
2003	Future Tense		TV film
2003–2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	A.D.A. Casey Novak	Main cast 2003-2008, recurring role 2011-2012
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	A.D.A. Casey Novak	"Day"
2008	30 Rock	Erin	"Reunion"
2009	My Fake Fiancé	Bonnie	TV film
2010	White Collar	Kimberly Rice	"Front Man"
2010–2014	NCIS	CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin	Recurring role Seasons 7–12; "Jurisdiction", "Ships in the Night", "Safe Harbor", "Lost at Sea", "Oil & Water", "The San Dominick"
2012	A Gifted Man	Attorney Kim Fletcher	"In Case of Complications"
2012–2014	Suits	Allison Holt	"Break Point", "Blood in the Water", "Rewind" "No Way Out"
2013	Captain Blackout	Daphne	TV film
2013	This Magic Moment	Helena Harris	TV film
2014	Power	Cynthia Sheridan	Recurring role
2015	NCIS: New Orleans	CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin	"The Abyss", "The Walking Dead", "Rock-a-Bye Baby"
2015	The Following	Lisa Campbell	"Demons", "A Simple Trade", "Dead or Alive", "The Reckoning"
2015	Blue Bloods	Kelly Blake	"Hold Outs"

References

1. "Big D". DianeNeal.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2015.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. @DianeNeal (February 2, 2014). "I'm from Littleton, Colorado..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
3. "Law & Order: SVU's Diane Neal". People. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
4. Kemble, William J. (February 5, 2018). "Actress Diane Neal, a Hurley resident, launches independent bid for 19th Congressional District seat". The Daily Freeman. Kingston, NY. Archived from the original on September 12, 2018.
5. Walsh, Colleen (May 22, 2018). "Diane Neal moves from 'Law & Order' to take aim at making laws in Congress". The Harvard Gazette. Cambridge, MA.
6. Ross, Robyn (August 9, 2011). "VIDEO: Law & Order: SVU's Diane Neal Says Season 13 Has a Nitty-Gritty Feel". TV Guide. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
7. Costantino, George (7 February 2018). "'Law & Order: SVU' star Diane Neal running for Congress in NY". ABC News. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
8. "New York's 19th Congressional District election, 2018". Ballotpedia.org. Middleton, WI: Lucy Burns Institute. November 7, 2018.
9. "Law & Order Star Diane Neal Marries". People. New York, NY. July 14, 2005.
10. {{cite magazine|last=Lim|first=Gene Paul|date=September 3, 2019|title=The Female Stars of NCIS|url=https://www.heraldweekly.com/the-female-stars-of-ncis/26/%7Cmagazine=HeraldWeekly.com%7Clocation=Ramat Hasharon, Israel}
11. Hitt, Tarpley; Briquelet, Kate (November 16, 2019). "'Law & Order SVU' Actress Threatens Ex on Leaked Tape". The Daily Beast. New York, NY.
12. Bitsky, Leah (November 21, 2019). "'Law & Order: SVU' star Diane Neal allegedly threatened to kill magician ex and his dog". PageSix.com. New York, NY: New York Post.
13. Esch, Mary (May 2, 2018). "Law and Order' actress Diane Neal seeks House seat". APNews.com. New York, NY.

External links

• Diane Neal at IMDb