‘NCIS’: What Pauley Perrette Told Newcomer Diona Reasonover

The hit CBS action drama NCIS returns for its Season 16 premiere on Tuesday, September 25, and it will be its first year without actress Pauley Perrette, who played the lovable forensic scientist Abby Sciuto since the show’s 2003 debut.

In July, as previously reported by Inquisitr, it was announced that actress Diona Reasonover’s character — Kasie Hines, who first appeared in Season 15 — would be taking over Abby’s position at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s lab.

But did the 26-year-old NCIS newcomer get any advice from Perrette before joining the series as a regular cast member?

“Pauley was so sweet when I met her,” Reasonover told E! News.

“She told me to just be myself, really. She was like, just bring yourself to this role. She has been, I think, such a wonderful grounding force on this show. She’s a really kind, generous person in real life.”

Regarding her character, Reasonover told Newsweek that Kasie is “a great team player” who will always ask how she can help when she sees other members of her team “scrambling” around.

She said that as TV viewers watch Kasie getting to know the members of an already-established team that works really well together, she is doing the same in real life as she becomes more acquainted with the “seasoned actors and this seasoned crew who all know how the show works” on NCIS.

One character who will take some time to warm up to Kasie is McGee (Sean Murray) since he was really tight with Abby. In fact, Reasonover revealed to Newsweek that he even accidentally calls her “Abbs” at one point.

The Detroit, Michigan-native has been well-trained for her new television role. She has a bachelor’s degree in theater and dance from Oberlin College, and a master of fine arts degree in acting from the California Institute of the Arts.

On television, Reasonover has been seen in shows like Clipped, 2 Broke Girls, and Grace and Frankie, and she has performed in several theater productions in California, including shows with the improvisation troupe Upright Citizens Brigade.

However, securing jobs hasn’t always been easy.

“I, actually, used to troll Craigslist for acting gigs because every now and then there would be some producer who was like, ‘I mean, I’ve got money, but I don’t know where to find the actors,'” she told E! News, “and you would sometimes get, like, $500 for doing a script in someone’s basement. You just had to make sure it wasn’t a murder basement.”

NCIS airs on CBS on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.