Pauley Perrette (born March 27, 1969) is an American actress, best known for playing Abby Sciuto on the U.S. TV series NCIS. She is also a published writer, a singer and civil rights advocate. Perrette also co-owns the "Donna Bell's Bake Shop" in Manhattan, which is named after her late mother.

Biography

Perrette was married for three years to actor and musician Coyote Shivers. She has been granted restraining orders against him since leaving him; she has alleged that Shivers subjected her to physical, emotional and sexual abuse during and after their marriage.

Perrette supports many charitable organizations, including animal rescue, the American Red Cross, civil rights, and LGBT rights. During the fall of 2008, Perrette opposed the California ballot initiative Proposition 8, writing a public letter urging Californians to vote against the measure. She is a member of the Hollywood United Methodist Church.

She was engaged to cameraman Michael Bosman, however the two were not legally married, saying they would wait until everyone can get married in the United States. They instead filed for all the legal protections that are available to same-sex couples. The couple had dated for four years, but Bosman did not propose until the legalization of same-sex marriage in California in June 2008. The couple then campaigned very publicly against California's Prop. 8. Perrette and Bosman later split, and in December 2011 she announced her engagement to former British Royal Marine Thomas Arklie. She has again announced that the couple will not marry until Proposition 8 is invalidated.

Perrette toured the real NCIS offices on September 30, 2005, accompanied by an Entertainment Tonight camera crew. During the tour, NCIS Regional Forensic Lab director Dawn Sorenson (Abby's real life counterpart) told Perrette, "You make us all look good, so we're grateful."

The character Abby Sciuto was created by Donald P. Bellisario, who "wanted to create...a character who was seemingly an 'alternafreak,' while portraying her as perhaps the smartest, most capable person on television. Not a junkie, killer, loser, or television stereotype." Perrette added some of her own "contributions" to the character, and also conferred with her friend Clint Catalyst, the "author of Cottonmouth Kisses [who is] often brought in as a guest on TV shows when they are doing pieces on goth or alternative culture." Perrette explained that "Clint and I and our 3,000 closest friends all play together...We've never sat around and labeled each other. Sure, there are nights when a certain event leans more towards one style than the other, but it's not like some turf war with gang colors." Like her character, Perrette has often been asked if she's goth or punk, to which her response is "Who cares?" Consequently, she told her employers that her character isn't the type to seek out a label; Abby "wouldn't call herself anything but Abby...What she represents is a smart, capable chick that cannot be reduced to a stereotype."

Perrette worked with America's Most Wanted in February 2004 to present the city of Prattville, Alabama, with a check for $10,000, which will be used to supplement the reward offer for information leading to the arrest of the person who killed Shannon Paulk. Paulk was from Prattville, Alabama, near where Perrette had once lived as a child. Perrette also donated $10,000 to Detroit law enforcement officials to be used as a reward for information regarding the disappearance/murder of Raven Jeffries, a 7-year-old Detroit girl. (Perrette's husband was from Detroit.) The story originally aired on America's Most Wanted on September 8, 2007 on Fox. She also asked them for help in finding the person(s) who killed her friend, Lisa Williamson, who was murdered in 2007 after her Detroit home was set on fire. In 2009, Perrette worked with America's Most Wanted on the case of Tammy Vincent.

Perrette, who is a natural blonde, was hospitalized in 2014 after "a severe allergic reaction to her [character's] trademark ink-black [hair] color." She told CBS News in Los Angeles that her face had swollen to twice its size and warned that "anyone out there [who] dyes their hair, particularly black, you need to be aware of the symptoms.