Diane Neal (born November 17, 1976) 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 The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) is a division of the United States Coast Guard that investigates crimes where the U.S. Coast Guard has an interest. It is composed of civilian ( GS-1811), active duty, reserve enlisted, and warrant offic ...

Special Agent Abigail Borin in the ''NCIS'' franchise.

Early life

Neal was born in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

, the youngest of three daughters to Colleen Neal, a math teacher, and Christopher Neal, a federal attorney. She was raised in Littleton, Douglas County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. 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 Pond's is an American brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

skin-care ads. After deciding to resume her education, Neal began attending

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

's Extension School in 2009, and graduated with an associate degree in May 2018.

Career

Acting

Neal first appeared on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' as a guest star, playing a rapist in the Season 3 episode "

Ridicule Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mock ...

". Neal first appeared as Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak in the show's fifth season, replacing

Stephanie March Stephanie Caroline March Benton (born July 23, 1974) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Alexandra Cabot in the crime drama franchise ''Law & Order'', which she played in the NBC series '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2 ...

, 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 TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'', "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. In 2021 Neal starred as Peggy Sue Thomas in the Lifetime movie ''Circle of Deception''.

Congressional run

On February 6, 2018, Neal announced that she would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in

New York's 19th congressional district New York's 19th congressional district is located in New York's Catskills and mid-Hudson Valley regions. It lies partially in the northernmost region of the New York metropolitan area and mostly south of Albany. This district is currently re ...

as an independent. 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." Neal finished with 1% of the vote.

Podcast

On January 14, 2022, Neal announced that she would be the host of a new comedy and talk podcast named "Hear Say with Diane Neal". The podcast is intended to "amuse and enlighten".

Personal life

In 2005, Neal married Irish

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

Marcus O. Fitzgerald in a ceremony in the

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. Neal and Fitzgerald divorced in 2014. Neal was later involved in a relationship with magician JB Benn. It ended acrimoniously, and in November 2019 Neal became the plaintiff in a lawsuit in which she made allegations against Benn including fraud and

identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was c ...

, and she claimed Benn had subjected her to physical and sexual abuse. 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. Benn has allegedly stalked Neal for several years and violated the criminal protective order against him. In 2013, Neal was involved in a car accident which fractured her spine. 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.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neal, Diane 1976 births Living people 21st-century American actresses American female models American film actresses American television actresses Actresses from Colorado Actresses from Alexandria, Virginia People from Littleton, Colorado American actor-politicians New York (state) Independents Harvard Extension School alumni Candidates in the 2018 United States elections