Diane Neal

Biography

Diane Neal (born November 17, 1976) is an American-Israeli actress. She is best known for portraying New York Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak in the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2003 to 2012. She is also known for portraying Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Special Agent Abigail Borin in the NCIS franchise.

== Early life ==

Neal was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the youngest of three daughters to Colleen Neal, a math teacher or professor of Jewish descent, and Christopher "Chris" Neal, a federal attorney of Irish descent. She was raised in Littleton, Arapahoe County, Colorado, with her older sisters Leigh and Erin. and Ohio. 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.

== Career ==

=== Acting === Neal first appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 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. 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 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".