Why Emily Fornell From NCIS Looks So Familiar
Emily Fornell's first appearance in "NCIS" came in two episodes in Season 4, in which she is introduced as the young daughter of FBI Agent Tobias C. Fornell (Joe Spano) and IRS criminal investigator Diane Sterling (Melinda McGaw). The character doesn't reappear on "NCIS" until Season 11 when she returns as a teenager. Payton Spencer originally played the character in Season 4, but a new actress took over for older Emily's recurring role, which started with the episode "Devil's Triad." The character goes through quite a bit of emotional turmoil in the eight appearances she makes between Season 11 and Season 18, when she dies from a drug overdose in the episode "Winter Chill," which aired in March 2021. Emily's mother, Diane, is shot and killed in the Season 12 episode "Check," sending her father, Tobias on a spiral involving alcohol abuse before he himself is also shot and spends time in the hospital.
Even though her run on "NCIS" has come to an end, the actress who played Emily has potential for a long acting career ahead of her. Outside of "NCIS," this actress has carved out appearances in other popular television and movie series — any savvy pop culture consumer may have noticed her in bit parts across a number of television series and films since she first started her career in 2011 (via IMDb). Here's a look at where else "NCIS" fans may recognize Juliette Angelo, the actress who played Emily Fornell.
Juliette Angelo's first starring roles were on Malibu Country and The Haunted Hathaways
Juliette Angelo played Reba MacKenzie's (Reba McEntire) daughter June Gallagher in "Malibu Country," a sitcom that aired on ABC from November 2012 to March 2013 (via IMDb). Although the series only lasted one season, Angelo appeared in all 18 of its episodes, which depict Reba and her family adjusting to a new life in Malibu, California, after Reba's husband cheats on her and they initiate a divorce. "Malibu Country" was McEntire's first television show since her series "Reba," though HuffPost reported by May 2013 that ABC did not pick it up for a 2nd season.
Angelo next appeared in a recurring role on television in the short-lived Nickelodeon sitcom "The Haunted Hathaways," which ran for two seasons from 2013 to 2015. She portrayed Meadow in Season 2, a girl who joins main character Taylor Hathaway's (Amber Montana) gymnastics team and quickly befriends her. "The Haunted Hathaways" follows a mother and her two daughters who move to New Orleans only to discover their new house is inhabited by a family of ghosts: a father and two sons. Angelo's final appearance on the series is in the 3rd-to-last episode "Haunted Surprise," and the series did not return for a 3rd season.
She also appeared in Mad Men, 11.22.63, and Shameless
As Angelo grew through her teenage years, she was cast for guest appearances in more and more well-received projects. She appeared in three episodes of the 7th and final season of AMC's hit period drama "Mad Men," as a character named Carol, with her last appearance coming in the series' penultimate episode "The Milk and Honey Route." Angelo next made two minor appearances in the Hulu miniseries "11.22.63," based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. In "11.22.63," Angelo portrayed a Texas high school student named Bobbi Jill Allnut, one of lead character Jake Epping's (James Franco) students at Jodie High School while he spends time in Texas investigating Lee Harvey Oswald's potential connection to the John F. Kennedy assassination. Despite the increase in visibility for Angelo in these projects, her roles remained small and relatively insignificant to the plot of either show.
Another recurring role came for Angelo in the Showtime dramedy series "Shameless," in which she played Ian Gallagher's (Cameron Monaghan) friend Geneva. The character was in 10 episodes of the series between Season 8 and Season 10, supporting Ian as he embarks on a journey as a religious leader after being dubbed Gay Jesus when he saves a priest's life in Season 8. Geneva last appeared in the Season 10 episode "Gallavich," and was not featured in the final season of "Shameless," which ended in April 2021.
Juliette Angelo portrayed a juror in The Trial of the Chicago 7
Angelo's most recent role outside of "NCIS" actually came as a small part in an Academy Award-nominated film, "The Trial of the Chicago 7." In the Aaron Sorkin movie about the dramatic court case that dominated headlines after protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Angelo was Juror No. 6, who is dismissed from the trial weeks after it's already started. While her role in the film is small, Angelo's character's dismissal proves just one of many mounting problems in the trial for defense lawyer William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and the defendants, who had viewed Juror No. 6 as potentially sympathetic to their legal arguments in the film's first act.
Juror No. 6 says she doubts she can deliver an impartial verdict after Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) shows her a threatening note delivered to her parents, supposedly from the Black Panther Party. The film treats this development as a farce, with Kunstler suggesting to federal prosecutors that it was them who wrote threatening letters masquerading as the Black Panthers.