| Abigail "Abby" Sciuto | |
|---|---|
| NCIS character | |
Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto in the Season 7 episode, "Truth or Consequences". |
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| First appearance | Ice Queen (JAG) |
| Portrayed by | Pauley Perrette |
| Other Appearances | NCIS: Los Angeles |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Forensic Specialist, NCIS |
| Religion | Catholic |
Abigail "Abby" Sciuto ( /ˈʃuːtoʊ/) is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, and is portrayed by Pauley Perrette. Like Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo and Donald Mallard, Abby was first introduced in the episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" (which together served as the backdoor pilot for NCIS) in the television show JAG, and has appeared in every episode of NCIS, in addition to being featured on the show's spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles. The role has made Perrette the most popular actress on U.S. primetime television,[1] according to Q Score.
Abby Sciuto is a forensic specialist at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service headquarters at the Washington Naval Yard, with expertise in ballistics, digital forensics, and DNA analysis. In the first episode for season 7, "Truth or Consequences", Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, while under the influence of a truth serum, describes her as "a paradox wrapped in an oxymoron smothered in contradictions in terms. Sleeps in a coffin. Really, the happiest goth you'll ever meet."[2] Her gothic style of dress and her interest in death and the supernatural enigmatically contrast with her generally hyperactive demeanor and enthusiasm about her work.
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Abby has a gothic style of dress, including black dresses and t-shirts, mini-skirts, and goth jewelry, including anklets and toe rings. She wears pigtailed dyed hair (due to Perrette's hair being dyed as she is a natural blonde in real life),and has at least eleven tattoos on her neck, arms, back, ankle and other places. Her neck choker is one of her favourite pieces of jewelry. While some of the tattoos are Perrette's and real, others are makeup, such as the large cross on her back applied on occasions when Perrette shows her bare back on camera.[3] The spider web on her neck is not real either, as producer Donald Bellisario wanted the character to have a tattoo that would be visible (almost) all the time. However Perrette has expressed dislike for the spider tattoo and wishes for an episode where Abby gets it removed but so far, that hasn't happened.[3] Abby also has a stuffed hippo named "Bert" that makes flatulence noises when squeezed, which has been used for comic effect when Abby is upset. She decorates some of the areas in her lab with toys such as 'Bleeding Edge Goth' dolls and 'Teddy Scares.' The Teddy Scare 'Rita Mortis' can be seen sitting next to her computer monitor. Abby's biggest pet peeve, as revealed in Season 5's "Lost and Found" by Timothy McGee, is people who claim to be vegetarians but still eat chicken; her second biggest pet peeve is people who mishandle evidence.
Abby drives a candy-apple red Ford '32 Deuce Coupe bearing a Washington, D.C. personalized vanity plate "4NS CHIK" which is prominently featured in Season 5's "Dog Tags".[4]
Like Gibbs, Abby enjoys caffeine, primarily in the form of large cups of a fictional drink called "Caf-Pow." At times, when she is worried about the caffeine interfering with her sleep, she drinks "No-Caf-Pow" instead. (According to Perrette, the cups were originally filled with Hawaiian Punch, but when she stopped eating and drinking refined sugar, unsweetened cranberry juice was used instead.)[5] When changing the artwork in her lab during "Hung Out to Dry", she states that she has a "Chagall feeling", a reference to Marc Chagall, a Jewish Belarusian artist whose main works came from fantasy and dreams. Her favorite term for something out of the ordinary is "hinky". It is also shown that she enjoys attending concerts, but her failure to wear earplugs at one of them left her with temporary hearing loss the next day, forcing her to ask DiNozzo for help analyzing some audio evidence.[6]
Abby has shown a tendency to become very agitated, to the point of near-panic, if any of the team are seriously hurt. When Gibbs was admitted to hospital, Abby ended up on the verge of a nervous breakdown, pacing back and forth while delivering a rambling, disjointed stream-of-consciousness plea that explained (among other things) how close she and Gibbs were, the reason she was arriving after visiting hours, how she felt about Gibbs being injured, and how important it was to her that Gibbs not die from his injuries.
Abby developed a fondness for Butch, a Navy sniffer dog, in the season 5 episode "Dog Tags". She renamed it "Jethro" after Gibbs, because it was "handsome and quiet" like him. The dog was framed for the murder of a petty officer as the dog was found at the murder victim's house, but Abby proved Jethro's innocence. Afterwards, Abby forced McGee to adopt the dog, much to his dismay (as Jethro had attacked him earlier in the episode). Abby would have preferred to adopt Jethro herself, but her landlord did not allow tenants to have pets.
Sciuto is well-versed in her field of study; she is rarely stumped by the puzzles that Gibbs' team present to her. Abby has been shown to have skills in traditional forensics, computer forensics, and hacking. She has implied that she has a PhD in chemistry.[7] It has been shown that she does all the work on the evidence herself. In season 3, when she was given an assistant, Charles "Chip" Sterling, she revolted but eventually learned to put up with him. However their working partnership did not last long as Abby later discovered Sterling had framed DiNozzo for murder. Exposed, Chip threatened her with a knife; she promptly subdued him, hog-tied him with duct tape, and insisted on being allowed to work alone from then on, something Jenny Shepard agreed to.
It has been shown that she has a younger brother, Luca [8], and niece.[9] She also mentioned that her grandmother was an Olympic swimmer who won a silver medal[10] and that she had an uncle named Teddy who owned a bar.[11]
She also has an Uncle named Horace whom she referred to as Horace "the Haggler" during an episode. It has also been mentioned numerous times that she is a devout Roman Catholic and is on a bowling team with several nuns.
In "Kill Ari Part 2" at Kate Todd's funeral, it is revealed that Abby grew up in New Orleans (as did Pauley Perrette).
In the episode "Seadog", Gibbs tells Tony that Abby knows how to use sign language because both of her parents were deaf.
It was stated in the NCIS: Los Angeles episode "Random On Purpose", that Abby is in her late 20s.
Abby is a hearing child born to deaf parents[12] and likes her music loud. Abby has stated that she dreams of visiting the Galápagos Islands, Dollywood, and Israel before she dies.[13] Abby graduated with full honors from LSU with a triple major in sociology, criminology and psychology. She earned her master's degree from Georgia State University in criminology and forensic science. Sciuto's interest in forensics came from living near a wrecking yard and being intrigued by the cause and effect of the wrecks.[13][14] The season 9 episode "Enemy on the Hill" revealed that Abby has another brother, Kyle (played by Daniel Louis Rivas), and that the parents who raised her are actually her adoptive parents; she has no idea who her birth parents are.[15]
Abby gets along well with all the rest of the team, particularly McGee and DiNozzo. She is very fond of Ducky, who uses her full name, Abigail. (She is called Abby or Abbs by most everyone else, except Director Leon Vance, who calls her Ms. Sciuto.) Abby is fiercely loyal to the team, and considers them family which is shown by her distress when one or more of them is in serious danger.
Abby and Gibbs have a very strong bond, and like Ducky, she has no fear of him, calling him by his last name. Gibbs is often seen giving Abby kisses on the cheek, and hugging her, especially when she does good work on the cases she works on. Sometimes, he even massages her shoulders. He often brings her a fictional drink called Caf-Pow, her favorite drink, when he arrives at the lab for information on their current case, or when he comes in response to her call on something she discovered with said case. Gibbs often tolerates Abby's goth dress style as he knows she does a great job in her work. Abby sometimes turns to Gibbs when she needs to talk about something personal that is bothering her and he helps by listening to her. Both Gibbs and Abby are proficient with American Sign Language, as Abby grew up with deaf parents. On several occasions, Gibbs has admitted that Abby is his favorite, a fact that does not escape the rest of the team, but they do not begrudge her for it. Perrette has also mentioned in interviews that she sees Gibbs as Abby's father figure and they have an obvious father-daughter relationship.
Gibbs is also very protective of Abby, especially when she is in very serious danger. For example, in the episode "Bloodbath", she was threatened by a hit man hired by a defendant in a case in which she was testifying, which was also complicated by an ex-boyfriend, named Mikel Mawher[16] (guest star, Vincent Young), against whom she had a restraining order, but who then called her in violation of the order. When Gibbs found out about this, he pointedly told Mikel, "The only reason you're still able to walk is because I never heard about you until today!"[17]
Sometimes, that protectiveness extends from the rest of the team as well. For example in the episode "Spider and the Fly", Alejandro Rivera came to NCIS and began to threaten Abby for not sending in a report about the murder of Pedro Hernandez, Rivera's father whom Gibbs had killed twenty years previously in revenge for Hernandez killing Gibbs' first wife, Shannon, and young daughter, Kelly. The entire team, including Ducky and Vance, ordered him to leave her alone and to not harass her, or to be escorted forcibly from NCIS Headquarters. When Rivera asked who would hurt him, Director Vance said angrily, "Me!" showing that despite his formal and professional treatment of Abby, he also does show that he cares. Rivera left of his own accord, but was later arrested for attempting to kill Gibbs and his father at a safehouse, and accidentally killing his sister, Paloma.
Gibbs's concern for Abby's safety is such that he will even drop his trademark cup of coffee if she is in serious danger. Twice this occurred, in the episode "Kill Ari" when Ari shot at her while she was in her lab, the other time was in the episode "Driven" when she was trapped inside an experimental humvee which had filled with exhaust, which could have suffocated her.
Abby's relationship with Tony is a brother-sister one, with the two making friendly, non-hostile jibes at each other, and squabbling about various topics, such as movies and personal possessions. Abby is perhaps the only member of the NCIS cast who displays a love and knowledge of movies that even comes close to matching Tony's. Her sisterly affection for him is displayed through the many hugs she gives him after he arrives back in the office following time away, or after his life had been at risk. In "Twilight," after Tony narrowly avoids being part of an explosion on his first day back from sick leave after getting pneumonic plague, she runs at him and hugs him so hard he nearly falls over. In the episode, "Frame-Up," she almost single-handedly unravels the forensic evidence used to frame Tony of murder in order to clear his name, then subdues the killer - her assistant - when he threatens her with a knife. The explosion of Tony's car in "Bury Your Dead" causes her to become increasingly obsessed with her work, in order to prevent thoughts of his possible death. In "Reunion," after Tony, McGee and Gibbs rescue Ziva from Somalia, Abby is the first to criticize Ziva about her continuing mistrust of Tony. This then sparks a confrontation between Tony and Ziva that sees their relationship restored to normal.
Abby and former team member Caitlin Todd (deceased) were close friends; they often hung out after work, and Abby is one of the few to know what Kate's tattoo actually is. Abby was at first cold to Ziva David when the latter arrived at NCIS, because of her link with Ari, who killed Todd. Abby eventually came around, and she and Ziva became good friends. This was solidified in the episode "Capitol Offense" when Ziva, in gratitude for Abby allowing her to stay at her place (Ziva's home was being fumigated for termites), bought her a "chocoholic's choice" cupcake. The cupcake soon vanished, and Abby brought out all her forensic know-how to find it. Ultimately, it was McGee who had taken the cupcake, angering Abby and the others. At first, Ziva flinched whenever Abby would hug her given that she did not know why Abby did so, but eventually, she overcame this, and Ziva now accepts Abby's hugs with no problems.
She had a relationship with McGee which she stated that she would like to keep casual. Although the relationship ended late in season one, they both have exhibited jealousy when someone of the opposite sex pays attention to the other. There continues to be some erotic teasing and tension between the two, implied through such facts as McGee's apparent ability to describe the inside of Abby's bedroom in his novel. After finding out Abby sleeps in a coffin, he said, "You told me it was a box sofa," indicating he has at least stayed over. The implications went farther when he added, "I can't believe I slept in a coffin," and she wryly replied, "Not just slept." In the episode "Bloodbath" when Abby's life is threatened and the team sends her home with McGee, it is revealed that at one point Abby kept a toothbrush at McGee's house.
In the NCIS: Los Angeles episode "Random on Purpose", Abby, having been previously seen on video-conference or talking to someone from her lab in Washington D.C, arrived in Los Angeles to meet the OSP team as she informed them she was investigating a serial killer called the Phantom who had murdered 15 people all over the country and had also left no DNA or even physical evidence at the scenes.
She developed friendships with the Office of Special Projects (OSP) team, including G. Callen (Chris O'Donnell); Sam Hanna (LL Cool J); and most notably the operations manager Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) who comments that Abby is "the first NCIS employee [she] has ever met with a sense of style".[18] Abby was later kidnapped by the Phantom, later revealed to be a lawyer named Tom Smith who sought to kill her as well. Although Vance mentioned that Gibbs and the NCIS MCRT team were en route to Los Angeles to rescue her, Abby was saved thanks to the efforts of the OSP team and was later seen telling Gibbs and McGee on a video-conferencing link that she was okay although their faces and voices were not shown.
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