Michael Weatherly has worn many hats in his three-decade career: soap star, leading man, television mainstay. But the role he speaks about now with the most pride isn’t found on a set. It’s being a dad.
The NCIS favorite — who returns to TV on September 4, 2025 in NCIS: Tony & Ziva alongside longtime co-star Cote de Pablo — is father to three children: son August, 29, from his marriage to actress Amelia Heinle, and Liam, 11, and Olivia, 13, with his wife, Serbian-Canadian physician Dr. Bojana Janković.
For Weatherly, the path to truly connecting with his children has been long and sometimes complicated, shaped by divorce, cross-country schedules, and the relentless grind of Hollywood.
“One of the things that makes me happiest is how close I am with my kids now,” he tells HELLO! in our new digital cover story. “I see how much my daughter loves dancing, and my son loves playing soccer. They’ll spend hours pushing themselves through rehearsals and training, but I love that they do it with a smile and with gratitude. They’re in flow — and it’s a really beautiful place to get to in life.”
A Career in Constant Motion
Weatherly’s career has been marked by both opportunity and sacrifice. He first made his mark in the mid-1990s on the ABC soap Loving and its spin-off The City. During that time, he married co-star Amelia Heinle, welcoming son August in 1996 before parting ways just a year later.
By 2000, Weatherly was on the West Coast, co-starring with Jessica Alba in Dark Angel. The two were briefly engaged before splitting in 2003. When Dark Angel was canceled, he jumped immediately into NCIS, creating one of television’s most beloved characters, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.
After 13 seasons, he pivoted to CBS’s Bull, carrying the series for six years before exhaustion caught up with him.
“I took a few years off because I had burned myself into a bit of a puddle,” he admits. “I was directing and acting, I did 125 episodes of Bull, and I started seeing the writing on the wall. I wasn’t connecting with the character in a way that felt like I was in flow. So I stepped back.”
A Reckoning — and Renewal
The break proved transformative. Weatherly immersed himself in therapy and self-reflection. The timing was painful but clarifying: during those years, he also endured the deaths of both his father and his brother.
“It’s very interesting how many people moved on to the next plane over the last few years, and that brought an urgency back into my world,” he reflects. “My sister had passed years earlier, and I was so busy making television that I didn’t even find out for three days. That was a wake-up call.”
Now raising Liam and Olivia in Connecticut with Bojana, Weatherly feels more rooted than ever.
Fatherhood in Focus
Weatherly is candid about the challenges of fatherhood during his younger years. When August was born in 1996, he was just 27.
“I could barely take care of myself, but I had to feed people and put a roof over their heads. It’s a tough thing for a kid, especially when one of your parents is on the other side of the country,” he recalls of that period when his career kept him in Los Angeles while Amelia and August lived in New York.
Today, the 56-year-old is determined to be fully present. Family dinners, school runs, and cheering from the sidelines have replaced late-night shoots and grueling production schedules.
Back Where It All Began
Even as he embraces a quieter domestic life, Weatherly is preparing for a return that fans have dreamed of for nearly a decade: reuniting Tony DiNozzo with Ziva David.
Premiering September 4, 2025, NCIS: Tony & Ziva will follow the beloved agents as they navigate family life and new dangers. For Weatherly, the project is more than a career milestone — it’s a chance to tell stories that reflect his own journey.
“My wife and I talk about this all the time,” he says. “It’s very difficult to take time and look at yourself. You have to go through the bottom of yourself, and I was able to get there. I’m grateful for that. And now, to come back to television with this character — it feels like everything has come full circle.”
The Final Word
Michael Weatherly has lived a life defined by reinvention: soap star to network lead, bachelor to husband, distant dad to present father. As he steps back into the NCIS universe with Tony & Ziva, it’s clear that the role closest to his heart will always be the one off-screen — father of three.
