NCIS’ Tony DiNozzo star kickstarted his career working on The Cosby Show, opposite comedian Bill Cosby.
Michael Weatherly may be best associated with NCIS now but years before his days as Agent Tony DiNozzo, he appeared on The Cosby Show.
NCIS recently marked the franchise’s 1,000th episode, welcoming familiar faces from NCIS Los Angeles and NCIS Hawaii for the special milestone on CBS.
While Weatherly wasn’t there this time around, he had recently showed up on the mothership drama for The Stories We Leave Behind, the tribute episode for Donald “Ducky” Mallard (played by David McCallum).
Prior to joining NCIS, Weatherly had gained popularity as Logan Cale in the sci-fi series Dark Angel and had returned to the spotlight as Jason Bull in the legal series Bull following DiNozzo’s exit in season 13.
But long before any of these shows existed, Weatherly had his first ever TV appearance on the now-controversial The Cosby Show.
The CBS sitcom which ran from 1984 to 1992 for eight seasons, focused on the Huxtable family, made up of Dr Cliff (Bill Cosby), lawyer wife Claire (Phylicia Rashad), and their three daughters and one son.
The series was based on stand-up comic Bill Cosby with the show revolving around his observations of family life.
Weatherly showed up in The Cosby Show in 1991’s seventh series as an unnamed character who was Cliff and Claire’s son Theo’s (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) roommate.
In the episode, Weatherly’s character is helping Theo prepare for a party in their flat, although it is a non-speaking role.
It was in 2018 that Bill Cosby was accused by more than 60 women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse as well as sexual harassment.
The incidents allegedly began in the mid 1960s with the latest dating around the 1980s.
He was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting one of his accusers and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
However, after just three years, the 86-year-old was released in 2021 with his conviction overturned as it was found that a statement he made in a civil deposition shouldn’t have been used in criminal proceedings.
But in February, it came out that a new civil lawsuit against Cosby had been filed by Chelan Lasha who alleges he drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
She alleges that in 1986, he had taken her to a hotel room, drugged her so she “could not move” and assaulted Lasha.
According to the lawsuit, she is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
