Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor, producer and director. He is known for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS (2003-2021), a role which has earned him six nominations at the People's Choice Awards including a win for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor in 2017. Since 2008, he has also been a producer and executive producer of the show as well as its' spinoff series NCIS: New Orleans. His character of NCIS special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was introduced in a guest starring role in two episodes of JAG, and continued on the spinoff show NCIS.He had a recurring role as Secret Service special agent Simon Donovan in a four-episode story arc in The West Wing in 2002, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination.One of his first national TV appearances (other than as an athlete) was in a commercial for Kellogg's Product 19 cereal with his father, Tom Harmon, its longstanding TV spokesman. Thanks to his sister Kristin's in-laws, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, he landed his first job as an actor in an episode of Ozzie's Girls.He has been starring in television and film since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins.He's been married to actress Pam Dawber since 1987 and they have 2 sons. His son, actor Sean Harmon, had a recurring role as a young Leeroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.