Sasha Alexander
Sasha Alexander is an actor, born 1973.
Sasha Alexander has spent most of her career on American network television, which gets described as the lesser room and in her case has plainly been the right one. She was born in Los Angeles in 1973, works under a professional name, and got her first widely seen part as Gretchen Witter on Dawson's Creek.
What she is good at is intelligence that does not announce itself. She played Dr Jackie Collette on Presidio Med, then Caitlin Todd across the first two seasons of NCIS, then Dr Maura Isles on Rizzoli and Isles from 2010 to 2016. Three competent professionals in a row, and she kept them distinct by pitching each one's relationship to authority differently: Todd defers to the room, Isles does not appear to notice the room has a hierarchy.
Her film work is thinner and mostly comic support: a supporting part in Yes Man, a strand of He's Just Not That Into You, a small role in Mission: Impossible III. It is pleasant work that never asks much of her, and none of it is why anyone knows her name.
Rizzoli and Isles is the fairest place to judge her. It is a formula show that lives or dies on whether you believe two women actually like each other, and she holds up her half of that for six years without once playing for sympathy.
Movies (9)
TV (7)
Where to start with Sasha Alexander
Rizzoli & Isles is the front door: six seasons, low stakes, and the clearest look at what she does with a character smarter than the room and slightly outside it. Pick a mid run episode rather than the pilot, which is stiff.
NCIS is the shorter, sharper version of the same skill set, and those two seasons are still why a lot of people recognise her. Dawson's Creek is worth a look for the origin, where she plays Gretchen Witter with far more ease than the writing has earned.
On the film side, Yes Man and He's Just Not That Into You are undemanding studio comedy, Mission: Impossible III is a small part in a very large machine, and Dangerous Lies is a thriller that works better than it has any right to.