Weatherly began his acting career with a minor television role on
The Cosby Show as Theo Huxtable's roommate. He played the role of Cooper Alden in
Loving and later,
The City, appearing in the role from 1992 until 1996. Weatherly moved to Los Angeles, soon landing a role as a series regular on the
FOX television series
Significant Others with
Jennifer Garner, though the show only lasted six episodes. He then met director
Whit Stillman, who cast him in the 1998 film
The Last Days of Disco as Hap, opposite
Chloë Sevigny. Weatherly also appeared as a conflicted warlock in the series
Charmed during its
first season in 1998. His movie credits include
Meet Wally Sparks (1997) with
Rodney Dangerfield,
Gun Shy (2000) with
Liam Neeson,
Cabin by the Lake (2000) with
Judd Nelson, and the independent film
Trigger Happy opposite
Rosario Dawson. Weatherly starred in
Dark Angel for the two seasons it was on the air. This role earned him three award nominations, two
Saturn Awards for best supporting actor on television in 2001 and 2002, and one Teen Choice award for choice actor in 2001. In 2003, he appeared as Senior NCIS
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo in two episodes of the CBS series
JAG, a role he continued to portray in the spin-off series
NCIS. He made subsequent guest appearances on both
NCIS: New Orleans (2014) and
NCIS: Los Angeles (2015). Together with
Pauley Perrette, who played
Abby Sciuto, he is one of only two actors who have appeared in all four shows (
JAG, NCIS, NCIS: LA, NCIS: NO). In 2004, he starred in the television film
The Mystery of Natalie Wood, portraying
Robert Wagner. Since 2010, Robert Wagner had made 12 guest appearances on
NCIS as Anthony DiNozzo Sr., the father of Weatherly's character.He was a guest presenter at the Australian
Logie Awards of 2007 on May 6, 2007, and was a guest on
Rove Live. Weatherly made his directing debut with the season-eight episode of
NCIS titled "
One Last Score", which aired March 1, 2011, and also directed the
NCIS season-10 episode "
Seek", which aired March 19, 2013. He portrayed
Jesus Christ in a
YouTube video that also featured comedian
Sarah Silverman and was sponsored by a
pro-choice organization. In 2015, Weatherly participated in the #Tapped challenge by posting a video of himself dancing to raise money for
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. CBS announced in January 2016 that Weatherly would be leaving
NCIS after 13 seasons of starring as main character Anthony DiNozzo. At the same time, the network announced he would star in a new series called
Bull in fall 2016, loosely based on the real-life trial consultancy of
Dr. Phil McGraw. In 2024, after a cameo appearance on
NCIS the week before, CBS announced that Weatherly would reprise his role as DiNozzo with on-screen love interest
Cote de Pablo reprising as
Ziva David in a new
NCIS spin-off series called
NCIS: Tony & Ziva on
Paramount+. Weatherly was a presenter at the
68th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2016, and the
40th People's Choice Awards in 2014. He has appeared on numerous talk shows including
The Rachel Ray Show,
CBS This Morning,
Live with Kelly and Ryan, the
Today Show, the
Late Show, and
The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Directing Weatherly has directed numerous short films and television episodes from the series
NCIS and
Bull. He directed the 2017 documentary
Jamaica Man, about the life of British
expatriate Nigel Pemberton, which premiered at the 2017
Telluride Film Festival.
Jamaica Man won "Best Documentary Portrait" at the 2017
Doc LA - Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, and "Best Documentary" at the 2018 NYC Independent Film Festival. The film was also screened at the 2018 Tiburon International Film Festival and TMFF festival. == Music ==