Daniela Sofia Korn Ruah born December 2, 1983 is a Portuguese-American actress and director best known for playing NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye in the CBS police procedural series NCIS: Los Angeles.
Early life
Ruah was born in Boston, USA, to Jewish parents from Portugal, where her mother is an otologist and her father is an ENT surgeon. When Ruah was 5, the family moved back to Portugal, where she attended St Julian’s School and, at 16, began acting in telenovelas. She won a Portuguese-television dance competition.
Ruah moved to the UK at 18 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in performing arts from London Metropolitan University. She returned to Portugal where she continued acting, and in 2007 moved to New York City to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
Her heritage is Sephardic Jewish and Ashkenazi Jewish. Her father is of Portuguese-Jewish and Moroccan-Jewish ancestry, and her mother’s family were Russian Jews and Ukrainian Jews who immigrated to Portugal. She holds both Portuguese and American citizenship.
Career
Ruah started acting in Portuguese soap operas when she was a teen. She made her acting debut at 16, when she played Sara on the soap opera Jardins Proibidos (“Forbidden Gardens”).
At 18, Ruah moved to London to attend college. After graduation, she returned to Portugal to pursue her acting career. She was the winner of the celebrity dancing competition Dança Comigo (the Portuguese version of Dancing with the Stars) and got main roles in television series, short films, and theatre. In 2007, she moved to New York to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
Ruah stars as Special Agent Kensi Blye in NCIS: Los Angeles, which first aired on September 22, 2009. In 2011, she portrayed the character in a crossover guest appearance on the series Hawaii Five-0.
In 2013, Ruah appeared in David Auburn’s play Proof at Los Angeles’ Hayworth Theatre.
On January 8, 2018, it was confirmed that Ruah would co-host the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal alongside Catarina Furtado, Sílvia Alberto and Filomena Cautela.
Personal life
Ruah has a distinguishable birthmark in her right eye, called the nevus of Ota.
Ruah and then-fiancé David Olsen, the older brother and stunt double of Ruah’s NCIS: Los Angeles co-star Eric Christian Olsen, welcomed a son, named River Isaac Ruah Olsen, in December 2013. On June 17, 2014, Ruah and Olsen married in Portugal in an interfaith marriage. Olsen is Lutheran. Ruah and Olsen welcomed a second child, a daughter, named Sierra Esther Ruah Olsen, in September 2016.