Why Kelly Blake From Blue Bloods Looks So Familiar

As usual, "Blue Bloods" Season 6, Episode 9, "Hold Outs," operates on multiple fronts. The plotline that most concerns the city in general and the Reagan family in particular centers on Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), who's slowly started to grow weary of his job and entertains the idea of quitting. Considering his central role in the story and the police force, this sends shockwaves across the board. 

Still, such matters do nothing to interrupt due process. As such, Frank's daughter Erin (Bridget Moynahan) pushes on, and the case she has to prosecute is a toughie, especially since she inherits it from Assistant District Attorney Kelly Blake, with whom she enjoys a somewhat chilly relationship. 

There's no shortage of guest stars that make an impact on "Blue Bloods," and many viewers may find themselves thinking that ADA Blake seems familiar as well. There's a reason for this — the actor playing her, Diane Neal, has more than her share of experience with assorted police dramas and other high-profile shows. Here's a look at some of her best-known work.  

Casting Diane Neal as an assistant district attorney was a cunning move from "Blue Bloods," considering what's arguably her best-known role. From Season 5 to Season 13 of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Neal played ADA Casey Novak, who replaced Stephanie March's Alexandra Cabot as the central ADA of the Sex Crimes Bureau. She also appeared in an episode of "Law and Order: Trial by Jury," playing the same character.

A Harvard-educated professional with a background in white-collar crime investigation, Novak has a tendency to clash with the SVU's senior members but proves herself to be a valuable asset. Neal took the work seriously, to the point that when she learned in 2022 that an episode of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" criticized "SVU" for painting an overly rosy image of how seriously law enforcement investigates sex crimes, she took to Twitter to ask people whether this was the case. After many shared their less-than-fantastic experiences on the subject, she was quick to admit that she hadn't realized the full scope of the situation. 

"If #OliviaBenson #svu were real, there would be a LOT more justice," Neal wrote on Twitter. "I'm embarrassed to admit, I used to think the way it worked on the show was like real life. Then I found out the hard way I was wrong. Thank you for sharing the story of your real experience. #iamsorry."

Diane Neal continued her string of prolific law-themed roles on "Suits," where she can be seen playing Allison Holt. A prominent lawyer and a partner at the usually antagonistic Bratton Gould firm, Holt enters the forefront of events to represent Pearson Hardman and Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) in an important Season 2 case. Unfortunately, she finds herself utterly unable to trust Harvey. As such, she soon resumes her role as an opposing force who turns up on occasion to make the protagonists' lives ever so slightly more difficult.

Holt is decidedly not the kind of heroic yet conflicted lawyer Neal's more prominent legal-themed roles might lead audiences to think. Instead, the character is an opportunistic poacher who doesn't hesitate to undermine her rivals should the opportunity arise. While the cut-throat lawyer appears in only three episodes, her attitude is a nice departure from Neal's best-known, far more heroic roles.

As any "NCIS" fan can attest, the show's Naval Criminal Investigative Service often has to associate with other branches of law enforcement. One such agency is the Coast Guard Investigative Service, aka CGIS — and whenever Leroy Jethro Gibbs' (Mark Harmon) crew has to interact with them, there's an excellent chance that they're going to run into Special Agent Abigail Borin. Diane Neal's capable CGIS agent is a recurring character who appears in a total of six episodes between Season 7 and Season 12 and also drops by in three episodes of "NCIS: New Orleans."

Thanks to her "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" role, Neal was already a veteran of popular TV shows when she joined "NCIS." Still, she quickly found out that "NCIS" fans were on a different level when they started asking her opinions about a potential romance between major characters Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) — before she even had any idea what they were talking about. "After I did that first episode, I'd be walking down the street and people would [say], 'What's going on with Tiva?' and I was like, 'Why is everyone talking about a pair of sandals?'" she said in an interview with TV Guide. 

Apart from her various criminal justice system-themed roles, Diane Neal has amassed quite an impressive résumé. Her first on-screen role was a one-episode guest stint on the comedy-drama series "Ed" in 2001, and she's appeared in over 30 projects since. Some of her more prominent roles include the recurring character Cynthia Sheridan in Season 1 of the Starz crime drama "Power" and starring roles in the 2014 prison thriller "A Warden's Ransom" and the 2021 crime drama TV movie "Circle of Deception." In 2015, she had a recurring role as Lisa Campbell in Season 3 of the Kevin Bacon-James Purefoy Fox thriller series "The Following."

Acting isn't the only thing Neal has been doing, either. On the contrary, she's long balanced her work with other interests. She's worked as a model, has run for the House of Representatives as an independent candidate in 2019, and has a Harvard Extension School associate degree. "I was the kind of kid nobody spoke to unless they needed their homework done," Neal said of her early days in an interview with The Harvard Gazette. "I did no school plays. I was a science kid. I thought I was going to go into medicine or be an astrophysicist. A Nobel or a MacArthur 'genius' prize, that's the kind of thing I would fantasize about."