Daniela Ruah

Daniela Ruah
Ruah at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Television Festival
Born	Daniela Sofia Korn Ruah (1983-12-02) December 2, 1983 (age 33) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	United States Portugal
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2000–present
Spouse(s)	David Paul Olsen (m. 2014)
Children	2

Daniela Sofia Korn Ruah (born December 2, 1983) is a Portuguese American actress best known for playing NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye in the CBS police procedural series NCIS: Los Angeles.

Ruah was born in Boston, where her father was a surgeon and her mother an otologist. When Ruah was 5, the family moved to Portugal, where she attended an English-language school and, at 16, began acting in telenovelas. She won a Portuguese-television dance competition.

Ruah moved to England 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 Sephardi Jewish. Her father is of Portuguese-Jewish ancestry and her mother is of Portuguese-, Russian-, and Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry.

Ruah started acting in Portuguese soap operas when she was a teen. Her first acting role came at 16, when she played Sara on the soap opera Jardins Proibidos ("Forbidden Gardens").

At 18, she moved to London to study at the London Metropolitan University, where she earned a First in Performing Arts. Ruah 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.