Pauley Perrette has been a familiar face to TV viewers since 2003, when she was cast as goth-attired forensic scientist Abby Sciuto on NCIS. While Abby spent years helping the team capture make-believe cr!!minals, Biography pointed out that Perrette herself, ironically, earned a masters degree in criminology with an eye toward fighting crime in real life.

However, Perrette was bitten by the acting bug instead. After appearing in TV commercials for the likes of Volkswagen and Sprint, in 1996 Perrette landed a recurring role in legal drama M..ur..der One (using the moniker Pauley P. at the time). That exposure led to more TV work, making her debut as a series regular in the short-lived sitcom That’s Life. Further screen credits include such movies as Almost Famous and My First Mister, as well as another series regular role starring opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Garner in the Party of Five spinoff Time of Your Life – before she was ultimately cast in her life-changing NCIS role.

Despite being one of TV’s most popular stars for well over a decade, there’s much that fans may not know about this multitalented, multifaceted performer. Read on to discover the untold truth of Pauley Perrette.

Pauley Perrette spent years as TV’s most-liked female star

The popularity of everything from consumer products to entertainers is measured by Q Scores. Compiling its data from consumer surveys, the company is considered to be “the recognized industry standard” when it comes to measuring how consumers respond to various celebrities, utilizing a scoring system to rate stars’ appeal. According to Entertainment Weekly, when the company released its January/February 2010 Performer Q study, Pauley Perrette wound up with an enviable score of 43 points.

In the years since, Perrette continued to be a Q score champion. According to The Wrap, by 2018 her score had risen to 44 — impressive, considering that the average score for a female television star was just 21. The next-highest score for a television actress at that time was Empire’s Taraji P. Henson, with 36 points — certainly higher than average, but a full eight points behind Perrette.

Perrette’s high Q score no doubt had something to do with NCIS being the world’s most-watched TV series for eight consecutive years. The irony, however, was that the 2018 Q score was released after she’d announced she was quitting the show, and just days before her final episode aired.