“You're gonna get me fired” – When NCIS: Los Angeles star Chris O'Donnell thought his wife would get him removed from the show

Chris O'Donnell once recalled a hilarious incident on the NCIS sets in Los Angeles that made him fear for his job. The actor played the lead role of Special Agent G. Callen across all 14 seasons of the military police procedural drama.

Over the years, his family members also made cameo appearances in the show, including his wife and children. During a 2022 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, O'Donnell revealed that his wife, Caroline Fentress, and her friends once asked him to give them brief roles in one of the episodes he was directing.

However, as the production team filmed an intense scene, Caroline and her friends, who were in the background, started laughing, leading to a retake, and making O'Donnell scared about getting fired from NCIS: Los Angeles.

“I look back, and the Director of Photography comes, and he goes, ‘Chris, you know they're all laughing.’ And so I go, ‘Yeah, I know. That's my wife. We're gonna handle that.’ And I go back and go, ‘Guys, you're gonna get me fired. So you need to cooperate here, and maybe when the guy starts firing a gun, it's not funny. That's all.’”

When Chris O'Donnell thought his wife’s hysterical laugh would get him fired from NCIS: Los Angeles

Chris O'Donnell narrated the entire incident during the conversation in 2022. The actor explained that Caroline and her friends were part of the background artists for a restaurant scene, where a shootout happens, leading to panic and chaos.

However, while the rest of the actors stayed in their characters, Caroline’s group was laughing during the take, which the production team noticed on the playback monitor:

“So they have a scene where there's this guy come into a restaurant, and he's shooting up the place, and everyone freaks out and panics, and they're running away.”

“I'm watching the playback after we did the take because there's hundreds of people there. There’s one group of girls comes through, and they're all laughing hysterically, and they're still carrying real champagne that they had ordered themselves.”

Undoubtedly, Chris O'Donnell did not get fired from NCIS: Los Angeles. The shoot then continued, and it looks like Caroline and her friends did eventually control their laughter, as the audience did not notice anyone chuckling in the scene.

Caroline is a teacher by profession who has been married to O'Donnell since 1997. The couple shares five children, four of whom have made brief appearances on NCIS: Los Angeles.

The procedural series was the first spin-off of NCIS and followed special agents of the Office of Special Projects, who went on undercover missions to investigate crimes.

The show premiered on CBS in 2009 and continued till 2023, earning a loyal fanbase along the way. Apart from O'Donnell, the series stars LL Cool J as Sam Hanna, Daniela Ruah as Kensi Blye, Linda Hunt as Henrietta "Hetty" Lange, Eric Christian Olsen as Marty Deeks, Renée Felice Smith as Nell Jones, and Peter Cambor as Nate Getz.

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Before joining NCIS: Los Angeles, O'Donnell had been seen in the shows The Practice, Two and a Half Men, Grey's Anatomy, and The Company. His film credits include Scent of a Woman, The Sisters, A Little Help, and The Bachelor.

NCIS: Los Angeles is available to stream on Paramount+.

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