With his role as Agent Timothy McGee on the CBS drama “Navy NCIS” (2003- ), actor Sean Murray continued to maintain his successful transition from juvenile talent to adult performer.
Born in Bethesda, MD on Nov. 15, 1977, Murray relocated to California during his adolescence and attended junior high school in Chula Vista. He booked his earliest role in the 1991 TV-movie, “Backfield in Motion” opposite Roseanne and Tom Arnold. A lead in the short film “Too Romantic” (1992) followed, as well as the human form of Thackery Binx, the boy transformed into a cat by Bette Midler’s mini-coven of witches in the broad 1992 comedy “Hocus Pocus” (Jason Marsden, not Murray, provided Binx’s voice while in cat form). Murray next joined the cast of the charming and underrated “Harts of the West” series (CBS, 1993-94) as Beau Bridges’ son, Zane Grey Hart. The role earned him his second Young Actor Award nomination (the first being for “Hocus Pocus”) in 1993.
Murray worked steadily through the ‘90s, primarily in television; he was Victoria Principal’s step-son in an unusually suspenseful TV-movie, “River of Rage: The Taking of Maggie Keene” (1993); he played a member of a mysterious town in a loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (1996); and he met an unpleasant fate as the victim of a murder that sets the revenge plot of “Fall Into Darkness” (1996) into motion. In between made-for-TV appearances, Murray also booked guest appearances on several major series, including “ER” (NBC, 1994- ), “Silk Stalkings” (USA, 1991-99), “Touched By an Angel” (CBS, 1994-2003) and “Boston Public” (Fox, 2000-2004).
During the 2000-01 season, Murray made several appearances on CBS’ “JAG” (1995-2005) as Danny Walden, the troubled son of Cynthia Sikes’ Dr. Sydney Walden. He next jumped to his first regular role on a network series since “Harts of the West” with “The Random Years” (UPN, 2002). But despite a teen-friendly cast – including Will Friedle of “Boy Meets World,” former “Mickey Mouse Club” member Josh Ackerman, and Natalie Cigluti from “Saved by the Bell: The New Class” – the show was canceled after just four episodes.
In 2003, Murray guested on “NCIS” as probationary agent Timothy McGee. When the series began its second season in 2004, Murray became a full-time member of the team. His character’s presence on the show offered a touch of gentle humor to the tense “NCIS” dramatics, especially in his dealings with Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo. Another bonus was an offbeat, on-and-off romance between McGee and Pauley Perrette’s quirky scientist Abby Sciuto. Murray, something of a computer expert off-camera (in an interview with “USA Today,” he had admitted to building them in his spare time), also provided consultation on technical scenes for the series.