Picking the brain of NCIS' Toothpick

He's been called "The Toothpick" by a subordinate - not in affection - but those who think they know what to expect from new "NCIS" director Leon Vance may have a surprise, or so says the actor who plays him, Rocky Carroll.

"We're making up the character as we go along," Carroll said. "That's the fun thing of acting a character to a pre-existing series - as you go along, you adjust the bass and treble and the contrast and all that stuff."

After debuting as a guest star last season, Carroll has joined CBS' Tuesday-night hit "NCIS" full-time this season, as Vance officially took charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. This now means that he's the boss of iconoclastic senior NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), who usually doesn't take well to being told what to do.

"Gibbs doesn't really have a boss," Carroll said. "Gibbs knows that if there's a person he doesn't respect, he'll just walk right over them or just ignore them. But there's something about this guy, Vance, that refuses to be ignored."

Vance takes his first name (and his toothpick) from former NCIS agent Leon Carroll Jr. (no relation), "NCIS" 's longtime technical adviser. But Rocky Carroll hasn't modeled his Leon entirely on the original.

"He's a slow-playing, 33 rpm record," he said of Leon Carroll. "I can't see him even in a position of leadership. He's not the kind of guy that's going to chew you up and spit you out, whereas this character that I'm trying to embody here has much more of an edge to him." *