NCIS Although Vanessa Lachey, a native of Hawaii, currently plays Agent Jane Tenant, she previously had an appearance on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. How I Met Your Mother gave Vanessa Lachey of NCIS Hawaii one of her first acting appearances, and she had an entirely different appearance. When it comes to NCIS’ third ever spin-off, Agent Jane Tenant is the leader of the pack, juggling the demands of her profession with being a mother.
With NCIS Hawaii already given the green light, actress Lachey will be returning to reprise her role for the upcoming third season. She was originally launched to stardom back in 1998 when she was crowned Miss South Carolina USA and won Miss Teen USA. Lachey went on to leave the pageant world behind in her pursuit of acting, starring in The Bold and the Beautiful, That’s Life and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
But in 2008, the actress made one of her first appearances on television when she starred in the CBS smash comedy How I Met Your Mother. Before she married Nick Lachey and was given the name Vanessa Minnillo, she portrayed a character named Ashlee in the third season episode No Tomorrow. In the episode, Ted (Josh Radnor) learns that the universe appears to be on his side for just one night while out with Barney (Neil Patrick Harris).
The catch though is that he needs to do a bad deed to get rewarded as when he ditched Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), he found himself on a date. Then when he and Barney left their dates in line outside a club, they found themselves in an even better situation, surrounded by even more beautiful women.
He then puts two expensive bottles of champagne on someone else’s tab and is given free caviar so Ted decides to really put this theory to the test.
This is when Ashlee (Vanessa Lachey) comes into the picture, as he asks if she would have a one-night stand with him and forget it ever happened the next morning and, to his surprise, she agrees. Ashlee then reveals she is married, filling Ted with guilt, despite Barney trying to encourage him to just go ahead with it.
Ted hesitates and gets assaulted by the patron whose tab he had been using when he goes back to Ashlee in the club, ending his good fortune.
Although Lachey has appeared in other comedies like Psych, 30 Rock, Dads, Truth Be Told, and Dads, this was her first and last appearance in How I Met Your Mother. Along with her husband, musician Nick Lachey, she is the face of the Netflix reality dating series Love is Blind in addition to acting.
But NCIS Hawaii fans may not see Lachey as Agent Jane Tenant until the New Year with production still delayed due to the ongoing strikes in Hollywood.