Leon Vance

Leon James Vance is the Director of NCIS, and former NCIS Agent working out of the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.
He is the husband/widower of Jackie Vance, father of Kayla Vance and Jared Vance, brother-in-law of Michael Thomas, son-in-law of Lamar Addison and rival to Joe Banks.
==Biography==
===Pre-Series===
Born July 8, 1963 (the same date and year as his actor, Rocky Carroll), not much is known about Vance's early life except for the fact he grew up in Chicago, training as a boxer.
After graduating from high school, Vance attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he was commissioned with the rank of Second Lieutenant and in 1991, attended the Naval War College, developing an interest in black operations.
NIS agent Whitney Sharp later approached him one day and recruited him to begin working for the agency with Sharp training Vance.
Vance encountered North Korean Assassin Lee Wuan Kai several times: first in Prague in 1984; then in Tokyo in 1991; and then in Sierre Leone, Paris and New York City before finding her again in Los Angeles while he was assisting the Office of Special Projects with an investigation. Lee and Vance met and exchanged gunfire. Kai was wounded, but managed to escape. He was obsessed with hunting her down for years. 
Vance later joined a top-secret NIS mission named "Operation: Trident", the objective being to track down a man known only as "The Russian" who was in arms dealer Anatoly Zhukov. It was during that time Vance met Eli David who would later become the Director of Mossad, Eli warning Vance Anatoly was aware of the operation existing thanks to a leak and that Vance himself was the main target.
Eli later betrayed Vance to Anatoly but in fact, this was a diversion to lure out Anatoly so that Eli could personally kill him. However, when their safe house was attacked, Anatoly's hit squad were all killed in the process while Antaoly escaped, resurfacing two years later in Paris, France, dying at the hands of NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
As a result, Vance rose through the ranks of NIS/NCIS, becoming a field agent.
===NCIS Season 5===
He comes in as a temporary NCIS Director in Internal Affairs (episode) when Jenny Shepard and Anthony DiNozzo are suspected of being involved in arms dealer René Benoit death. 
===NCIS Season 6===
He becomes the permanent NCIS Director and replaces Jennifer Shepard after her death. 
===NCIS Season 7===
He is being targeted by North Korean Assassin Lee Wuan Kai in Endgame (episode) and had been obsessed with caching her for decades. He is also present in Killshot (NCIS: Los Angeles episode) when they encounter a North Korean Assassin from Vance's past. 
===NCIS: Los Angeles Season 1===
Vance made his debut appearance in the NCIS: Los Angeles Season 1 premiere episode, Identity (episode) where he contacted the Office of Special Projects, expressing surprise at Callen's early return before informing them of Navy Commander Frank McGuire who had been kidnapped and apparently murdered with his abductors Mexican nationals with Vance believing McGuire had gotten caught in the crossfire of the shootout from the LAPD and the Mexican nationals who had him in the back of their vehicle. 
He also informed the team McGuire had knowledge of "Operation Dakota", a coordinated military operation designed to strike against the cartels operating on both sides of the Mexican border with Vance assigning the team to find out of Dakota had been compromised. After informing Eric the file was on its way, Vance signed off. 
A while later, Eric triggered a conference call with Vance once again with Callen informing Vance Dakota had been compromised and when Vance prompted further, Callen told him that McGuire's niece had been kidnapped and was still missing with Vance informing the team it was too late to stop Dakota and they had to find out which cartel was responsible with Vance revealing the team involved in the operation would hit them before telling Callen that they had four hours to find and that Emma McGuire was a priority before he presumably signed off once more.
===NCIS Season 8===
He organized a conference where former NCIS agents and even Mossad Director Eli David attended, to dicuss cases and operations from the past decades, and in particular Operation Trident. He was targeted because a former boss of his was jealous of his youth and progress, and he and Eli was blown up by a bomb that Riley McCallister had set up for them. After almost dying in a bomb attack in Enemies Foreign (episode)/ Enemies Domestic (episode), he is seen using a cane to support him self for a while in Recruited (episode). He is also struggeling with the amount of work that has been waiting for him since he was in the hospital. 
In Pyramid (episode) he playes a big part of the plot yet again, when it turns out the main antagonist of the season is directly involved with a classified CIA operation, that apparently was Vance's idea. Serial killer aka Port-to-Port killer Jonas Cobb, was a failed subject of Operation Frankenstein, and killed naval officers in Japan, Spain, Norfolk and Washington. He also went after people connected to the NCIS teams as well as others who was involved in the operation, both CIA Operative Trent Kort and at SECNAV Phillip Davenport. Vance thinks the operation failed and should have been aborted. He blames Trent Kort for Cobb going rogue, as Trent Kort used him for missions that he shouldn't have, and believes Kort pushed him over the line. 
===NCIS: Los Angeles Season 2===
===NCIS Season 9===
In The Good Son (episode) he ends up arresting his own brother-in-law Michael Thomas for murder in an NCIS case. 
In the final episode of season 9 he is kidnapped by Harper Dearing, but turns up unharmed with little memory of what had happened. At the final moments of the season finale the team realizes that Dearing wasn't after Vance, but kidnapped him to use his car to get close to the Navy Yard building and NCIS headquarters. He places a bomb in Vance's car that goes of in the final seconds of Till Death Do Us Part (episode) damaging the building and killing numerous people. 
===NCIS: Los Angeles Season 3===
===NCIS Season 10===
In the premier of the season he is guilt ridden that his car bombed the Navy yard and killed many. 
During this season he also loses his wife in Shabbat Shalom (episode) when she is killed in a shooting where Eli David was the intended target, and he also died. She was rushed to the hospital, but the doctors where unsuccessful in saving her and she died of a gun shot wound to the head. Vance struggled after this and took a leave of absent for a few months. He came back after realizing his wife had kept secrets from him and perhaps wanted to divorce, and used work as a distraction. He later realizes she wanted to protect herself and her kids in case something happend to him, and that she did not want a divorce. After this realization he feels ready to come back to work as Director of NCIS. 
===NCIS Season 11===
===NCIS Season 12===
===NCIS: Los Angeles Season 6===
===NCIS: New Orleans Season 1===
===NCIS Season 13===
===NCIS: New Orleans Season 2===
===NCIS Season 14===
===NCIS Season 15===
===NCIS Season 16===
=== NCIS Season 17 ===
=== NCIS Season 18 ===
===NCIS Season 19===
=== NCIS Season 20 ===
==Personality==
==Physical Appearance==
He is a black middle-aged man in great shape. He has dark hair, dark eyes and a mustache. He is often seen with a toothpick in his mouth. 
==Abilities==
As a former field agent with NIS/NCIS, Vance is trained in firearms and interrogation while possessing knowledge concerning black ops.
=== Hand to Hand Combat ===
Having trained as a boxer during his early years in Chicago, Vance is skilled in hand-to-hand combat and can easily hold his own in a fight.
=== Firearms ===
Like his NCIS associates, Vance is trained in the use of firearms and can fire a round from his gun that can either non-fatally wound his target or kill them instantly.
==Relationships==
===Jacqueline Vance===
===Leroy Jethro Gibbs===
==Trivia==
*Vance is the longest serving NCIS Director in the series, having been in the position of Director since 2008, serving longer than both of his predecessors: former NCIS Directors Thomas Morrow and Jennifer Shepard. In addition, Vance is also the first-ever African American NCIS Director to have appeared in the main NCIS series of the NCIS franchise: NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans.
*The only main character on the mothership he never met was Caitlin Todd.
*He had a habit of chewing on tooth picks. 
*At the end of Judgment day when Leon looks at his personel file you can see his government firearms and investigaters lisence. The date it expires is somehwat blurry but on examination appears to be 6/1/2033.
==Appearances==
For a more detailed list, see Leon Vance/List of Appearances.
Category:Americans in NCIS
Category:Recurring NCIS Characters
Category:Main Characters in NCIS
Category:NCIS Agents in NCIS
Category:NCIS Directors in NCIS
Category:Americans in NCIS: Los Angeles
Category:Recurring NCIS: Los Angeles Characters
Category:Americans in NCIS: New Orleans
Category:Recurring NCIS: New Orleans Characters
Category:Former Marines in NCIS