Jennifer Esposito (born April 11, 1973) is an American actress and author. She is known for her roles in the feature films Crash, Summer of Sam, Don't Say a Word, and Welcome to Collinwood. Esposito has also appeared in several television series, most notably Spin City, Related, Samantha Who?, Blue Bloods, and Mistresses. From 2016 to 2017, Esposito played Special Agent Alexandra Quinn on the CBS series NCIS.
Esposito was born on April 11, 1973, in New York City, the second of two daughters of Phyllis, an interior decorator, and Robert Esposito, a computer consultant and music producer. She is of Italian (Neapolitan) descent. She was raised on Staten Island and is a graduate of Moore Catholic High School.
Esposito made her first television appearance in Law & Order in 1996. She then joined the cast of Spin City, where she appeared for two seasons. She also appeared in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. One of her more notable roles was as "Ruby" in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam in 1999, which was set against the late-1970s backdrop of the Son of Sam murders. Esposito's next films included Dracula 2000, The Master of Disguise, the 2004 comedy Taxi, and the Academy Award-winning film Crash, in which she played Don Cheadle's girlfriend Ria.