After graduation, Cote De Pablo moved to New York City to find work as an actress, working as a waitress in an Indian restaurant in Manhattan and an Italian eatery in Brooklyn to support herself. Cote De Pablo picked up parts in the New York City Public Theater, in the show All My Children and commercials. In 2005, Cote De Pablo was about to make her Broadway debut in The Mambo Kings in 2005 as Dolores Fuentes, but the show closed after a short tryout run in San Francisco. Two days after Tthe Mambo Kings closed, Cote De Pablo was asked to audition for NCIS.
