Prior to joining the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, American actress Diane Neal attended the prestigious Atlantic Theater Company Acting School in Manhattan. Demonstrating her great range, she soon was on the top of every casting director's list. The young actress has done everything from comedy to action and drama in both television and film. A native of Alexandria, Virginia, she first thought of a career in modeling, but studied archaeology in Egypt and Israel. At one point in her life, she became a competitive ice skater.
Audiences and producers started noticing Diane Neal for her roles as a rock & roll star on Ed and a smart-ass nemesis on The American Embassy. She has also gained fame for playing an outlandish fianc?e on the Dennis Leary comedy pilot Adam and Lenny, and portraying the conflicted cop of tomorrow in Joel Silver's pilot Future Tense. Before joining the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as A.D.A. Casey Novak, she appeared on a third season episode of the show, as the character Amelia Chase, who gang-raped a man with her female friends. She soon became a regular cast member, playing a young and tough prosecutor who follows the law without hints of sympathy for the suspects. The TV series has allowed her to work with Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Ice-T, B.D. Wong and Michaela McManus. Diane Neal has also appeared on films like Second Born, Dracula II: Ascension and Dracula III: Legacy. She is credited for playing the character Patricia Bennett on the Hack episode, “Husbands and Wives” in 2002. Neal is also known for being fond of playing basketball and softball during her free time. She married her fianc? Marcus Fitzgerald on July 9, 2005, after being engaged to him for seven years.