Stranger Things might have given Millie Bobby Brown her breakout role, but the British actress had been working in Hollywood for a hot minute before landing the Netflix show.
Millie was around nine years old when she made her screen debut on the Once Upon A Time spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. She played two versions of young Alice on the ABC show — the first of a sling of creepy child characters that would culminate in the psychokinetic and telepathic Eleven in Stranger Things.
The creepiest of them all, however, was possibly the young actress’s character in NCIS at 11 years old.
What was Millie Bobby Brown’s role in NCIS?
Millie played Rachel Barnes on the sixth episode of the 12th season of CBS’ NCIS, titled “Parental Guidance Suggested.” Her character was the daughter of a Navy SEAL whose wife shows us dead on Halloween. At first glance, it appears jihadist terrorists were targeting the man, so the NCIS team was called in to investigate, only to reach the conclusion that it had been Rachel who had killed her mother.
The victim was a talented therapist who had noticed sociopathic tendencies in her daughter such as a lack of empathy. When she tried to get Rachel some help, which the 10-year-old did not want, she killed her. The chilling episode took an even darker turn once viewers realized the bruises that had people convinced Rachel’s dad could be hurting her were in fact inflicted on her by herself to get his attention. She was also convinced getting her mom out of the picture would finally make her dad focus on her and raise her himself.
The entire twisted affair is still regarded as one of NCIS’ darker episodes to this day. Millie got to act opposite Mark Harmon’s Special Agent Gibbs and did a wonderful job sending shivers down the spines of everyone watching back in 2014.