Diane Neal

Neal was later involved in a relationship with magician JB Benn. It ended acrimoniously, and in November 2019 Neal became the plaintiff in a lawsuit in which she made allegations against Benn including fraud and identify theft, and claimed Benn had subjected her to physical and sexual abuse. Benn denied the allegations, and released audio recordings in which Neal can be heard berating Benn and making threats including promising to kill Benn's dog.

On February 6, 2018, Neal announced that she would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 19th congressional district as an independent. She described her political views as "a little libertarian, I'm a lot liberal, mostly progressive, but I have this amazing ability to be able to take really complicated policy and break it down into edible sound bites, which is something most progressive liberals cannot do." Neal finished with 1% of the vote.

In 2013, Neal was involved in a car accident which fractured her spine. In announcing her 2018 Congressional candidacy, Neal indicated that the long recuperation from her injuries had caused her to place her acting career on hold.

Neal portrayed Novak through the end of season 9, when the character exited the series after being censured by the New York State Bar. In 2011, Neal reprised her role as Novak in the season 12 episode, "Reparations", when Novak returned to SVU as their temporary ADA. After that appearance, she became a recurring character in season 13. She was last seen in the episode "Valentine's Day". Neal said of her return to the series in season 13 to TV Guide, "It's back on track to what the original SVU was intended to be, which is about sex crimes and crimes against children, it's got more of a nitty-gritty feel." She says that March's and her return to the fictional universe of the series provided a familiarity for viewers following original cast member Chris Meloni's departure. "I think they should put us in the court room together!" she says about March.

Neal was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the daughter of Colleen, a math teacher, and Christopher Neal, a federal attorney, the youngest of three sisters, Leigh, Erin and Diane. She was raised in Littleton, Colorado and Ohio. After Neal graduated from Littleton's Heritage High School, she moved to Hawaii to attend college, but later left school to become a model and travel. Neal started modeling for Shiseido and Pond's skin-care ads. After deciding to resume her education, Neal began attending Harvard University's Extension School in 2009, and graduated with an associate degree in May 2018.

In 2005, Neal married Irish model Marcus Fitzgerald in a ceremony that took place in the Dominican Republic. Neal and Fitzgerald divorced in 2014.

Diane Neal (born November 17, 1975) is an American actress best known for her role as Casey Novak in the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which she played from 2003 to 2008 and 2011 to 2012. She is also known for portraying Coast Guard Investigative Service Special Agent Abigail Borin in the NCIS franchise and NCIS: New Orleans.