On NCIS: Los Angeles, Eric Christian Olsen’s character, Marty Deeks, is married to Daniela Ruah’s onscreen alter-ego, Kensi Blye. But in real life, it’s Eric’s brother, David Paul Olsen, who’s Daniela Ruah’s husband!
In fact, Eric was the one played matchmaker for the duo — after David reported to the NCIS: Los Angeles set to be Eric’s stunt double. (Talk about a Hollywood romance!)
Eric says both Daniela and David are “amazing, wonderful” people in a “wonderful relationship.”Eric detailed the couple’s origin story on The Queen Latifah Show in 2014, when Daniela and David were engaged but not yet married. Turns out, the actor wanted better relationships for both his co-star and his brother.
“[Daniela] was dating this guy that was awful, and [David] was dating this girl that was awful, and they weren’t themselves,” Eric told Queen Latifah on the talk show. “I got to see her work, and she’s this amazing, wonderful human being. And I know my brother, and he’s this amazing, wonderful human being. But they weren’t themselves in their relationships.”
Eric set the wheels in motion once David started doing stunts on NCIS: Los Angeles. “I would say something nice about her to him and then say something to him about her, and they’re both like, ‘Really? Really? Really?’ And that was enough to kinda get them started in conversation, and it became this wonderful relationship.”Daniela and David welcomed their first child in 2014.
At the time of Eric’s talk show interview, Daniela and David had just welcomed their first child, son River Isaac. “Now two of my favorite people just had a third,” Eric said on the show.
River made his entrance in January 2014, according to People. “We are so happy, so thankful, and feel so blessed to have brought him into the world,” Daniela told the magazine.
The actress previously told People that there was “no other feeling” like the feeling of starting a family — and that it was “amazing” how in love she was with “this little person I’ve only seen on a black and white screen.”
Daniela and David married in June 2014. “Just lived the best week of my life; I married my best friend,” the actress tweeted at the time. “Our son was with us. We were surrounded by our favorite people the whole world. Unforgettable.”
It was an interfaith wedding, as Ruah later told 18Doors: She’s Jewish, and David is Lutheran. “Our fathers married us,” she told the site. “Dave’s father was ordained, and my father isn’t a rabbi, but you just have to have a minyan, ten men, to make it valid. We got married under a chuppah and Dave broke the glass. We had the wine ceremony and drank out of the Kiddush cup. Dave’s father recited a beautiful homily.”
The Ruah Olsen family got a little bigger in September 2016 when Daniela welcomed her and David’s daughter, Sierra Esther.
“Apparently, she thought Labor Day weekend meant LABOR day weekend,” Daniela wrote on Instagram at the time. “Look who showed up 3 weeks early!”
