Characterization
Tony is written as a streetwise, promiscuous former homicide detective. His behavior toward women is occasionally noted by other characters to be chauvinistic, and throughout most of the series Tony is shown flirting with nearly every woman he encounters. He does not respect personal boundaries, going so far as to rifle through his colleagues' possessions, both at work and in their homes, and listen in on private phone calls. The targets of this behavior are either victims of Tony's quests for new sources of amusement, or those for whom he believes he has reason to be concerned.
Although Tony is canonically in his thirties, he is typically written as possessing a juvenile sense of humor that manifests itself in name-calling, teasing and pranks directed at his colleagues. Tony delights in quoting movies in everyday life, often mimicking the original actor when quoting them; Sean Connery's James Bond and Tommy Lee Jones come up frequently. Tony also finds parallels between the cinema and his everyday life. This occasionally proves to be more useful than aggravating, as when his application of a solution from the movie Speed (1994) ends in the successful resolution of a case. In a nod to NCIS creator Donald Bellisario, Tony has also been established as a fan of the television series Magnum, P.I. and Airwolf, both of which are also Bellisario productions. In the episode "Dead Man Talking," Tony introduces himself to a suspect as Airwolf character "Stringfellow." Tony's coworkers often display visible frustration with his behavior, but throughout the series Tony has been shown to be very loyal to his coworkers at NCIS, particularly his supervisor, Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Although his immature behavior often gets Tony into trouble, he also demonstrates himself to be an insightful agent when the need arises. On more than one occasion he surprises his colleagues when an outwardly immature action on his part actually causes new evidence to be uncovered. He is generally written as a highly capable agent, and in season four is offered a prized position as a supervisory/senior special agent in charge in Rota, Spain, which he nonetheless turns down. Tony is known to be fluent in Spanish, as is established from his earliest appearance in the JAG-NCIS crossover episodes as well as throughout the NCIS series.
Tony claims to have 20/10 vision in the episode "Left for Dead"; however, in the episodes "The Curse", "Ice Queen", and "Meltdown" he can be seen wearing glasses. He also once donated to a sperm bank, but no one wanted to use his sperm. He owned a 1990 Corvette ZR1 which was stolen and subsequently destroyed during a high-speed chase as he watched on live television. Later, he drove a 1966 Ford Mustang. The car was destroyed by a bomb planted on it in an attempt to kill DiNozzo, but he was not driving the car at the time of the explosion. Dr. Mallard and Jimmy Palmer soon found that he was not killed in the explosion, due to the fact that the corpse in autopsy only had minimal lung scarring while DiNozzo's lungs would have been in worse condition due to his having had plague.
The character is initially portrayed as a "technophobe" who, like his superior, has limited patience with the scientific method and technical terms. However, he can be seen to develop an aptitude for technology in later episodes, and has been depicted hacking into computer systems.
Tony is also very skilled in going undercover which is shown in "Split Decision" where he poses as a rogue weapons-dealer, unknowingly uncovering a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation in the process and "Chained" where while disguised as a prisoner, he befriends an escaped convict named Jeffrey White who has information on stolen Iraqi antiquities. In "Dead Man Talking", he is able to improvise a cover identity to get close to a suspect when he feels the investigation is going nowhere.
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