Actress Challen Cates is taking her career in a whole new direction.

Instead of the ‘hot mom’ dealing with teen angst as Mrs. Knight on the Nickelodeon hit-series “Big Time Rush,” Cates is packing some seriously sexy heat in an all-new episode of the CBS favorite, “NCIS.” In the episode ‘Bulletproof’, airing on February 25th, the NCIS team uncovers faulty bulletproof vests and attempts to locate both the source and any remaining vests. Cates emerges as Fay Gussman, a sexy but tough arms dealer, who butts heads with the special agents during their investigation.

Cates seems to be relishing in the opportunity to be bad, explaining “After spending the last 4 years as the sweet, fun Mrs. Knight on BTR, it sure is fun to mix it up and be the bad girl for a change.”

And for those who love her funny side, Cates will be making a cameo appearance in Seth MacFarlane’s western-comedy, “A Million Ways to Die in the West.” The film is set for release in theaters on May 30th, but much of the details are still a bit hush-hush. What we do know is that Cates is joining an all-star line-up, including Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, MacFarlane himself and too many others to list. Of course, this is from the guy that brought us that nasty talking teddy bear in “Ted,” so it probably isn’t going to be for any of Cates kiddie-fans either.

It seems the ‘hot mom’ Challen Cates is getting even hotter!