Kirsten Vangsness

Kirsten Simone Vangsness (born July 7, 1972)[1] is an American actress and writer. She is best known for her portrayal of FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia on the CBS drama series Criminal Minds. She portrayed the same character on the spin-off series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior[2] and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Kirsten Vangsness
Vangsness in 2019
Born
Kirsten Simone Vangsness

(1972-07-07) July 7, 1972
Pasadena, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Actress
  • writer
Years active1998–present

Early life

Vangsness was born in Pasadena, California, daughter of Errol Leroy Vangsness, of Norwegian descent, and wife Barbara Mary (née Marconi), of Italian descent. She was raised in Porterville, California, and later moved to Cerritos, California. She graduated from Cerritos High School in June 1990 and attended Cypress College in Cypress, California.[3] She later graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 1996.[4]

Career

Acting

Vangsness got involved in acting as a child to help overcome shyness[5] and got her first big break in the theatre, where she won several awards, including the 15 Minutes of Female Best Actress Award, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Emerging Comic Actress, and the Golden Betty Award.[4]

Writing

Vangsness' work has been published in the Los Angeles Times. Since 2014, Vangsness has co-written four episodes of Criminal Minds. In 2014 she co-wrote "Nelson's Sparrow" with executive producer, Erica Messer,[6] In 2015 she co-wrote "A Beautiful Disaster" once again with Messer[7] and In 2016 she co-wrote "Spencer" with Messer. The Criminal Minds series finale was also co-written by Vangsness and Messer[8]

Personal life

In a 2011 interview, Vangsness has described herself "as queer as a purple unicorn singing Madonna".[9] She was in a seven-year relationship with editor Melanie Goldstein until 2013, to whom she was engaged.[10] In November 2015, it was reported that Vangsness became engaged to actor and writer Keith Hanson.[11]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1998 Sometimes Santa's Gotta Get Whacked Tooth Fairy Short film
2006 A-List Blue
2008 Tranny McGuyver TV News Reporter Short film
2009 Scream of the Bikini Interior Decorator
2010 In My Sleep Madge
2011 Sarina's Song Party Guest Short film
The Chicago 8 Sketch Artist
2012 Remember to Breathe Vocals for Young Alice Short film
2015 Kill Me, Deadly Mona Livingston
2016 Diane & Devine Meet the Apocalypse Fawn
2017 Axis Heather (voice)
Dave Made a Maze Jane

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2004 Phil of the Future Veronica Episode: "Age Before Beauty"
LAX Ticket Agent / Stephanie 3 episodes
2005–2020 Criminal Minds Penelope Garcia Recurring role (season 1); main role (seasons 2-15); 323 episodes
2010 Vampire Mob Laura Anderson
2010–2012 Pretty the Series Meredith Champagne 14 episodes
2011 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior Penelope Garcia Main Cast; 13 episodes
Second City This Week Herself 1 episode
2011–2013 Good Job, Thanks! Therapist 2 episodes
2013 Shelf Life Freaky Squeaky 6 episodes, webseries
2016–2017 Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Penelope Garcia Special Guest; 2 episodes

References
  1. Vangsness, Kirsten (2007-07-24). "Kirstens Blog". CBS. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  2. "Criminal Minds' Kirsten Vangsness Joins Spin-Off as a Series Regular". TVGuide.com.
  3. Cypress College Public Information Office (2012-05-04). "Cypress College @Cypress Newsletter" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  4. Actress Kirsten Vangsness Helps Solve Cases on Television Show
  5. "The nerd who got heard". Matt Pomroy. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  6. "CRIMINAL MINDS Season 10 - 1013. Nelson's Sparrow - Press Release". Criminal Minds Round Table.
  7. "CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1118. A Beautiful Disaster - Press Release". Criminal Minds Round Table.
  8. "Kirsten Vangsness goes from starring in and co-writing the 'Criminal Minds' finale to new creative ventures". Orange County Register.
  9. Anderson-Minshall, Diane (November 2011). "The Purple Unicorn". The Advocate: 42.
  10. Waldon, Dave (September 23, 2008). "Kirsten Vangsness Thrives on "Criminal Minds"". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved October 6, 2008.
  11. Sands, Nicole (November 23, 2015). "Criminal Minds Star Kirsten Vangsness Is Engaged: 'He's the Perfect Partner'". People.
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