It’s no secret that we love Criminal Minds. The show has interesting stories, and the team works well together to solve crimes and catch the criminals just in time to save lives. One of our favorite characters is Penelope Garcia, a brilliant white hat hacker with a quirky sense of style. The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) gives her the parameters, and she's able to track down the criminals within a few key strokes. Super cool, right?
Well, the actress who plays Penelope Garcia is the wonderful Kirsten Vangsness. She might not be a real-life FBI Technical Analyst, but Ms. Vangsness is quite awesome on her own. Check out these 15 things about Kirsten Vangsness that will make you love her even more! These are just some of the reasons that we love watching the Criminal Minds star.
15 She takes care of a colony of feral cats
We're cat people here. Cats are the sweetest, most misunderstood animals, and we're here for anyone who takes the time to care for feral and stray cats in their neighborhood. In an interview with Buzzfeed, the actress revealed that the first thing she does in the morning is feed the feral cats in her neighborhood. The cats have already been fixed-and-released (also known as TNR for Trapped, Neutered and Released) to reduce the wild kitty population and eliminate some of the behavior that cats engage in when they haven't been neutered, like spraying everywhere. Anyway, we think it's super cool that Kirsten Vangsness takes the time to care for these neighborhood kitties. Cat people rock. (The cats in her tweet are not the feral cats, though.)
14 She’s a playwright
Creatives often have several talents and skills. Kirsten Vangsness goes behind the scenes with playwrighting. She has written a play called Mess, in which she also stars, that she updates and performs several times throughout the year. She also has a play called Potential Space that she’s working to turn into a web series. The play is about a young woman who goes on dates and has an internal dialogue with the different aspects of herself. It explores the feelings of insecurity many of us experience on first dates and first times with other people. Very different stuff from what she does on Criminal Minds. Having creative freedom over your own work can be very liberating, and it’s always fun to challenge yourself. We can’t wait to see what it’s like as a web series! BONUS: She even writes scripts for Criminal Minds sometimes!
13 Her cat “texts” her
Well, sort of. She told Buzzfeed that she labeled her own phone number in her Contacts list with her cat’s name, which allows her to have her cat “text” her. It’s both silly and darling, and it’s also a primo example of her cool cat lady status. We have given our cats Twitter accounts and even an Instagram but have never thought of having our cats text us reminders. Getting reminders from our cats would probably bring a smile to our faces. Maybe there’s some way we could automate it so that it feels like a real text message. Cats might text us to remind us to scoop their litter or to feed them extra wet food, though. Her cat sends reminders for making almond milk. She also has her cat text her quotes from Brené Brown. We think that this is just brilliant and might even implement this idea ourselves.
12 She finds creative ways to get through her workouts
Most of us have to struggle to get in a workout. It’s hard to get motivated to go running, whether on a treadmill or on the trail, and even harder to convince ourselves to do some strength training with weights. But Kirsten Vangsness told Huffington Post that she pretends she is “unicorn riding” in order to get through her workouts. And it seems to work because it sounds like she gets through her exercise routines. She referred to it as getting through “various states of denial,” but also mentioned that she does deadlifts. Mind over matter. We might have to try this technique to get motivated to do our workouts, too. We’re not riding the stationary bike; we’re going “unicorn riding” through the Enchanted Forest. It might make exercising much more bearable.
11 She’s not as tech-savvy as her character
She has a degree in theatre, not computer science. And while it’s possible to master computer programming and hacking skills without getting a degree in it, Kirsten Vangsness confessed to Huffington Post that she still struggles with typing. But she does know how to completely fake it (where the acting part comes in) and comes across as very knowledgeable and convincing in her role as Penelope Garcia. Fans can often confuse the actor with their roles, but Kirsten lacks Penelope’s hacking skills even though they share quite a few other characteristics. The show doesn’t go into depth about how Penelope does things and only shows the computer briefly when she’s found the “unsub” through her searches. We don’t really need to know how she does it for the storylines to work. We just know that Penelope Garcia is really good at her job.
10 She’s worked a hodgepodge of jobs like many of us
Before actors become famous, they often work a bunch of odd jobs to make ends meet. Some of us also job hop between a variety of industries and positions. What did Kirsten Vangsness do before she hit it big with Criminal Minds? She once had a job as an animal feeder at a zoo. Kirsten has also been a substitute teacher (which can pay decently well), a bank teller and a grant writer. One of the jobs that’s related to her current career is that of a mystery dinner theatre actress (we’ve done that too!). Dinner theatre is typically a paid acting job, and the crew often performs for corporate parties or other special dinner events. It can be really fun. And feeding the animals at the zoo would also have been a cool job. Kirsten loves animals, so we can totally see her caring for the zebras and lions at the zoo. Like many of us, Kirsten Vangsness worked many different jobs until she reached her career goals. And she’s still doing a variety of things within the world of acting and theatre today.
9 She plays the clarinet
Kirsten Vangsness is so multi-talented! Not only is she an actor and writer, but she also plays an instrument. We lack instrumental talent and skill and admire anyone who can play one. Some of our readers probably learned the clarinet in school. And she still plays the instrument! On her Twitter account, Kirsten Vangsness tweeted that she had gotten a clarinet for her birthday. Even better? It was a pink clarinet! Talk about a super cool gift. We don’t play the clarinet but would love to have a pink one if someone ever bought us one for a gift. So, all of you clarinet players out there can be happy to know that the amazing Kirsten Vangsness also plays hers. She is a musician in addition to being an actor and a writer, and we are so here for it.
8 She’s an animal rescuer
Kirsten Vangsness loves animals. They are important to her, and she has had several pets throughout her life. Her animal companions have all been rescues. In an interview with Smashing Interviews Magazine, Kirsten shared the time that she fostered two kittens when their human had been ill and ended up keeping them after their owner passed away. Her cat wasn’t so happy about it at first but soon came to like the other cats.
Kirsten also gives to various animal charities or volunteers when she’s able to do so. Her compassion for all living things, whether human or animal, speaks volumes. While we might not always understand animals, we definitely have an appreciation for them and recognize that animals are living creatures that can feel pain, have emotions and basically make the world a better and more interesting place.
7 She’s searched for weird things on Google, too
In an interview with Buzzfeed, she shared one of the weirdest things she has googled online. Guess what it was? “Do beets turn your pee red?” This is a very valid question. Beet juice is very red. It can even work as a natural dye. So, eating lots of beets could logically have an effect on the color of urine. We have Googled even stranger questions than that! Celebrities do many of the same things we do, including getting up in the middle of the night to search online to make sure we’re not about to die some in obscure and rare way. While we’ve never eaten enough beets in one sitting to wonder how it would affect us, we have searched for similar answers after eating too much of some other food.
6 She’s a whiskey gal
Kirsten Vangsness is the co-owner of a craft distillery in California called the Blinking Owl Distillery. According to their website, she sometimes even gives tours at the distillery when she isn’t busy with her shows or charity work. The two other owners are a husband-and-wife team. So cool! We don’t drink very often, but the thought of a glass of craft whiskey sounds delicious. Actors often have other businesses on the side. That’s why so many actors have clothing or beauty lines. It’s a great way to ensure a steady income, and it can be really fun to boot. Finding more than one things you love and getting to do it is living the dream life. And we can get behind their special orange-flavored vodka.
5 She used to have a lisp
When Kirsten Vangsness was in elementary school, she had a lisp. She went through speech therapy to eliminate it. Three years of speech therapy later and she was able to talk without a lisp. Having a lisp can be painful for children in school where other kids might make fun of them for it. Some people outgrow lisps on their own, but speech therapy can help to fix a speech impediment before it becomes permanent. Now she is an actor who can speak her lines at a rapid pace with more clarity than we do in normal conversation. She also didn’t let her former speech issues stop her from becoming an actor as kid. While we would have hidden from the stage as children, she embraced the acting world despite having a lisp. And we’re very glad she did.
4 She likes Penelope Garcia’s style as much as we do
According to CBS, Kirsten Vangsness sometimes take a cue from her character when she chooses an outfit outside of work. We love the fun hairstyles, accessories and ensembles that her character puts together for her job at the FBI. She always looks fabulous. And her style is super-fun and just adorable. And sometimes Penelope Garcia takes a cue from Kirsten on what to wear in the show. From colorful hair to matching eyeglasses to amazing dresses, we adore her wardrobe on the show. And we love her sense of style out and about in the world, too. She can rock a dress with a galaxy print like no one else. We might take a cue from their sense of style as well. Accessorize like you mean it!
3 She’s BFFs with her fellow ‘Criminal Minds’ co-stars
Nothing makes coming into work everyday like enjoying the company of your co-workers. And Kirsten Vangsness told CBS that she loves working with the cast and crew on Criminal Minds. Getting along with everyone definitely makes for a more fun day than if the cast were not friends in real life. The camaraderie they have developed off-screen plays in very well when the cameras are rolling. And we can only imagine what fun the cast has together on and off set. The topics that the show deals with are very heavy and often sad, so being able to talk with other cast members and have some fun would definitely improve how the day goes for everyone. That, and it’s totally adorable that they’re all friends. Be still our hearts!
2 And the chemistry between her and Shemar Moore is real, too
One of the fun things to see on the show is the friendship between Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan (played by Shemar Moore). It all started when the two first met during rehearsals and sat next to each other. The writers noticed how they interacted with each other and decided to expand Vangsness’ role so that her character regularly play-flirted with Derek. Penelope Garcia had not been part of the core cast in the beginning, but she ended up being a major role as time went on because the directors and writers could see how well she and her character fit into the show and made it that much cooler. Her character had only been written in for an episode or two, nothing big, and now she’s one of the most important characters on the show.
1 She acts in scenes that she’s written
In an interview with Parade, she talked about how acting in a scene that she’s written can feel really weird. It’s one thing to write the lines for her character to say and another thing to bring it to life on camera. She told the interviewer that it felt weird because as an actor the lines in the script get interpreted, and she found that she was interpreting her lines differently from what she had meant when she wrote them into the script. It probably feels very surreal to be both the script writer and then the actor who makes the script happen on camera. She also said that she has to hold back from saying “This is your line” when the other actors say something different from what she had written. The script supervisor is supposed to be the one who calls the lines.