This is a list of characters in the television series Criminal Minds, an American police procedural drama which premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS and concluded its original run on February 19, 2020. It is also shown on A&E and Ion Television in the United States. A sixteenth season of the show began airing on Paramount+ on November 24, 2022.
Main characters
Notes
Jennifer Jareau
Played by A. J. Cook, SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau born (November 22nd 1981) originally acted as the team's Communication Liaison with the media and local police agencies and later turned to a full time agent in the field after returning from the Pentagon. She has two sons with her now husband Detective William LaMontagne Jr. (Josh Stewart), whom she met while the team was working a case in New Orleans in the season two episode "Jones" and married at the end of the season seven two-part finale, "Hit and Run". In the second episode of season six, JJ was forced to take a promotion to the Pentagon and left the team for the rest of the season. When JJ leaves the BAU for a promotion to a position at the Pentagon, Garcia and Hotch take up her responsibilities as media liaison, and Garcia retains this position when JJ returns to the BAU as a profiler. Jennifer returned to the show in the episode entitled "Lauren", in which she receives a call and returns to help the BAU find Emily Prentiss and capture Ian Doyle before it is too late. When Emily is stabbed by Doyle and rushed to a hospital, Jennifer announces she did not survive. However, it is later revealed that Emily is alive and Jennifer meets her at a cafe in Paris, where she provides her with three passports and bank accounts to start a new life in hiding. She returns once again in the season six finale before returning as a full-time cast member again in season seven. In the finale of season 14, JJ reveals to Reid that she was in love with him during a hostage situation.
In 2015, the actress announced she was expecting her second child, which was written into JJ's storyline. The character's children are portrayed by A.J. Cook's real-life sons Mekhai Anderson and Phoenix Andersen.
Penelope Garcia
Played by Kirsten Vangsness, Penelope García is the team's technical analyst at BAU headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. She is flamboyant, a nonconformist, kind, and fun-loving and provides the rest of the team with comic and compassionate relief whenever it is needed. Penelope was adopted by the Garcia family. She has a brother named Carlos. Her parents were both killed by a drunk driver. Although she is an Anglo-Caucasian, she celebrates presumably Mexican/Mexican-American traditions from her adoptive parents. She and SSA Morgan share a very friendly-flirty relationship that never goes beyond that, although Penelope does show mild jealousy when she sees him dancing with two other women. In turn, Morgan, responds negatively when asked for proposal advice by her then boyfriend, fellow FBI computer tech Kevin Lynch. Penelope taught herself to hack after she dropped out of college and was aligned with the best underground hackers in the world. After being caught by the FBI, she was given a choice of living in a high-security prison for the rest of her life or working for the BAU division of the FBI as an analyst. Two episodes focus on García's character. In "Penelope", she was shot and almost killed. When Jennifer Jareau leaves the BAU for a promotion to a position at the Pentagon, Garcia volunteers to take up her responsibilities as media liaison, completely changing her looks. She quickly realizes the job is not for her and resumes her job as a technical analyst. The liaison position is then split between her and Hotch, a job she retains when JJ returns to the BAU as a profiler. In "The Black Queen", Penelope's past is brought up after a series of flashbacks. In those flashbacks, viewers see a Goth-looking Garcia. Her background and history are revealed, indicating that her extraordinary computer skills are self-taught. She is overcome by guilt by her past actions, so much so that when her hacker ex-boyfriend needs to be caught, she volunteers to be bait. She is really uncomfortable in this situation and says that she would never do it again. Garcia states that she didn't know why she was ever "that" person.