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© 2009 CBS
Kristen Vangsness on CRIMINAL MINDS
Television:
Exclusive Interview: KRISTEN VANGSNESS FITS THE PROFILE ON 'CRIMINAL MINDS'
The actress talks about playing Garcia on the CBS procedural and working with Neil LaBute on the L.A. stage
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN, Contributing Writer
Published 10/28/2009
CRIMINAL MINDS is one of the darkest of TV’s procedurals, dealing as it does with a team of FBI profilers who track serial killers in every episodes, hoping to capture the homicidal culprits before they kill again. The main regular source of brightness on the CBS hit, now in its fifth year, is colorful computer researcher Penelope Garcia, played with great warmth and panache by Kristen Vangsness. Vangsness, known for her work on the Los Angeles theatre scene, took what began as a small recurring role and invested her with so much spark that she soon became indispensable to the teams both on and off-screen.
iF MAGAZINE: Coming into fifth season, was anybody worried about the renewal, or was everyone pretty confident?
KRISTEN VANGSNESS: We pretty much knew our ratings. Nothing’s a sure thing, but we were pretty happy.
iF: When did you become a regular on CRIMINAL MINDS?
VANGSNESS: I think it was Episode 13 of first season. It went from a guest star to a costar to a series regular.
iF: Did the producers tell you what they felt you were bringing to the show that they felt they needed that they hadn’t had without you/Garcia?
VANGSNESS: I don’t know. At first, I thought it was just exposition. I can tell you that when me and Shemar [Moore, who plays Special Agent Derek Morgan] met, we instantly got along and instantly started cracking jokes and making fun of each other and busting each other’s chops.
iF: So the playfulness between Garcia and Morgan in the show came out of you playing on set?
VANGSNESS: Yeah, absolutely. But they wanted it that way. Penelope – her name was actually an homage to Moneypenny [from the Bond films]. She was [Morgan’s] Moneypenny. Coming from a theatre background, I get very invested in all about the character, so I think the fact that I love my job so much transcended [the producers’ initial concept of Garcia as a bit pat]. I don’t know. I fell in love with it so hard that maybe that’s what it was. It’s just nice to see something where someone really loves what they do.
iF: Did you have to learn how to do anything for the part?
VANGSNESS: I’ve learned as I’ve gone. My [fiancée] actually is a sort of a computer genius, so I’ve learned a little from her and I’ve learned as I’ve gone along in homage to the fans and to my character.
iF: Do you get feedback from real people who have jobs similar to Penelope’s?
VANGSNESS: Well, I do get reports back – we have a guy from [FBI training facility] Quantico, our expert, and he often will tell me that there’s a dark basement with people who are exactly me, and they love me. I think of them a lot when I do my part, and I have to do them proud.
iF: Do you get a lot of fan mail from people who work with computers?
VANGSNESS: I do. And I love it all very much.
iF: Garcia is constantly being grossed out by what she has to research. Do you ever actually look at the photos of dismembered bodies and similar images?
VANGSNESS: Sometimes, yes. Actually, most of the time, yes, because a lot of times, they want to pan to the [image within the shot], and I try to tell them, ‘I went to school for this – I can act grossed out,’ but they want to show me. Sometimes the pictures they show me are worse than what the audience can see because of the [broadcast standards issues] and whatnot.
iF: Have they ever put in a joke photo?
VANGSNESS: No! That would be good, but they never have. And I’m such a teacher’s pet that probably if they did, I would keep acting. They’ve tried to make me do bloopers, and I’m terrible at it. Like, ‘No, I’ve got to learn my lines and do it right.’
iF: Does the generally grim subject matter ever get to you?
VANGSNESS: I try not to let it get to me. I mean, yeah, it gets to me if I think about it. I think it would get to anybody and I think that that’s Penelope’s special thing, she’s empathetic, she gets to react to things how the audience would react to things.
iF: Is it difficult showing that Penelope is empathetic without letting her get overwhelmed all the time?
VANGSNESS: Yeah, I just find different ways for her to cope. I think it’s my job as an actor to not make it boring and not have her tear up every time she sees [images of violence].
iF: Penelope has a unique sense of style. Do you have input into her wardrobe?
VANGSNESS: You know, B.J. Thomas, who is our costume designer, is a genius. She’s such a genius that she’s ego-less about it, so if she’ll see something that I’m wearing, she won’t copy it, but she’ll riff on it. The original character was much more straight-laced. [Thomas] actually saw how I dressed and fed it into it. Garcia wears more labels than I do, she’s different but similar. We have the same sensibility in that fashion is something that should be played with, fashion is something that you make up yourself, and there’s no age limit to what you can do or wear or all that.
iF: Does Penelope get to do anything new this year? She’s been shot, she’s recovered from being shot, you’ve had a romance – it was implied that was an ongoing deal.
VANGSNESS: Right, right, right. I think it’s still going.
iF: So we may see more of Nicholas Brendon as Penelope’s fellow techie boyfriend Kevin Lynch?
VANGSNESS: Yes. I believe so. Penelope always gets to do new stuff, and I think it’s faring well. There are more shoes, there’s a new teapot on my set that I fill with tea. There’s been a bit of a coup with our other cast members. They want me out in the field, so we’ll see what happens. And now that we’ve had two injuries, we might need more people out on the field.
iF: Real-life actor injuries?
VANGSNESS: Yes. Matthew [Gray Gubler, who plays Special Agent Spencer Reid] hurt his knee and we just had Shemar break his leg in real life.
iF: Did these things happen on set?
VANGSNESS: [laughs] No, they did not.
iF: It’s not really a dangerous workplace, it just plays one on TV. For the first two seasons, the team was headed up by Jason Gideon, played by Mandy Patinkin. When Patinkin left the show, Joe Mantegna came in as David Rossi. What are the differences in Garcia’s behavior toward Gideon and Rossi?
VANGSNESS: Well, Gideon had grown to be like an old wise father figure, and Joe’s character is like the angry father that you don’t want to get upset. We still haven’t totally smoothed out our edges between each other yet, but I think it makes it interesting.
iF: Do you personally have a favorite episode in what you’ve gotten to do so far?
VANGSNESS: It’s hard. They’re all my babies. I mean, obviously, it was a great couple of weeks when I got to go to work every day. ‘Penelope’ and the one before ‘Penelope’ and ‘Lucky,’ the one where I got shot and the one after that, were really like dreams come true. There was a real spooky one we did where there was an old man who was keeping people in this old house. I can’t remember the name of it, but I liked that one a lot. It’s hard to pick, because the one we’re doing right now is fantastic, it’s like a horror genre thing. I love them all.
iF: You’re a member of the Theatre of Note stage company in Hollywood. You’ve done a few plays for them, SPIDER BITE last summer and KILL ME DEADLY this summer.
VANGSNESS: SPIDER BITE.[was] a world premiere, really wonderful, very creative, totally different from CRIMINAL MINDS, dark, but a different kind of dark – darkly funny. In KILL ME DEADLY, I played a film noir femme fatale, totally different than what I do on the show.
iF: You also appear often in the Forties-style THRILLING ADVENTURE AND SUPERNATURAL SUSPENSE HOUR at the M Bar in Hollywood. You started doing guest appearances and now you have your own segment as Desdemona Hughes, former silent film star turned private detective. Your CRIMINAL MINDS colleague Paget Brewster is a regular in THRILLING ADVENTURE. Did she get you involved?
VANGSNESS: Yes.
iF: So the CRIMINAL MINDS actors areis fairly supportive of one another’s extracurricular work?
VANGSNESS: Oh, absolutely. They all come to my plays. Shemar comes to everything at least once.
IF: Is doing something comedic like Desdemona a good, sort of necessary balance from the gore and the despair?
VANGSNESS: Absolutely. I will definitely be in the ‘Greatest Hits’ [of THRILLING ADVENTURE]in December
iF: During the 2008 hiatus, you worked with playwright Neil LaBute on the Los Angeles stage premiere of FAT PIG at the Geffen. What was it like to work with him?
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VANGSNESS: Fantastic. I was a little afraid, but he’s a big teddy bear and brilliant and I learned a lot doing that play. I learned about my own size-ist issues, because I gained about twenty pounds for that part. I’m already by Hollywood standards a quote-unqoute fat girl – by Hollywood standards, you go above a size ten, all of a sudden you’re a certain size. So to put on twenty pounds and wear an eighty-pound fat suit and do sex scenes with Scott Wolf, who’s super hot – not in a bad way, but it does a number on everything you thought. You think your big sex scene, with a Hollywood hunk, is going to be when you’re at your most perfect and here I am having all these issues with myself and my body and so many people that show resonated with, so I learned about that.
iF: Were you able to take anything you learned, either about yourself or about performing from that and apply it when you came back to CRIMINAL MINDS?
VANGSNESS: Absolutely. Because I think I’ve always had that sort of struggle – this idea in Hollywood that if I looked my perfect self, I’d work more, more people like you, all of that, and really the lesson always, always, is always, no matter where you are is, be yourself. Obviously, I play a character on television, but I play her best when I know who I am.
I love what I’m doing, I look forward to what the adventure holds. I think this is going to be a great season. I’m really looking forward to it all. And we’re going to go on hiatus and [indicates fiancée] we’re going to get hitched!
Reader Comments
Diane from Queens sez....
Hey. You spelled her name wrong. It's KIRSTEN!! Don't you guys believe in fact checking? Good lord.
10/29/2009 8:27:43 PM
Kimmie from ON sez....
You spelt her name wrong in the title...
10/29/2009 2:36:37 PM
Colleen from Seattle sez....
think Kirsten's name is spelled wrong...
10/29/2009 9:30:22 AM
Dayna from NY sez....
Love the interview.Umm, however, it's David ROSSI NOT RUSSO!!
10/28/2009 12:33:57 PM
