Matthew Gray Gubler biography

As a reward for his hard work, Anderson cast Gubler as Intern #1 in his 2004 film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, starring Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Almost immediately after,

Gubler landed the role of Dr. Spencer Reid—a genius FBI agent who holds three Ph.D. degrees despite being only in his mid-20s—on the CBS crime thriller Criminal Minds. Considered too dark to achieve mainstream popularity and with the same time slot as the immensely popular Lost, many commentators initially pegged Criminal Minds as a losing enterprise. "Everyone was like, 'Oh, don't even unpack your bags,'" Gubler remembered people telling him. "You're going to be canceled in a week and a half." However, by 2006 Criminal Minds had become one of the most watched shows on television and was regularly beating Lost in the ratings. According to Gubler, the show's success lies in its ability to tap into the powerful emotion of fear. "Our stories are very dark—really frightening," he says. "And people love it." Gubler continues to star in Criminal Minds after six seasons.

In addition to Criminal Minds, Gubler also has a number of movie credits. He played the voice of Simon in the animated 2007 film Alvin and the Chipmunks and its 2009 sequel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. In 2008, he appeared with John Malkovich in The Great Buck Howard, and a year later he landed his most visible film role to date in the popular and critically acclaimed comedy (500) Days of Summer. Besides acting, Gubler also writes and directs short "mockumentaries," which can be seen on YouTube. "Sadly, I focus more attention, I think, on those fake documentaries than on the actual show," he admitted.

Gubler is not married and does not have any children.

Although he had not set out to be an actor, Gubler has a long-running hit television show, several impressive film credits, and a model's good looks. Gubler, however, says he has already achieved all the success he could ever ask for. "I'm beyond proud and happy," he says. "I never imagined I would have one fan, and there seems to be a few. I just couldn't be happier that people seem to like what I'm doing and seem to respond to it. If they weren't there, I don't know what I'd be doing right now."

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