Kirsten Vangsness at the Elysian Hotel of Chicago Joe Mantegna Party at Kress Restaurant in Hollywood, CA April 29, 2011. Photo: Mark Davis/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved
Don’t tell Kristen Vangsness that gays can’t play straight. The Criminal Minds and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior star is the only cast member who is gay, and the only cast member to have an active love life on the show.
“I’m the only character on Criminal Minds that’s had sex,” she points out. “You see her come out of a shower with a guy. I enjoy all of that and I’m as queer as a purple unicorn singing Madonna. I think you can be all of that. Just because you’re a straight woman playing a gay woman…90-percent of the women on The L Word were straight and no one was walking around going, ‘This is so unbelievable.’ You have access to all that stuff. I can look at lots of men and be like, ‘I want to go to there,’ that’s totally normal for me.”
Fans of the show know that Vangsness’ character Penelope Garcia is still bothered by the horrible images of murder on each case. And the actress believes it’ll be a trait that quirky Garcia will carry until the end of the show’s run.
“The writers will say, ‘She’s been doing this for six years. She shouldn’t be squeamish around these pictures,’ ” Vangsness relates. “I’m like, ‘No, she will be squeamish for the rest of her life because that is just how she is!’ So, those sorts of changes are a little odd and that’s never going to happen.”
Criminal Minds and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior air on Wednesdays, 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET/PT respectively on CBS.
click onto the two media links to hear Vangsness address the qualities of her character on Criminal Minds.