Kirsten Vangsness

At 52 years old, Kirsten Vangsness has this physical status:

Kirsten Simone Vangsness (born July 7, 1972) is an American actress and writer.

She is best known for her portrayal of FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia on the CBS drama series Criminal Minds.

She portrayed the same character on the spin-off series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Early life

Vangsness was born in Pasadena, California, daughter of Errol Leroy Vangsness, of Norwegian descent, and wife Barbara Mary (née Marconi), of Italian descent. She was raised in Porterville, California, and later moved to Cerritos, California. She graduated from Cerritos High School in June 1990 and attended Cypress College in Cypress, California. She later graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 1996.

Personal life

In a 2011 interview, Vangsness has described herself as "as queer as a purple unicorn singing Madonna". She was in a seven-year relationship with editor Melanie Goldstein, to whom she was engaged, until 2013. In November 2015, it was reported that Vangsness became engaged to actor and writer Keith Hanson.

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Career

Vangsness became involved in acting as a child to help overcome shyness and got her first big break in the theatre, where she won several awards, including the 15 Minutes of Female Best Actress Award, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Emerging Comic Actress, and the Golden Betty Award.

Vangsness' work has been published in the Los Angeles Times. Since 2014, Vangsness has co-written four episodes of Criminal Minds. In 2014 she co-wrote "Nelson's Sparrow" with executive producer, Erica Messer. In 2015 she co-wrote "A Beautiful Disaster" once again with Messer and in 2016 she co-wrote "Spencer" with Messer. The Criminal Minds series finale was also co-written by Vangsness and Messer.

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