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Matthew Gray Gubler is an American actor, film director, sketch artist, and former fashion model, best known for his role as the young genius Dr. Spencer Reid in the television show Criminal Minds.

Biography

Matthew Gray Gubler was born and raised in Las Vegas, the son of an attorney, and a rancher, political consultant, and the first woman to serve as chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party. When he was 6, his parents got him a private magic tutor, and by the time he was 11, he was performing as Matt the Hat at parties in his hometown.

He was raised in a quiet neighborhood near Bob Baskin Park, attended The Meadows School and is a high school graduate of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts, where he majored in acting because the school didn't offer his first love, filmmaking; while there he acted in plays like Picnic, The Importance of Being Earnest, and also got to play The Cat in the Hat and The Mad Hatter, two of his favorite fictional psychopaths.

After he graduated from the Academy in 1998, he began studying at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Two years later, Gubler left California and moved to New York City where he enrolled at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated in 2002 with a major in film directing.

Gubernation

Several of his drawings from his Web site.

While attending NYU film school, he was stopped outside a drugstore by a model scout, a serendipitous encounter that led him to work as a model with DNA Model Management for some of the biggest fashion designers like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Sisley and American Eagle.

After he began modeling, Gubler landed an internship with writer-director Wes Anderson as part of his college program, who encouraged him to audition for a part in his movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. He did and he landed the role of Intern #1 (later named Nico the Intern), his big screen debut that led to the beginnings of a promising acting career, something he never sought.

That eventually led to an exploratory visit to Hollywood, where his directing agent suggested he tried out for Criminal Minds. In the words of exec producer Mark Gordon When he came in to read for the pilot, we just fell in love with him. He's an original. The role of FBI SSA Dr. Spencer Reid was his and he suddenly found himself on primetime TV.

In hiatuses and downtime from shooting the series, he has got several other small roles in films like R.V., The Great Buck Howard, 500 Days of Summer, How to be a Serial Killer and Magic Valley. And his most dear work of all, putting the voice to Simon in the big-screen adventures of Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) and its 2009 Squeakquel (Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award for Favorite Movie).

Gubler had created several short movies and documentaries that were mostly filmed in Las Vegas and New York City prior to his graduation from NYU. While Filming The Life Aquatic, he made the mini-documentary Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal, which was a behind-the-scenes look at the movie. Several amateur critics claimed the documentary was better than the movie itself. It was later included in some DVD releases.

He directed, edited, and co-produced the music video for Don't Shoot Me Santa by the rock band The Killers, where his younger brother can be seen.

And to keep things loose on the set of Criminal Minds, he has been making self-deprecating mock-u-mentaries, featuring himself, co-stars and members of the crew. Called Matthew Gray Gubler: the Unauthorized Documentary and its follow-up Matthew Gray Gubler: The Authorized Documentary, they are viewable on YouTube. Finally, in 2010 he got to direct one episode of the series

Helping to keep him sane is his art; he has exhibited his water-color paints in the Czech Republic and on his handwritten Web site Gubler-land. He also took up photography and wrote and illustrated a children's book. More recently he started a record label (Corn Stalk Recordings), a T-shirt company, has been getting into puppet manufacturing and finished the album artwork for a friend's record. He got to collaborate with Jacques Cousteau's son on this environmental zine for the Warped Tour (he designed and painted the cover).

Filmography

  • King Knight (2020) - Thorn
  • Criminal Minds - 323 episodes (2005-2020) - Doctor Spencer Reid
  • Horse Girl (2020) - Darren Colt
  • Dollface - 3 episodes (2019) - Wes
  • Endings, Beginnings (2019) - Adrian
  • Camp Confessions (2018) - Unknown Character
  • Zoe (2018) - Skinny Guy
  • 68 Kill (2017) - Chip
  • Newness (2017) - Paul
  • Hot Air (2016) - Lesley
  • Trash Fire (2016) - Caleb
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015) - Simon (voice)
  • Band of Robbers (2015) - Joe Harper
  • Desire (2014) - James
  • Beautiful Girl (2014) - Ziggy
  • Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014) - Riddler (voice)
  • Suburban Gothic (2014) - Raymond
  • El Hormiguero MX (2014) - Unknown Character
  • The Learning Curve (2014) - David Sedaris (voice)
  • Life After Beth (2014) - Kyle Orfman
  • The Beauty Inside - 2 episodes (2012) - Alex #42/Alex #26
  • The Beauty Inside: Alex's Video Diaries (2012) - Alex #42
  • Excision (2012) - Mr. Claybaugh
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011) - Simon (voice)
  • Magic Valley (2011) - Mok
  • Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011) - Winsor (voice)
  • All-Star Superman (2011) - Jimmy Olsen (voice)
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) - Simon (voice)
  • 500 Days of Summer (2009) - Paul
  • How to Be a Serial Killer (2008) - Bart
  • The Great Buck Howard (2008) - Russell
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Simon (voice)
  • Matthew Gray Gubler: The Unauthorized Documentary (2006) - Matthew Gray Gubler
  • RV (2006) - Joe Joe
  • The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) - Intern #1

DIRECTOR

  • Criminal Minds - "The Tall Man" (2018) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "The Capilano's" (2018) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Elliott's Pond" (2016) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "A Beautiful Disaster" (2016) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Mr. Scratch" (2015) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Blood Relations" (2014) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Gatekeeper" (2013) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Alchemy" (2013) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "The Lesson" (2012) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Heathridge Manor" (2012) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Lauren" (2011) TV episode
  • Criminal Minds - "Mosley Lane" (2010) TV episode
  • Matthew Gray Gubler: The Unauthorized Documentary (2006) (as Strudel Goolar)
  • The Cactus That Looked Just Like a Man (2005)
  • Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal (2005)
  • Dead or Retarded (2005)
  • Claude: A Symphony of Horror (2005)

WRITER

  • Matthew Gray Gubler: The Unauthorized Documentary (2006) (concept)
  • The Cactus That Looked Just Like a Man (2005) (writer)
  • Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal (2005) (writer)

PRODUCER

  • Matthew Gray Gubler: The Unauthorized Documentary (2006) (producer)
  • The Cactus That Looked Just Like a Man (2005) (producer)
  • Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal (2005) (producer)

CINEMATOGRAPHER

  • The Cactus That Looked Just Like a Man (2005)
  • Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal (2005)

EDITOR

  • The Cactus That Looked Just Like a Man (2005)
  • Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal (2005)

LINKS

Notes

  • His mother, Marilyn, holds a Bachelor's Degree in French Language and Literature from Pomona College and a Master's Degree in Secondary Education and Teaching from Stanford. (Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilyn-gubler-204b002a/)
  • His sister, a fashion designer based in New York City, has done costume design in several episodes throughout the series. She and her husband Timothy Dahl run a website called BuiltByKids which features their son Hunter as well as some stories and pictures of Matthew.
  • His maternal grandfather Maxwell Kelch was the first president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and founded Las Vegas' first radio station, KENO. He was also a professor at the California Institute of Technology.
  • His maternal grandmother Laura Gang Kelch was a painter and also lent her voice to some of the radio programs on KENO.
  • His reasoning behind his phobia to wear matching socks in his own words My grandmother told me at a very early age that it was good luck to not wear matching socks, which I've come interpret to as bad luck to wear matching socks because the one time I wore matching socks in ten years was when I was acting in this movie called The Life Aquatic. We were doing a moment where Bill Murray is leading us in exercises and somehow I managed to sprain my ankle on camera. It actually wound up being in the movie. I attribute that entirely to me wearing matching socks.
  • Some of his creative pursuits have made an appearance in Criminal Minds: he has done magic, his sketch of Nathan Harris took the place of the one made by the prop department in Sex, Birth, Death and, of course, he shares a hometown with his character.
  • He is the only lead actor to be credited in every episode.
  • Talking about putting the voice to Simon in the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks he said Actors talk about dreaming of playing Othello, but for me, it's Simon. It's the biggest deal to me... even the older records from the '50s, they have my heart and to be a part of that legend is mind-blowing.
  • Between season one and two, Matthew suffered from achalasia, a condition which prevented him from swallowing solid food until he had corrective surgery. He was unable to eat for almost a month.
  • While filming "500 Minutes With the Guys from 500 Days of Summer", he dislocated his left knee in a dance-off. The injury was so severe that it affected his on-screen appearance throughout a large portion of season five. It took four surgeries to repair the injury before he could begin to walk without assistance.
  • According to a note from his appearance on the show "Oddities", Matthew has one extra rib on his left side.
  • Described by his castmates to be a "ringmaster" for practical jokes on set, including one he played on Shemar Moore on April Fool's Day in 2013, in which he and his brother created a fake press release saying the Chris Brown had started a hat line called "Baby Lady", leading Shemar to believe that Brown had ripped off his line called "Baby Girl". He lashed out about the incident and explained his situation the next day. Gubler was secretive about the prank until he confessed in an interview on The Talk on February 5, 2014.
  • He is a member of the exclusive club, the Magic Castle. It typically requires being able to perform magic well enough to earn a membership.
  • He doesn't like to be called "Matt" because that is what bullies in school called him.
  • On October 27, 2014, he became an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church so he could officiate the wedding of Paget Brewster and Steve Damstra.
  • According to Shemar Moore, Matthew has a photographic memory.
  • He owns a number of pets, including a dog, a deer, and an owl that live close to his place.
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