Matthew Gray Gubler

The intern who didn't want to act

Matthew Gray Gubler was fetching coffee and carrying luggage on the set of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in 2004. Wes Anderson noticed him and decided that this gangly intern from Las Vegas should play one of his students in the film. It was the first real contact with the industry for a young man who only aspired to direct films from behind the camera.

He trained at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York with a focus on directing. But the camera wanted him in front of it before it wanted his scripts.

Before moving into film, he worked as a model for luxury brands after a talent scout stopped him on the street. During that time he walked for labels like Burberry and Marc Jacobs while still dreaming of making his own stories. That mix of editorial style and auteur sensibility defined his public image from the start.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2005, he accepted the role of Dr. Spencer Reid on the series Criminal Minds. What seemed like a temporary job on a CBS procedural turned into fifteen consecutive seasons. Over those years, the actor became the heart of the show and appeared in more than 300 episodes as the FBI genius who wears mismatched socks.

Directing from Inside the System

Gubler never gave up his passion for directing films. Instead of only acting, he used the structure of television to step behind the camera for 12 episodes of Criminal Minds. His episodes stood out for a much darker visual style, closer to expressionism than the rest of the series.

Outside the TV set, he looked for projects that moved away from his federal agent image. In 2009, he appeared in 500 Days of Summer in a supporting role that independent film fans still remember. He took a significantly smaller paycheck than in his TV contracts so he could take part in films like 68 Kill in 2017.

He was never interested in conventional Hollywood fame.

Because his true passion was always creating his own visual worlds. In 2014, he voiced the Riddler in the animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham. This voice work let him explore vocal ranges that his live-action character didn't allow, given the demands of the script.

Drawings and Children's Books for the Future

When the series that made him famous ended in 2020, the actor chose not to join the franchise's revival right away. He focused instead on his work as an illustrator and children's book author. His first book was published in 2019 and became a massive bestseller in the United States.

In 2021, he starred in the satirical comedy King Knight, playing the leader of a community of modern witches. The film was shot on a small budget and premiered at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal. It was a statement of intent about the kind of cinema he wanted to support after years of commercial success on network TV.

In September 2023, he published his second book, The Little Kid with the Big Green Hand. The book hit No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list for illustrated books during its first week in stores. The first print run exceeded 250,000 copies distributed by publisher Abrams Books.

He keeps a home split between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, in a house he decorated himself to look like a cabinet of curiosities. He still turns down most of the scripts he receives for network television. The syndication deal for his older episodes lets him fund his own handcrafted animated shorts.