Kirsten Vangsness graduated from Cerritos High School in Cerritos, California, in 1990. In 2005, she won an award for Best Emerging Comedic Actress from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle. Shortly thereafter, she won the part of Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds. As Garcia, she is often overly emotion and eternally optimistic as the team’s technical analyst. Her character also appeared as a series regular in the first (and only) season of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, a spin-off series.