Q&A: Matthew Gray Gubler of Criminal Minds

In most ways, Matthew Gray Gubler is the polar opposite of Dr. Spencer Reid, the brilliant yet socially inept criminal profiler he has played for five seasons on CBS’s Criminal Minds. For starters, Gubler points out, “Reid’s a genius. He’s much smarter than I am.” Also, Gubler has a warm and winning personality when he’s not in character. He’s a people person, something Reid will never be. That isn’t to say, however, that the actor is totally free of oddball eccentricities. Consider, for example, Gubler’s insistence on wearing mismatched socks at all times. Seems his grandmother advised him when he was a kid that dressing this way brings good luck. “Technically I guess it’s an affectation,” Gubler says. “But I’m pretty superstitious. I probably will never wear matching socks as long as I live. The one time I did [while filming a scene in the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou], I sprained my ankle. So I make a conscious effort every day to be sure they’re mismatched. Otherwise, it could be a disaster.” Maybe his grandmother was right. His socks didn’t match the day he landed his role on Criminal Minds, after all. At the time, he wasn’t even especially interesting in becoming an actor. To paraphrase Mars Blackmon in those old Michael Jordan/Nike commercials, “It’s gotta be the socks!” Criminal Minds

Is it true that you got the role of Reid even though you really weren’t interested in being an actor or in doing TV? “Yeah, I really sort of fell into it. I’m so lucky. I studied directing. And I had a directing agent who, long story short, said, ‘Hey, why don’t you go in a try out for this TV show pilot. There’s a character on there that’s sort of interesting.’ And I went in and got it. It was sort of a miracle, I guess, because I didn’t have any major interest in acting. But I since have fallen madly in love with it. It’s been great.”

That’s a great story. But actors who have worked much harder for their breakthrough roles, as well as those who are still waiting for their big breaks, must resent how easily it happened for you. “Yeah, I’ve experienced that a little bit. But I’m of the belief that, if you love acting, then you can act anywhere. You can do local plays. You can do something. It’s maybe only people who are more interested in getting notoriety that really resent me. And if they’re only in it for their own fame and ego, then I don’t really care if they’re annoyed. I just want to entertain people and I’m lucky to get to do that on a big scale. But if I weren’t on the show, I would still be doing everything in my power to entertain people, even if it were on a much smaller platform, even if it were only for my mother.”

You also have a very different acting role, as the voice of Simon the Chipmunk, in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. The second one, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, is available on DVD on March 30. After doing a show like Criminal Minds, is a Chipmunks comedy healthy for your psyche? “It’s incredibly healthful. That show is overwhelmingly dark and it does get to you from time to time. But that said, the Criminal Minds set is the probably funniest and most light-hearted set of any show on TV. We try to keep the material from getting to us. Still, taking any break from that world was well enjoyed by me.”

Is there a story behind landing the Chipmunks gig? Were you up against big-time voiceover stars or A-list film stars? “Yeah, it was me vs. Marlon Brando and Brad Pitt. They were evidently up for it. I’m totally kidding. I don’t know how it happened. I got a phone call one day. They said, ‘Would you like to come in and do a test for Simon the Chipmunk?’ And I jumped at the opportunity because I’m a big fan of the TV series from the ’80s. My dad had the 1958 record and we listened to them all the time at Christmas. I was born into a very Chipmunk-friendly family. So I came in and it all worked out wonderfully.”

“That’s exactly how it was. I didn’t meet any of them until the premiere. Weird, huh? But I felt like I knew them well. After being in the booth for that long and hearing their voices, you get a sense of who they are.”

So with which character do you identify more: Spencer Reid or Simon the Chipmunk? “It’s funny. I do see similarities between all characters I play. But Reid definitely is very different from me. I feel closer to Simon in many ways, to be honest, than I do to Reid, although I look more like Reid, of course. But it does feel like I put a costume on when I play him. When I look in the mirror, I realize I’ve become an entirely different person all of a sudden. It’s a strange feeling, but I’ve gotten used to it.”

Do you think, as an actor and a creative artist, that you have enough insight into the human condition that you could be a profiler? “Well, I think I could fake it for a while. There are about 11 real profilers in the world. I’ve met six or seven of them. And after doing 110 episodes of the show, inevitably you find that you’ve learned quite a bit more than you ever thought you’d know about profiling. So I think I would be able to sort of get by. I think I could fake it for longer than anyone would want me to. But I think I prefer just to pretend.”