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Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Vangsness is best known for playing Penelope Garcia, the bespectacled FBI tech-kitten on the long-running CBS crime drama Criminal Minds and its Paramount+ reboot, Criminal Minds: Evolution.
A dedicated art maven and all-around creative force, Vangsness co-wrote five episodes of Criminal Minds; wrote and stars in the online series Kirsten's Agenda; and wrote, directed and stars in the animated short Curtains. She is also the star of the noir spoof Kill Me, Deadly and has been featured in many other films and television productions.
Kirsten Vangsness is best known for playing Penelope Garcia, the bespectacled FBI tech-kitten on the long-running CBS crime drama Criminal Minds and its Paramount+ reboot, Criminal Minds: Evolution.
A dedicated art maven and all-around creative force, Vangsness co-wrote five episodes of Criminal Minds; wrote and stars in the online series Kirsten's Agenda; and wrote, directed and stars in the animated short Curtains. She is also the star of the noir spoof Kill Me, Deadly and has been featured in many other films and television productions.
Vangsness can be heard wherever you listen to podcasts on the new theater and politics mash-up Nimrod — a brute-farce comedy in verse — and she recently reprised her titular role in Lottie Patchett Took a Hatchet at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
She was a critically acclaimed 2019 Edinburgh Fringe playwright and actor in two plays (her solo piece Mess and Cleo, Theo & Wu, a feminist space romp musical she penned), and she is at work on a new solo show coming this winter. In addition, she is a company member of Hollywood's Theater of NOTE, where she hosts Bits!, a monthly art salon for folks to present new bits of creative work in no more than seven minutes. She encourages you to come check it out — it's a delight.
Her numerous professional accolades include the Open Fist Excellence in the Arts Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Natalie Schafer Award and the HRC Visibility Award.
To learn about her goings-on, follow her on Instagram at @kirstenvangsness.
The Television Academy database lists prime-time Emmy information. Click here to learn more
Kirsten Vangsness, host of the 76th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards
Kirsten Vangsness presents the Emmy to Tom Ohanian for the AVID Multicamera System
Craig Seidel accepts the Emmy for Movielabs Digital Distribution Framework
Colin Cook, Justin Nicolaides, Scott Blair, Jeremy Hochman (center) and Keith Harrison accept the Emmy for the HELIOS Platform
Kirsten Vangsness presents Benjamin Graf the Emmy for dxRevive Pro
Kirsten Vangsness presents the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award to Erica Schisler for Adobe
Host Kirsten Vangsness and the winners of the 76th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmys
Host Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Vangsness performs her annual tribute to the winners and honorees
Host Kirsten Vangsness and the evening's winners: (back row, from left) Geoffrey Crawshaw, William Brinkley, Daniel Kruselj, Paul Debevec, Stype Cajic, Fernando Kufer, Ben Roeder, Chuck Parker, Nick Rasmussen, Matthias Erb, Glenn Kennel; (front row, from left) Ivica Antolkovic, Andrija Cajic, Vangsness, Mark Hills
Host Kirsten Vangsness performs at the 73rd Engineering Emmy Awards.
Host Kirsten Vangsness enthralls the audience with an original song at the 73rd Engineering Emmy Awards.
Host Kirsten Vangsness presents an award to Alex Cyrell, Roger Barton, and Brad Thomas from Evercast at the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony which streamed on October 29, 2020 at Emmys.com.
Host Kirsten Vangsness presents the Emmy to Peter Crossley for Nuke at the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony which streamed on October 29, 2020 at Emmys.com.
Host Kirsten Vangsness performs during the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony which streamed on October 29, 2020 at Emmys.com.
Host Kirsten Vangsness performs during the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony which streamed on October 29, 2020 at Emmys.com.
Host Kirsten Vangsness presents an award to James Eggleton from CODEX at the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony which streamed on October 29, 2020 at Emmys.com.
Engineering Emmy Awards Chairman Barry Zegal and host Kirsten Vangsness at the 71st Engineering Emmy Awards, presented by the Television Academy at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE hotel on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Host Kirsten Vangsness performs at the 71st Engineering Emmy Awards, presented by the Television Academy at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE hotel on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Host Kirsten Vangsness poses with the winners of the Engineering Emmy Awards at the 71st Engineering Emmy Awards, presented by the Television Academy at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE hotel on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Kirsten Vangsness, center, and Wendy Lynn Aylsworth, recipient of The Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, poses with her family at the 2018 Engineering Emmy Awards.
In The News
Creativity and Cutting-Edge Tech Celebrated at 76th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmys
