Criminal Minds' Matthew Gray Gubler Admits He Scares Easily Despite His Brave On-Screen Persona
Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is best known for his work in the freaky series "Criminal Minds," but he admitted to being easily scared in real life, unlike his on-screen persona. Gubler appeared in all 15 seasons of the original run of the popular procedural, which began all the way back in 2005, but he did not return for the reboot, "Criminal Minds: Evolution." He played Dr. Spencer Reid, a criminal profiler with tortured past that includes drug addiction, overcoming severe bullying, and some serious phobias. He even overcame some gnarly headaches in a plotline that fans still want to be solved. Despite all of his quirks, Reid is quite qualified for his job, having multiple PhDs and BAs.
Despite his technophobia and germophobia, Reid has overcome serial killers who have targeted him and rescued kidnapped team members among other adventures, proving his bravery in the face of adversity. Besides his bravery, his affectionate nature made fans love Reid even more throughout the show. In his greatest test of bravery, he finally admitted the feelings he had all along for his longtime crush, JJ Jareau (A.J. Cook), near the end of the show's run. While fans thought it was a jarring moment that came too little too late, it solidified the love between two of the show's mainstays. Gubler may play a heroic character on TV, but in real life, he scares quite easily.
Gubler got spooked by a bouquet of flowers that once got sent to his hotel room
Matthew Gray Gubler admitted that even though he plays a brave character in "Criminal Minds," quite a lot terrifies him in real life. He told the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, during its 55th year running, that he scares very easily. Fans would think with some of the truly dark subjects "Criminal Minds" gets into, someone who has been on the show for 15 seasons might get pretty used to all things creepy.
Such is not the case for Gubler, however. He told a story as an example in which he arrived jet-lagged at his hotel for the Monte-Carlo TV Fest. The festival left him a huge bouquet of flowers in his room, which he really appreciated, but when he went to sleep at night he woke in the middle of the night to something that rocked him to his core. "I looked at the foot of my bed and I just saw this, like, horrific silhouette of, like, a jagged monster," he said. The flowers he received were being hit by background light in his room and made the shape of something that terrified Gubler.
Despite being quite scared in real life, Gubler has appeared in multiple horror films
Matthew Gray Gubler continued, "I started freaking out. I literally started screaming and then my eyes readjusted ... I guess everything scares me." His terrifying bouquet of flowers didn't attack him in the middle of the night, and he seemingly laughed off his scare. He admitted later in the same interview that comedy is his favorite genre to watch. So he probably just prefers to laugh over being scared.
However, despite preferring comedy and being a self-admitted scaredy cat, Gubler has appeared in several horror films, including indie horror festival favorites "Excision" and "Suburban Gothic" (via IMDb). While the horror films he appears in tend to have a comedy beat, perhaps he faces his fears head-on by appearing in the very films that would scare him as a casual viewer. Once you have a peek behind the curtain and see how the scares are made, it may dampen the fear a little bit for such an actor.