15 Major Movie Stars Who Appeared On Criminal Minds

Since the original series premiered on CBS in 2005, the "Criminal Minds" franchise has stood out for being one of the most psychologically complex procedurals on television. Every week, audiences were introduced to a new, terrifying unsub whose disturbing psyche, mannerisms, and schemes were often brought to life by one-off guest stars who are now Hollywood movie stars. Many of the 15 actors below fit the profile readers have come to expect in the police procedural subgenre — talented actors who capitalized on their on-screen personas to embody memorable villains of the week. 

There are plenty of examples of such casting below, mostly from the horror genre. Series regular Matthew Gray Gubler directed several star-studded, fan-favorite episodes sometimes populated by his personal horror icons. But what surprised us were the stories that broke from that tradition: the action hero who played a tough but tender ghost; the imminent Emmy-winner who barely has any lines, and the international icon who got the job because he happened to be a fan of the series and delivered one of the most devastating performances in "Criminal Minds" history.

There's nothing surprising about finding Sterling K. Brown on the small screen — what's confusing is that his "Criminal Minds" role was pretty small, too. 

Just a year before the actor won his first Emmy for "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson" on FX and made his debut on the NBC drama "This Is Us," he appeared in the "Criminal Minds" episode "Beyond Borders" (Season 10, Episode 19). He played the role of Fitz, the head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Barbados. Even viewers at the time would've been forgiven for suspecting that the show was trying to diminish his presence at first to hide his true role as a criminal later in the episode — Brown had already played a major role on Lifetime's "Army Wives," so he wasn't an unknown at this point. But in the end, on "Criminal Minds," Brown is really just a guy in a suit who helps introduce the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) to Barbados.

"Beyond Borders" was a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series that was canceled within two years of this episode airing. Brown went on to become the first Black actor to win a Golden Globe for best actor in a drama series. He also appeared in major films including "Black Panther," "The Predator," and "Frozen II." 

As you'll see throughout this list, "Criminal Minds" sought out horror icons to play one-off monsters. Brad Dourif is an exemplar of this kind of casting. Dourif is best known for playing the serial-killer-turned-doll Charles "Chucky" Lee Ray in the classic 1988 horror film "Child's Play." He reprised the role in numerous sequels, most of which premiered before his appearance on "Criminal Minds" in 2012.

Dourif played unsub Adam Rain in Season 8, Episode 10, "The Lesson," a fan-favorite episode that was directed by series regular Matthew Gray Gubler. Rain is a role seemingly tailor-made for Dourif to invert the dynamic of the role that made him a horror icon — rather than playing an adult serial killer trapped inside a childlike doll, he essentially plays a traumatized child trapped inside the body of an adult man. Rain's murder spree begins after he is awakened from a coma that causes a dramatic psychological reversion, resulting in him turning his victims into human puppets. 

Directing Dourif in such a role was a dream come true for Gubler, who described him as a "true idol" of his. As he told Assignment X in 2013, "I've wanted to use [Brad] forever, and then luckily that puppet episode came up and I knew that he was perfect for it..."

Amber Heard made her feature film debut in "Friday Night Lights" (2004) then played a handful of minor roles on TV and in lower-budget films. When she booked the part of Lila Archer on the first season of "Criminal Minds" in 2006, it was her biggest role at the time.  

In Episode 18, "Somebody's Watching," Lila is a television actress on the cusp of stardom who is inexplicably linked to the activities of a serial killer. The unsub is ultimately revealed to be Lila's unstable friend (Katheryn Winnick), who attempted to protect Lila's career by killing anyone who could potentially undermine her rise to fame. 

In addition to being central to the mystery, Lila is remembered as being an early, fleeting love interest of Matthew Gray Gubler's Spencer Reid. In a case of life imitating art in a somewhat unextraordinary way, Heard's TV work led to a mainstream Hollywood breakout that left "Criminal Minds" in the past. When Reid is asked about Lila later in the series, his awkward responses might imply he was similarly left behind.

Of all the guest performances on this list, this is the one most likely to hit longtime "Criminal Minds" fans the hardest. Anton Yelchin was cast in Season 2, Episode 11, "Sex, Birth, Death" around 2006. 

Yelchin gave an impressive performance on "Criminal Minds," playing suspected serial killer Nathan Harris. Though Harris is not ultimately the culprit, he is determined by all — including himself and Spencer Reid — to be a serial killer in the making and an obvious danger to society. The episode could be one of the best in the entire series due to the dynamic between Harris and Reid, the latter deeply pitying Harris' condition as much as he fears its impact on others. 

Three years after "Criminal Minds," Yelchin landed a major supporting role in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." Tragically, Yelchin passed away due to an accident in 2016 at the age of 27.

"Criminal Minds" has given several movie stars a chance to flex some serious acting muscle during the periods in which their big-screen careers have (for a wide variety of reasons) slowed down. 

C. Thomas Howell is one such movie star. Aside from some uncredited stunt work on "Moonlighting," Howell spent the '80s starring in some of the decade's biggest hits, including "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Red Dawn," and "The Outsiders." By 2009, however, the actor was far from a marquee star — providing him the perfect opportunity to surprise audiences by playing against type in a show like "Criminal Minds." 

In Season 4, Episode 18, "Omnivore," Howell made his debut as George Foyet, a prolific serial killer who goes on to become one of the most prominent villains for the BAU. He returned to the show six times after his initial episode and played a significant role in the 2020 series finale. 

By the time he appeared in Season 8, Episode 6, "The Apprenticeship" in 2012, it had been over 15 years since Matthew Lillard played teenage serial killer Stu Macher in the original "Scream" film. In the intervening years, he'd comfortably become a solid comedic actor and had most notably taken over the role of Shaggy Rogers in the "Scooby-Doo" franchise after playing the character in the 2002 live-action film. 

This is all to say that Lillard's turn on "Criminal Minds" was genuinely impressive. Whatever "Scream" parallels one might find in his character David Roy Turner are subtle and debatably intentional — his work speaks for itself. He was soon after cast in the underrated crime drama "The Bridge," which further proved his strengths as a dramatic actor.

In Season 7, Episode 19, "Heathridge Manor," the legendary "Nightmare on Elm Street" star elevated the episode through his sheer screen presence alone. It would have been all too easy for casting directors to throw him into the role of an over-the-top serial killer and call it a day. Instead, they subverted expectations by casting Englund as a detective who assists the BAU in their investigation into a suspected ritual killer played by Kyle Gallner. 

Though many readers recognize Gallner as the future star of "Scream" and "Smile," he had then just recently appeared in the 2010 remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street." Director Matthew Gray Gubler was presumably aware of this connection. 

Englund's career continues to be a mix of horror cameos and supporting roles within the genre. He portrayed Victor Creel in "Stranger Things" Season 4 and voiced Cosmo in "Stranger Things: Tales from '85." 

Keith Carradine is a unique case on this list. Though he's certainly a movie star (and technically an Academy Award-winning one, at that), his appearance on "Criminal Minds" didn't feel like stunt celebrity casting or a career pivot from a film actor on the decline. Rather, it felt as though the "Nashville" star — either by fortune or shrewd professional maneuvering — found a second act on TV that in some ways eclipsed his earlier big-screen work. 

This era of Carradine's career begins with a few less-remembered roles on TV, including "Criminal Minds." In two episodes of Season 2 (which aired in 2007), he played Frank Breitkopf, a serial killer who was, within the show's lore, the deadliest known killer in human history at the time with a body count north of 170 (for context, the most prolific serial killer in the real world killed 93 people). 

That same year, Carradine was cast as Detective Frank Lundy in Season 2 of "Dexter," and soon became one of the most beloved "Dexter" villains. 

By Season 5, Frank Breitkopf's already outrageous body count was surpassed by Billy Flynn, an even deadlier killer played by Tim Curry. In addition to starring in one of the best Stephen King TV adaptations of all time, the British actor was best known for his role in "Clue," "Congo," and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." His casting on "Criminal Minds" feels almost accidental. 

According to Kirsten Vangsness (who played Penelope Garcia on the series), Curry saw her working out and mentioned how much he loved "Criminal Minds." She, of course, freaked out and excitedly told producers of the encounter and strongly suggested they find a way to offer him a role. Thus, Curry was invited to play Flynn — also known as the "Prince of Darkness" — in a weighty two-episode arc that spanned the Season 5 finale and Season 6 premiere. 

Both episodes are dark, even by the series' standards. And yet, Curry's exceptional turn made them worth rewatching. 

In the final two episodes of Season 8, Mark Hamill played John Curtis, an unsub known as "The Replicator" who had been haunting the entire season from the shadows. There was a tremendous amount of anticipation leading up to his proper on-screen introduction, with many fans unaware that the series had cast a movie star to play the role.

Reactions to the character from a creative perspective were mixed. For his part, Hamill tweeted that he didn't believe Curtis truly died, and implied he'd be ready to reprise the part in the future.

Forest Whitaker has one of the more enduring and diverse acting careers in the entertainment industry. He made his biggest mark in the early 2000s, when he won an Academy Award for his starring role in "The Last King of Scotland."

By 2010, "Criminal Minds" was preparing him to headline the spin-off "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" by introducing him as FBI Unit Chief Sam Cooper in the fifth season of the mothership series. Whitaker had been attracted to the project both because he found the franchise's psychological focus compelling, and because the creative team pitched Sam as a unique character to this universe. 

"[Sam] really believes that each person has a certain light inside of them and he has to discover it," Whitaker told CBS News. Unfortunately, "Suspect Behavior" suffered from poor ratings and was even shorter-lived than "Beyond Borders."

Once upon a time, "Euphoria" and "Anyone But You" star Sydney Sweeney's biggest claim to fame was getting killed in "Criminal Minds." 

Her career officially began in 2009 sometime after, according to GQ, the tween apparently presented her parents with a five-year business plan to convince them to let her act. In Season 5, Episode 8, the roughly 12-year-old Sweeney played a child who is viciously killed by the weekly unsub (Kristina Klebe's Miranda Dracar). Given her age and limited amount of screentime, Sweeney delivers a great performance. 

In what was perhaps another instance of the series borrowing notable figures from the horror movie canon, the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" star was cast as FBI Agent Kate Callahan in Season 10 of "Criminal Minds." 

Jennifer Love Hewitt helped fill a gap in the cast left behind by the exit of Jeanne Tripplehorn's Alex Blake and was given a complex backstory involving the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a history as an undercover special agent. In theory, Hewitt's character could have been explored and expanded upon for several seasons. 

However, at the end of Season 10, it was announced that Hewitt would be leaving "Criminal Minds" in order to focus on her pregnancy. Three years after her exit, she returned to TV to star in "9-1-1." 

No other actor on this list was integrated as quickly or closely into "Criminal Minds" mythology as Danny Glover. The "Lethal Weapon" star was cast in just one episode of the show's 11th season, playing a character no one expected to see on screen — Hank Morgan, the late father of Shemar Moore's Derek Morgan.

While Hank had previously appeared in some flashbacks, Glover's iteration of the character was written to finally interact with Moore. The latter actor had planned his exit from "Criminal Minds" at the end of Season 11, making this episode — appropriately titled "Derek" and directed by series regular Thomas Gibson – one of several that helped resolve his character arc for the series. 

"Derek" is one of the more memorable episodes of "Criminal Minds" because Gibson allows the focus to be on the performances of Moore and Glover. It's revealed that Derek is merely imagining his father as a means of coping with extraordinary torture, allowing the two men to share a powerful moment they never could in real life. 

If it feels like Elle Fanning has been acting forever, that's because that's sort of true. By the mid-2000s, she had already guest starred on several popular television dramas. "Criminal Minds" was hardly a blip, comparatively. 

In 2006, she played Tracy Belle in Season 2 of "Criminal Minds." In her first appearance, she is chased by a killer played by fellow child star Cameron Monaghan, who would go on to become a prestige television star through Showtime's "Shameless." In the Season 2 finale, Tracy came back to be abducted by Keith Carradine's Frank Breitkopf. 

"Criminal Minds" was but one step in Fanning's acting career. As of writing, she recently earned her first Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in the 2025 international drama "Sentimental Value."