Criminal Minds Star Joe Mantegna Named His Character After This Real Person

On "Criminal Minds," Joe Mantegna plays Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi, the seasoned FBI profiler in the Behavioral Analysis Unit who filled the void left by Jason Gideon's departure in Season 3. There's also an interesting backstory behind the character's name: One that honors a real-life lawman who took part in a famous court trial.

If you were alive during 1995, there was no escaping the televised media circus that was the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial. Mantegna certainly remembers it, and it was this "trial of the century," — which was the focus of the first season of "American Crime Story" – that served as the inspiration as to how David Rossi got his name. Throughout the intense court proceedings, Simpson's defense team was known for its aggressive cross-examinations to dismantle the credibility of the Los Angeles Police Department. One of the early individuals who took the stand was real-life LAPD Sergeant, David Rossi, who served as the assistant watch commander at the West LA station on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered.

While watching the live courtroom broadcast, Mantegna observed how the officer never once cracked while under intense pressure. "I got a chance to name this character after a real person, a policeman named David Rossi who was the first guy to testify in the O.J. Simpson trial," Mantegna told The A.V. Club during a 2009 interview. "I thought he got piled on by O.J. Simpson's lawyers at the time. So I thought, 'Someday I'm gonna name a character after this guy.'"

The seasoned actor was impressed by the sergeant's stamina and professional composure during his grueling two days on the witness stand. "He went up in his dress blue uniforms and testified for two days," Mantegna recalled. "And I thought, 'What integrity.' For two days, this guy just got beat up —and all he did was answer the phones — and it's obvious the defense is just gonna beat this guy up and try to hang the LAPD over the fact that this f**kin' idiot murdered his wife. To me it was a joke."

When the time came to build his "Criminal Minds" character from scratch, Mantegna made good on that decade-old promise and Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi was born. The tribute eventually got back to the real policeman. "He found out through surreptitious methods, and we became great friends," Mantegna shared. "Cause he was so flattered that I had done that." As for the fictional Special Agent David Rossi, he is still alive and well in "Criminal Minds: Evolution" — now in the midst of its gripping fourth season (and the franchise's 19th season overall) — which you can stream on exclusively Paramount+.