Matthew Gray Gubler
Television’s Resident Goofball Charms with Comic Allegiance
it’s funny how “awkward” has been co-opted by millennial tweens to mean “quirky and hot.” Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is not awkward, despite what the typical internet superfan might Facebook to her school chum: “OMG he’s sooooo awkward and it’s kewt.” Actually, what’s kewt is Gubler’s smoky-eyed hilarity. He’s charming, infectious, and hypercreative. Sound too gushing? He definitely begs suspicion…
Considering dear Gubler “fell” into acting after modeling for Marc Jacobs and landing a bit role in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic, one might sigh to oneself, lucky bastard. But the quick-witted, curious Gub has a touch of OCD, he admits, twittling his chin whiskers in his 1927, Los Angeles living room. In fact, he’s a bit like his character Dr. Reid on TV drama Criminal Minds, who he’s played for seven years. Both would carefully consider their socks while dressing. Though Gubler seems a bit looser in his skin, the former Eagle Scout, just like his case-solving alter ego, assuredly has some tricks up his sleeve.
Again, let’s not confuse awkwardness with quirkiness. Gubler’s house is filled with oddities—old portraits, lizard sketches, various gewgaws. He’s even got a lovable white bunny hopping around the hammock in his back yard. GG has quirk for days: between giving college-tour pajama parties, researching Norwegian death metal, and eating cashews “like a vampire sucks blood,” GG finds time to film his CBS drama, do mega-movie voiceovers (Alvin and the Chipmunks), and direct personal projects. His series of self-satirizing shorts entitled Matthew Gray Gubler: The Unauthorized Documentary are funny and widely watched online. He and photographer friend Terry Richardson have something perfectly internet-esque, with their recent sketch “Hollywood Abs” (YouTube it).
GG gets it. Despite having played a consistent role for seven years, the guy has avoided the TV-actor pigeonhole (or, “David Schwimmer syndrome”), branding himself a totally unique character from that of Dr. Reid. His theory? “If you’re not afraid of your thoughts,” he says, “I think the internet can celebrate genuineness.” Though Gub doesn’t seem to spend much time browsing online, taking frequent trips abroad to countries like Japan and France where Criminal Minds has found roaring success. He’d like to visit Transylvania and the Czech Republic, readily admitting, “I don’t like beer, but I do like old architecture!”
So what town birthed such a prolific character? Vegas, duh. Gubler attributes his start to performing magic at local bar mitzvahs that would land him in the throws of middle-school scuffles—always as a victim. (He’s testament that pulling tricks in Vegas can land you a modeling gig. Ba dum chh.) Still, he would gaze up at billboards painted with the faces of Wayne Newton and Siegfried & Roy. “I love the spirit of it,” he says of home. “It’s a thriving entertainment Mecca built in the inhospitable desert tundra of America.”
Though Gubler acknowledges much of his career happened by accident, it seems he’s the opposite of accident-prone. Gubler breeds opportunity. He spent recent months doing an Aldo campaign, working on a children’s book, speaking at a college, editing some music videos, and working with a Japanese seamstress to create a line of creature pins… “I know it sounds creepy,” he says, “but I’m a big fan of stuffed animals.” It’s not creepy when you’re so charming and good-looking, Gub, one thinks, handing him back a pack of frozen corn he’d supplied at the interview’s commencement to cool a flushed Flaunt contributor. Maybe a little awkward…
