Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Simone Vangsness is an American actress and writer. She currently stars as FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia on the CBS drama series Criminal Minds. She portrayed the same character on the spinoff series Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior.
Vangsness was born in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Errol Leroy Vangsness and his wife Barbara Mary . Her paternal greatgrandparents were Norwegian, with ancestry from Bergen, Gol, and Oslo. She was raised in Porterville, California, and later moved to Cerritos, California. She graduated from Cerritos High School in June 1990 and attended Cypress College. She later graduated from California State University, Fullerton in June 1995.
Source: Wikipedia