Criminal Minds is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit. The show's original main cast consisted of Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin), Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), Jennifer Jareau (A. J. Cook) and Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) The cast underwent major changes throughout the series' run, with several of the original members replaced at some point by nine other characters.
The series follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) Using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub (unknown subject) The team is supervised by Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner and later Emily Prentiss.