During Matthew Gray Gubler's time playing Spencer Reid on "Criminal Minds," he actually directed 12 episodes of bone-chilling "unsub" insanity, including lauded additions like the season 10 stunner "Mr. Scratch" — which introduced one of the show's most infamous "unsubs" in the mind-controlling Peter Lewis (Bodie Elfman) — and the season 14 chiller "The Tall Man." As it was, Gubler's run as a director on "Criminal Minds" is all the more impressive in that it didn't even start until Season 5, when he helmed "Mosely Lane," an episode which featured talented guest stars like Beth Grant, Toby Huss, and Evan Peters.
Gubler's turn to directing wasn't entirely a surprise, though, when you take into account that the actor had already claimed a handful of credits behind the camera prior to his breakout turn as the BAU's motor-mouthed profiler, including helming a pair of short films, and music videos for New York dance-rockers The Killers. Interestingly enough, Matthew Gray Gubler earned his first directing credit on the film which scored him his first acting credit, as well: said film was Wes Anderson's underrated 2004 dramedy "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," which found the actor portraying a particularly devoted Team Zissou intern. It also found Gubler playing intern to Anderson himself, and assembling a suitably unconventional "making-of" documentary about the film. And it's safe to assume Gubler has used much of what he learned from Anderson in every project he has directed ever since.
