Derek Morgan

Morgan is a confident and assertive character, the son of an African American father and Caucasian mother. He has a black belt in Judo, runs FBI self-defense classes, previously served in a bomb squad unit and on the Chicago Police Force. Morgan went to Northwestern University on an athletic (Football) scholarship, but lost his scholarship when his knee was blown out during a game. He earned both his undergraduate degree and his law degree from Northwestern University ("Profiler, Profiled"). Morgan is the man's man of the team. He and his two sisters (Sarah and Desiree) grew up in a tough urban Chicago neighborhood. After the death of his father when he was 10, Morgan struggled somewhat and youthful fighting earned him a juvenile criminal record. He was taken under the wing of a local youth center coordinator, Carl Buford (Episode 2x12 "Profiler, Profiled"). Buford acted as a surrogate father to Morgan and helped Morgan obtain his college football scholarship, but also sexually abused him. In the season three finale, Morgan was told he was being considered to run the New York field office, if the current leader should fail. After the events of the season four opener ("Mayhem") where the head of the New York field office was killed, Morgan was offered the job as the head of the field office, but turned it down, after briefly considering it in "Lo-Fi", when Hotch fails to recommend him for the job, claiming Morgan has trust issues.

Morgan used to regard himself as the right hand man of Jason Gideon before Gideon's departure in the beginning of Season three ("Doubt"). He specializes in crimes pertaining to obsession and also has a very wide knowledge of explosives from his days on the bomb squad. Previously, he worked as an undercover agent in deep cover for eighteen months prior to joining the BAU. Occasionally, he takes delight in flirting with Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, and the show often alludes to them being best friends. Morgan and Garcia are shown to be extremely close on several occasions: he confides in her that he loves her when she is shot (though we never find out if he means romantically or platonically) and when he trusts her to help him dispose of a live bomb in the season four opener ("Mayhem"). His birthday is June 6, 1973, making him around 35 years old (Episode 2x12 "Profiler, Profiled")