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")

Emily Prentiss

Emily Prentiss is the daughter of Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss who was primarily posted at the United States Embassy in the Ukraine, but has also been posted in some positions in Italy and the Middle East. All this moving around caused her adolescence and family live to be less than enjoyable. Prentiss has expressed extreme disdain for politics as a result. Prentiss apparently lived in Middle East some during her childhood, and she is fluent in Arabic, Spanish, Italian, and some Russian ("Honor Among Thieves" and "Catching Out"). She was placed on the Behavioral Analysis Unit by Section Chief Erin Strauss as a means to end SSA Hotchner's career, but quit instead of helping Strauss ("In Birth and Death") claiming she hates politics. Hotch recognized her on her first day at the BAU from one of his first commands where he set up security clearance for her mother and her employees. She graduated from Yale in 1993, and has been working for the FBI for around ten years, primarily in the Midwest until she joined the BAU--it is unknown what she did between the year she graduated with her undergraduate degree up until the time she joined the FBI.

Emily is a self-described nerd who feels like she can never date a guy for very long before he is either scared away by the job or her nerdiness. She reveals to Morgan that she loves to read Kurt Vonnegut, and he informs her that he does as well, the two of them discussing the Vonnegut book she buys at the end of a case ("Fear and Loathing"). In season three, she offers to become the guardian for a victim who lost her entire family, but the girl's aunt and uncle were located and agreed to let her live with them. In season four, when Jordan Todd - JJ's maternity leave replacement - feels like an outsider, Emily befriends her until JJ returns. Emily is also shown to have a very close friendship with Derek Morgan. She was born at 7:12 AM on October 12, 197- ("Cold Comfort"). She graduated Garfield High in 1989 and apparently rocked a very Cure-esque look in high school ("Tabula Rasa").

Throughout the show it is hinted that Emily has a somewhat tumultuous past, which is expanded upon in "Demonology," where it is revealed that when she was fifteen she had an abortion in Italy, which she believes caused the downward spiral of her friend, Matthew Benton. Benton was recently killed during what was eventually found to be an unsanctioned exorcism, and Prentiss pushes the BAU to look into. She takes on a great deal of responsibility of Benton's death, which causes some dissent between she and Hotch, but seems to bring she and Rossi closer together.