Spencer Reid.

•Derek Morgan. •Jennifer "JJ" Jareau. •Penelope Garcia. •Jason Gideon. •David Rossi. •Emily Prentiss.

In his youth, his father abandoned him and his mother, saying he could no longer deal with Reid's mother Diana's paranoid schizophrenia, when in reality he could not bear the stress of what his mother would have witnessed. Reid grew up learning almost everything he knows from books, with his mother often reading to him. However, Reid knew that the way his mother was living was unhealthy. When he was eighteen, he had his mother committed to a mental institution, Bennington Sanitarium. She is still there, and Reid has stated that despite sending her letters every day in hopes of rewarding her for not visiting his mother more often, he is dreading her visits until the fourth season, when we see him visit her to learn about his father. Reid is also troubled by the fact that his mother's illness can be passed down genetically. Reid got a partner and she was murdered by an obsessive Spencer fan. In his spare time, Spencer plays in a band, Los Agresivos, in which he is the pianist, along with Quint of Jaws as the singer, and also with Marty McFly as the guitarist. One of their best singles was "Blue-Eyed Blonde." He graduated from public high school at twelve and went to MIT at thirteen, where he earned three doctorates in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering by the age of twenty-one. He also holds degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Criminology. He has an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words per minute.

Dr. Spencer Reid is a Supervisory Special Agent and Profiler for Quantico's Behavioral Analysis Unit. He is hailed as a genius and holds three doctorates in mathematics, chemistry, and engineering, and specializes in psychology and sociology. Reid is socially awkward and often uncomfortable. He often gets fixated on things (forcing Morgan and other team members to tell him to stay quiet) and forgets about recurring topics (for example, unwittingly changing the subject of a conversation). Reid is a technophobe who doesn't use email or iPads, and is also germaphobic. In general, Reid dislikes shaking hands and shows adverse reactions when touched by strangers. There is speculation that the character may also have mild obsessive-compulsive disorder, particularly in a scene from "Out of the Light," where Morgan slightly moves an object in a suspect's home, and Reid immediately puts it back in its previous location. He is also a good map reader, and thus does geographic profiling and map-related activities for the team.

Reid is a very thin and fairly tall young man, but his build increases to a more muscular one. His hair is a brown color, which is usually dark or light; he has also been seen throughout the story where he leaves his hair too long, as well as tends to wear it short and very unkempt. His eyes are hazel. Regarding his wardrobe, Reid tends to dress from formal to casual, and even a bit scruffy. At the beginning of the story, his attire was typically "nerdy," consisting of long-sleeved shirts with plaid, stripes, and even polka dots, in some cases. His pants often varied, but always matched his shirt or a sweater he was wearing. Over time, his attire changed considerably, and he began to be seen wearing suits in dark colors like navy blue.