Early life

Gibson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the youngest of four children of Charles M. "Mac" and Beth Gibson. His mother was a social worker, and his father was a lawyer and liberal Democrat who served in the South Carolina state Senate and House. He was raised Roman Catholic. Gibson's interest in the performing arts began at a young age. Gibson was fascinated with Louis Armstrong. He and his sister were on a swim team together and they frequented a pizza parlor after their swim meets. It was at this pizza parlor that Gibson would sing along with a Dixieland band, complete with his attempt at a Louis Armstrong voice.

As a child, Gibson enrolled in Little Theater School and later graduated from Bishop England High School. He then attended the College of Charleston (1979-1981) and became an intern at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he was encouraged to apply to the prestigious Juilliard School. After a year and a half at Charleston, Gibson won a scholarship to Juilliard's Drama Division (Group 14: 1981-1985), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1985.

Career

Gibson started acting when nine years of age in children's theater. He appeared in Julian Wiles' Seize the Street: the Skateboard Musical, a Young Charleston Theater Company (now Charleston Stage) production. As a teenager, he began his classical theater training by becoming a member of the Young Charleston Theater Company and the Footlight Players, often performing at the historic Dock Street Theatre. During his time at College of Charleston, Gibson was an intern at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Gibson made his stage debut in David Hare's A Map of the World in the New York Shakespeare Festival. He subsequently appeared in more plays for producer Joe Papp, both in Public Theater and in Central Park. He worked on and off Broadway for the next 10 years in a diverse range of plays by Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Molière, Tennessee Williams, Howard Brenton, Romulus Linney, Noël Coward, Alan Ball and many others before turning to the small screen. Gibson also waited tables at Tavern on the Green.

Gibson's first television appearance was in 1987 in a guest role on CBS' legal drama Leg Work, followed by stints on the daytime dramas As the World Turns (CBS) and Another World (NBC). In 1992, Gibson made his big screen debut in Ron Howard's Far and Away, in which he portrayed Stephen Chase. Chase was the villainous rival of Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) for Shannon Christie's (Nicole Kidman) affections. His next lead role was in 1993 as David, a homosexual waiter, in Denys Arcand's Love and Human Remains. Gibson later re-united with Arcand in Stardom (2000). Also in 1993, he played the slimy misanthrope Beauchamp Day in the Tales of the City miniseries (1993). Gibson then returned to television when portraying Dr. Danny Nyland in the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope from 1994 to 1998, starring alongside future Criminal Minds costar Mandy Patinkin. From 1997 to 2003, Gibson portrayed "Greg Montgomery" in the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg, for which he was twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

After Dharma & Greg, Thomas appeared in various TV movies. In 2005, he was cast in the role as Supervisory Special Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner, the Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) team, on the critically acclaimed TV drama series, Criminal Minds, airing on Wednesday nights at 9pm on CBS.

Personal life

Gibson and his wife Christine have three children: James Parker, Travis Carter and Agatha Marie. They reside in San Antonio, Texas. Travis Carter was featured in the Season 10-"Boxed In" Episode (#5) of Criminal Minds as a friend of the Kidnapped Kid in that episode. Gibson loves golf. He plays at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am every year, as well as other golfing events, and is friends with golfer Corey Pavin. He served as part of the 2010 Host Committee for the Inaugural SAG Foundation Golf Classic, and co-hosted the 2nd Annual SAG Foundation Golf Classic with Criminal Minds castmate Joe Mantegna.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Lincoln	William Sprague	Television film
1992	Far and Away	Stephen Chase
1993	Love and Human Remains	David
1993	Age of Innocence, TheThe Age of Innocence	Stage Actor
1994	Barcelona	Dickie Taylor
1994	Men of War	Warren
1994	Sleep with Me	Nigel
1995	Secrets	Hailus Tuckman	Television film
1996	Night Visitors	Ross Williams	Television film
1996	To Love, Honor and Deceive	Matthew Carpenter Stuart Buchanan	Television film
1997	Inheritance, TheThe Inheritance	James Percy	Television film
1997	Devil's Child, TheThe Devil's Child	Alexander Rotha	Television film
1997	Next Step, TheThe Next Step	Bartender
1998	Nightmare Street	Dr. Matt Westbrook Joe Barnes	Television film
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	Carl
2000	Psycho Beach Party	Kanaka
2000	Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, TheThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas	Chip Rockefeller
2000	Stardom	Renny Ohayon
2001	Jack the Dog	Faith's Attorney
2001	Lost Empire, TheThe Lost Empire (a.k.a. The Monkey King)	Nicholas Orton	Television film
2003	Brush with Fate	Richard	Television film
2003	Evil Never Dies	Detective Mark Ryan	Television film
2003	Manhood	Faith's attorney
2004	Raising Waylon	Reg	Television film
2004	Category 6: Day of Destruction	Mitch Benson	Television film
2005	Come Away Home	Gary
2005	Berkeley	Thomas
2006	In from the Night	Aiden Byrnes	Television film
2007	I'll Believe You	Kyle Sweeney
2014	Son of Batman	Slade Wilson / Deathstroke	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Leg Work	Robbie	Episode: "All This and a Gold Card Too"
1987	Guiding Light	Peter Latham
1988-1990	As the World Turns	Derek Mason
1990	Kennedys of Massachusetts, TheThe Kennedys of Massachusetts	Peter Fitzwilliam	Miniseries
1990	Another World	Sam Fowler
1993	Tales of the City	Beauchamp Day	Miniseries
1994-1997	Chicago Hope	Daniel Nyland	70 episodes
1996	Caroline in the City	Willard Stevens	Episode: "Caroline and the Nice Jewish Boy"
1996	Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, TheThe Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Paul Mornay	Voice Episode: "Ghost Quest"
1997-2002	Dharma & Greg	Greg Montgomery	119 episodes
1998	More Tales of the City	Beauchamp Talbot Day	Miniseries
1998	Sin City Spectacular		Episode: "1.6"
1998	Will of their Own, AA Will of their Own	James Maclaren	Episode: "1.1"
2005-present	Criminal Minds	Aaron Hotchner	Lead Role; 250 episodes
2011	Two and a Half Men	Greg	Episode: "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt"
2015	Hot In Cleveland	Tom	Episodes: "Vegas Baby" and "I Hate Goodbyes"

Director

Year(s)	Title	Episode(s)	Notes
2001	Dharma and Greg	"The Story of K", "A Fish Tale"	Season 4 and 5
2013-present	Criminal Minds	"All That Remains", "Gabby", "Boxed In", "Lockdown", "The Night Watch", "Derek"	Season 8, 9, 10 and 11

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1995	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope	Nominated
1996	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope	Nominated
1997	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope	Nominated
1998	Q Awards	Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series	Dharma & Greg	Nominated
1999	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Comedy/Musical	Dharma & Greg	Nominated
2000	Satellite Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Dharma & Greg	Nominated
2000	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Comedy/Musical	Dharma & Greg	Nominated
2010	Entertainment Weekly online poll	Under-appreciated Entertainer of the Year	Criminal Minds	Won

Charities

Thomas Gibson supports the following charitable causes: Animals, AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]