Jennifer Jareau
Encyclopedia
Jennifer "JJ" Jareau is a fictional character
from the CBS
crime drama
Criminal Minds
, portrayed by AJ Cook
.
at age 11. A high school athlete, JJ graduated from East Allegheny High School, where she was the captain of the varsity soccer team
her senior year and earned an athletic scholarship
to the University of Pittsburgh
. She also attended Georgetown
.
JJ decided to join the FBI after attending a book reading by BAU founder and Unit Chief Agent David Rossi
. She once told Rossi that she hadn't known what to do with her life until she listened to his reading, which was held in the campus library during her senior year in college. The next fall, she applied to the FBI Academy
.
with the media
and local police
agencies. Though talented and helpful, she is not actually a profiler
, having once declined Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
's suggestion to take the necessary classes in behavioral analysis. She works mostly out of the confines of the police stations and field offices the team visits. However, she does accompany the team on raids, and is proficient with firearms. This is made particularly clear when JJ resolves a hostage
situation inside the BAU by killing the hostage-taker, Jason Clark Battle, with a single shot (Battle is a serial perpetrator of hero homicide, who lured Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia
onto a date, and then shot her, in an attempt to keep his crimes from being discovered). During season six, JJ is given a promotion to the Pentagon, however, returns in season seven as a full-time profiler.
and Dr. Spencer Reid ask her why, she tells them a chilling story about working as a summer camp counselor and discovering her boss's murder
ed body in his cabin. After telling the story, she admits she was joking, and says she doesn't know why she is afraid of the woods. In the same episode, JJ also states that she has a niece who, at the time, is about 8 years old.
When she and Reid unexpectedly came across serial killer
Tobias Hankel in episode "The Big Game" (S02E14), and split up to apprehend the suspect, JJ walked into a dark barn and was attacked by several murderous dogs. Although JJ shot and killed the dogs, saving her own life, Reid was abducted by Hankel in the meantime, and would later be torture
d and almost killed by Hankel before the BAU team was able to rescue him. After this traumatic experience, it appears that JJ developed a fear of dogs.
In the episode "Penelope" (S03E10), it's announced the JJ has never shot someone until she shot a man, saving Penelope Garcia
's life. It's implied that she strongly dislikes guns.
game, but little came of it romantically, although the two became very good friends. In episode 3x17 ("In Heat"), it was revealed that JJ was dating Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., with whom the team had previously worked on a case in New Orleans. JJ attempted to keep the relationship a secret from the team for over a year, although once she finally reveals that she is dating Will, her coworkers are unsurprised, replying that they have known about the relationship for quite some time.
In "The Crossing", JJ told Will that she was pregnant with his child. He later asked her to marry him, and indicated that he was willing to give up his detective's shield in order to help take care of the baby and allow JJ to continue to do her job, though he was worried about her safety and the safety of their child. JJ later told Hotch she had found a temporary replacement for the duration of her maternity leave, and soon after gave birth to a baby boy named Henry. JJ and Will named Reid and Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia
as Henry's godparents. When JJ returned from maternity leave, she and Will had exchanged rings with Henry's birthstone, but did not seem to be officially engaged, as she wore her ring on her right hand, not the left.
and hid the offers from her superiors. However, she is finally railroaded by Section Chief Director Erin Strauss into accepting the position because it would reflect highly upon Strauss. JJ's departure reflects that Cook was fired at the beginning of Season 6, for financial reasons relating to the premiere of the spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
.
Cook later returned the departure of Paget Brewster
(Agent Emily Prentiss
). In the episode titled "Lauren", JJ receives a call and returns to help the BAU find Emily and capture Ian Doyle. The episode ends with Emily presumed dead after being stabbed with a broken chair leg in the stomach. It is later revealed that Emily is alive and in Paris with JJ's help, providing her passports from three different countries and a bank account in each "to keep her comfortable."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
crime drama
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, portrayed by AJ Cook
A. J. Cook (actress)
Andrea Joy "A.J." Cook-Andersen is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds...
.
Back Story
During various episodes, JJ has described growing up in a very small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She collected butterflies as a child, and also lost her sister to suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
at age 11. A high school athlete, JJ graduated from East Allegheny High School, where she was the captain of the varsity soccer team
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
her senior year and earned an athletic scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
to the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
. She also attended Georgetown
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
.
JJ decided to join the FBI after attending a book reading by BAU founder and Unit Chief Agent David Rossi
David Rossi
David Rossi is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Joe Mantegna. The character first appeared in the sixth episode of the third season, replacing Jason Gideon.-Backstory:...
. She once told Rossi that she hadn't known what to do with her life until she listened to his reading, which was held in the campus library during her senior year in college. The next fall, she applied to the FBI Academy
FBI Academy
The FBI Academy, located in Quantico, Virginia, is the training site for new Special Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was first opened for use in 1972 on 385 acres of woodland. It is a relatively small government academy, housing three dormitory buildings and...
.
Time in the BAU
In the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), JJ acts as the team's liaisonLiaison
Liaison in general means:# Communication between two or more groups.# Co-operation, working together.but may refer to:* Affair, an unfaithful or adulterous sexual relationship* Air Alliance, a Canadian airline whose call sign was "Liaison'...
with the media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
and local police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
agencies. Though talented and helpful, she is not actually a profiler
Profiler
Profiler may refer to:*Criminal profiler, a criminologist who studies a criminal's behavior for clues to psychology to aid in capturing them*Profiling , a programming tool that can track the performance of another computer program...
, having once declined Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Aaron Hotchner
Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Thomas Gibson. He is a Supervisory Special Agent within the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and has appeared from the series' first episode, originally broadcast on September 22, 2005. Hotch begins...
's suggestion to take the necessary classes in behavioral analysis. She works mostly out of the confines of the police stations and field offices the team visits. However, she does accompany the team on raids, and is proficient with firearms. This is made particularly clear when JJ resolves a hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
situation inside the BAU by killing the hostage-taker, Jason Clark Battle, with a single shot (Battle is a serial perpetrator of hero homicide, who lured Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia is a fictional character on the CBS crime dramas Criminal Minds and its short-lived spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, portrayed by Kirsten Vangsness...
onto a date, and then shot her, in an attempt to keep his crimes from being discovered). During season six, JJ is given a promotion to the Pentagon, however, returns in season seven as a full-time profiler.
Phobias
In "The Boogeyman", JJ reveals that she is afraid of the woods. When Agents Derek MorganDerek Morgan (Criminal Minds)
Derek Morgan is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Shemar Moore. Morgan specializes in fixations and obsessive behaviors.- Background :...
and Dr. Spencer Reid ask her why, she tells them a chilling story about working as a summer camp counselor and discovering her boss's murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed body in his cabin. After telling the story, she admits she was joking, and says she doesn't know why she is afraid of the woods. In the same episode, JJ also states that she has a niece who, at the time, is about 8 years old.
When she and Reid unexpectedly came across serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Tobias Hankel in episode "The Big Game" (S02E14), and split up to apprehend the suspect, JJ walked into a dark barn and was attacked by several murderous dogs. Although JJ shot and killed the dogs, saving her own life, Reid was abducted by Hankel in the meantime, and would later be torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and almost killed by Hankel before the BAU team was able to rescue him. After this traumatic experience, it appears that JJ developed a fear of dogs.
In the episode "Penelope" (S03E10), it's announced the JJ has never shot someone until she shot a man, saving Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia is a fictional character on the CBS crime dramas Criminal Minds and its short-lived spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, portrayed by Kirsten Vangsness...
's life. It's implied that she strongly dislikes guns.
Personal life
JJ once went on a date with Reid to a Washington RedskinsWashington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
game, but little came of it romantically, although the two became very good friends. In episode 3x17 ("In Heat"), it was revealed that JJ was dating Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., with whom the team had previously worked on a case in New Orleans. JJ attempted to keep the relationship a secret from the team for over a year, although once she finally reveals that she is dating Will, her coworkers are unsurprised, replying that they have known about the relationship for quite some time.
In "The Crossing", JJ told Will that she was pregnant with his child. He later asked her to marry him, and indicated that he was willing to give up his detective's shield in order to help take care of the baby and allow JJ to continue to do her job, though he was worried about her safety and the safety of their child. JJ later told Hotch she had found a temporary replacement for the duration of her maternity leave, and soon after gave birth to a baby boy named Henry. JJ and Will named Reid and Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia is a fictional character on the CBS crime dramas Criminal Minds and its short-lived spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, portrayed by Kirsten Vangsness...
as Henry's godparents. When JJ returned from maternity leave, she and Will had exchanged rings with Henry's birthstone, but did not seem to be officially engaged, as she wore her ring on her right hand, not the left.
Promotion to Pentagon and Brief Return
It is revealed in Season 6, Episode 2, that JJ had twice rejected a promotion to The PentagonThe Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and hid the offers from her superiors. However, she is finally railroaded by Section Chief Director Erin Strauss into accepting the position because it would reflect highly upon Strauss. JJ's departure reflects that Cook was fired at the beginning of Season 6, for financial reasons relating to the premiere of the spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior was an American police procedural drama on CBS. The show debuted in 2011 as a spin-off from the successful Criminal Minds, which premiered in 2005. This edition's profiling team also works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Analysis Unit in...
.
Cook later returned the departure of Paget Brewster
Paget Brewster
Paget Valerie Brewster is an American actress. She is currently known for playing Special Agent Emily Prentiss on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. In June 2010, it was said that her role on Criminal Minds would be reduced in the sixth season. In March 2011, Brewster's character left the series...
(Agent Emily Prentiss
Emily Prentiss
Emily Prentiss is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Paget Brewster. Prentiss first appeared in "The Last Word" - episode nine of season two, replacing Agent Elle Greenaway who had quit in "The Boogeyman"...
). In the episode titled "Lauren", JJ receives a call and returns to help the BAU find Emily and capture Ian Doyle. The episode ends with Emily presumed dead after being stabbed with a broken chair leg in the stomach. It is later revealed that Emily is alive and in Paris with JJ's help, providing her passports from three different countries and a bank account in each "to keep her comfortable."