Background
Vangsness was born in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Errol Leroy Vangsness (born 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and his wife Barbara Mary (née Marconi. Born 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
Vangsness was born in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Errol Leroy Vangsness (born 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and his wife Barbara Mary (née Marconi. Born 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
She currently stars as Federal Bureau of Investigation Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia on the Columbia Broadcasting System drama series Criminal Minds. She portrayed the same character on the spin-off series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior. Her paternal great-grandparents were Norwegian, with ancestry from Bergen, Gol, and Oslo.
She was raised in Porterville, California, and later moved to Cerritos, California.
She graduated from Cerritos High School in June 1990 and attended Cypress College. She later graduated from California State University, Fullerton in June 1995.
Acting Vangsness says that she is "as queer as a purple unicorn singing Madonna". She began dating film and television editor Melanie Goldstein in 2006.
They were engaged, but separated in 2013.
In April 2015, she revealed on smashinginterviews.com that she had entered into a relationship with a new boyfriend and was examining that aspect of her sexuality. In November 2015, it was reported that she was engaged to her boyfriend, actor and writer Keith Hanson.