Actor Joe Mantegna has played his Criminal Minds character David Rossi for a long time. Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, Rossi joined the series in Season 3 and became known for his extensive experience and mentorship role within the team. Having recently wrapped up its Season 19 run on the 2026 TV schedule, the series has transformed from a network procedural to more serialized storytelling on streaming with Criminal Minds: Evolution. And it’s cool to know that Mantegna also has a deeper connection to the character he’s spent such a big chunk of his life and career playing.
In a 2009 interview with The A.V. Club, Mantegna explained that it’s no coincidence that his characters in Alice, First Monday, Joan of Arcadia, and Criminal Minds all have Italian last names. It’s actually a very intentional choice that he pushed to make happen. And it’s not because he’s embarrassed by stereotypical Italian-American characters in film and TV, but more as a result of his desire to show that they can be doctors, lawyers, and members of the FBI too. He said:
Every single one of those characters, I chose the last names, and I told the directors, including Woody Allen, and they went for it. I like to make them Italian-Americans when they’re positive role models, to balance off the Fat Tonys and the Joey Zasas.
In the instance of David Rossi, Joe Mantegna named his Criminal Minds character after, not just a real person, but an actual member of law enforcement. The Simpsons voice actor watched the O.J. Simpson double murder trial during the live courtroom broadcast in 1995, and LAPD Sergeant David Rossi, the assistant watch commander at the West LA station on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered, stuck with him.
What stood out the most about the real David Rossi was how the officer maintained his cool under the pressure of intense questioning, and Mantegna decided to honor that when it came time to name his character. Clearly, the actor had a good sense of the role from the earliest days of making the series because Rossi’s demeanor has been key to how he’s handled whatever has been thrown his way. The As We See It actor explained it this way:
I got a chance to name this character after a real person, a policeman named David Rossi who was the first guy to testify in the O.J. Simpson trial. I thought he got piled on by O.J. Simpson’s lawyers at the time. So I thought, ‘Someday I’m gonna name a character after this guy.’ He went up in his dress blue uniforms and testified for two days. And I thought ‘What integrity.’
It didn’t stop there for the veteran actor. The real policeman eventually learned about the tribute, and the two became friends. I can only imagine how surreal it must be for the real David Rossi to know he inspired a character with such a TV legacy in that way, but I hope he finds it cool. Mantegna said:
And so because of it, I named him after this guy, and he found out through surreptitious methods, and we became great friends. 'Cause he was so flattered that I had done that.
Criminal Minds has always been intense, and now comes with even more gruesome twists and streaming freedoms for F-bombs that were not possible on CBS. We don’t yet have the details on what to expect from Season 20, but after the tragic death of Luke’s beloved dog Roxy and the exit of Elias Voit, the series is sure to be more unexpected than ever. Fans can stream episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution, as well as all current episodes of Criminal Minds, with a Paramount+ subscription.
