Things You Might Not Know About Criminal Minds Star A.J. Cook

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7. Early Life

Andrea Joy “A.J.” Cook was born on July 22, 1978 in Oshawa, Ontario, to Mike and Sandra Cook and grew up in the nearby city Whitby with her three siblings Nathan, Paul, and Angela. At a young age, Cook loved dancing and at four years old she began taking jazz, tap, and ballet lessons. She went on to dance competitively for years and dreamed of starting up her own dance studio. After getting into acting, she attended Utah Valley University in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A post shared by @ajcook on Aug 28, 2014 at 4:27pm PDT

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6. Legally Blind

When Cook was only in second grade she was declared legally blind as the result of severe astigmatism, but wore thick glasses and contacts to help correct it before undergoing surgery in 2007. As a child, however, it wasn’t easy for the actress. “Kids are cruel,” she said of the time in her life. “I had to wear thick coke bottle glasses and really couldn’t see – everything looked like a smear of color with no shapes,” she added. The other kids found out she was blind because she wasn’t doing so well at school. “At first, everyone thought I had a learning disability because I couldn’t read but I couldn’t see the board. It was a whole domino effect.”

Photo by Broadimage/REX

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5. Getting Started

After focusing solely on dancing for most of her life, Cook was 16 years old before she decided to try acting. At 19 she landed her first role which was in a 1997 McDonald’s commercial and never looked backed, and invested herself completely into acting. The commercial was followed by background roles in Laserhawk, In His Father’s Shoes, Goosebumps, and Elvis Meets Nixon.

©American Zoetrope/courtesy Everett Collection

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4. Other Work

While most fans now only know the actress from her character on Criminal Minds, she was in many popular films and series prior to starting on the series in 2005. In 1999, she got her big break with a role in the Sofia Coppola directed film The Virgin Suicides co-starring Kirsten Dunst, James Woods, Josh Hartnett and Danny DeVito. She then starred in the popular TV series Higher Ground as Shelby Merrick alongside fellow Canadian actor Hayden Christensen. She was the first co-star Christensen told about landing the role of Anakin Skywalker in 2002’s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

Source: AJCook Fans

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3. Personal Life

While studying at Utah Valley University, Cook met Nathan Anderson in film class and the pair were married on August 3, 2001. In March 2008, the pair announced they were expecting their first child and on September 13, 2008 they welcomed their son Mekhai Allan Anderson. A few years later, the couple announced in March 2015 that they were expecting their second child and on July 23, 2015 they welcomed their second son Phoenix Sky Anderson. While Cook is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she has said that she has not restricted her acting roles based on her beliefs.

15 years of marriage and you still give me butterflies. #love @nathanandy

A post shared by @ajcook on Aug 3, 2016 at 3:59pm PDT

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2. On-Screen Sons

Over the course of JJ’s journey on Criminal Minds, the character became a mother, and instead of casting child actors for the roles, they have used Cook’s real life sons. Her son Mekhai has appeared as Henry LaMontagne in 11 episodes of the series from 2009 to 2016. Meanwhile her youngest son Phoenix has appeared as JJ’s second son Michael.

A post shared by @ajcook on Oct 3, 2016 at 3:02pm PDT

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1. Net Worth

Although Cook wasn’t always interested in acting, it is safe to say the career path most definitely worked out for her. From her commercial debut in 1997 to her long-running and most recent role in Criminal Minds, she has racked up 29 acting credits to her name, and now has an estimated net worth of $4 million. Of course, most of those millions are thanks to Criminal Minds for which she made an estimated $100,000 per episode.

Photo by Broadimage / Rex Features