Derek Morgan

Derek Morgan is a Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Background
Morgan is a confident and assertive everyman character, the son of an African-American father and Caucasian mother. He holds a black belt in Judo, runs FBI self-defense classes, and previously served in a bomb squad unit and as a Chicago police officer. He and his two sisters grew up in a tough urban Chicago neighborhood. After the death of his father when he was ten, Morgan struggled somewhat; youthful fighting earned him a juvenile criminal record. He was taken under the wing of a local youth center coordinator, Carl Buford. Buford acted as a surrogate father to Morgan and helped Morgan to obtain a college football scholarship, but also sexually abused him — the episode Profiler Profiled revealed and focused on this.

On the Job
In the episode Lo-Fi it is told that he is being looked at to replace SSA Joyner and head up the New York field office. In Mayhem, Hotch doesn't recommend him because he said that Derek doesn't have enough trust in his coworkers. In Catching Out he chases the Unsub to a train where he hangs on for dear life until Hotchner shoots the suspect and saves his life.

In Omnivore, Derek came very close to being killed by The Reaper. The Unsub had tackled him through a window and Derek was rendered unconscious. Since The Reaper is a power/control type killer, Derek's unconscious state was a turn off and The Reaper spared him, leaving behind a .44 Magnum round to let him know that he easily could have killed him. He also took Derek's credentials.

In Cradle to Grave, Hotch tells Derek that he is stepping down as Unit Chief and in order to keep the team together, by promoting from within the Unit, would like Derek to be Unit Chief.

In The Eyes Have It, Morgan is successful in his first case as Acting Unit Chief. At the end of the episode, he is given his own office. JJ had pulled some strings to get Morgan the space, as its previous occupant, one Agent Hall, is set to retire soon.

Behind the Scenes
Derek Morgan is portrayed by former soap actor Shemar Moore.