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A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
Matt quotes George Moore in "Blue Angel"

Matthew "Matt" Simmons is a Supervisory Special Agent with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. He was previously attached to the FBI's International Response Team (IRT), which was featured in Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. He and the rest of the IRT were introduced in the Season Ten episode "Beyond Borders". He reappeared as a main character in Season Thirteen when he joins the BAU following the disbandment of the IRT.

Background

Simmons was born in Carson City, Michigan to a Caucasian father and a Korean mother. Because of his mixed ethnicity, his paternal grandparents ostracized him. In his adult life, he joined law enforcement in Detroit. He and his wife Kristy have been together for ten years and have five children: two sons Jake and David, twin daughters, Chloe and Lily and youngest daughter, Rose Mary; this fact has caused jokes about him being a "breeder". He is an FBI agent and specifically worked for Jack Garrett and the International Response Team. Through this job, Simmons has a prior history with Derek Morgan and Jennifer Jareau. He is a military veteran who has seen combat overseas, presumably in the Middle East. This allowed him to hone his split-second decision-making skills. Hence, he is usually the quickest of the team to draw up a preliminary profile on an unsub.

With the IRT

Beyond Borders

Simmons is first seen coming out of the SUV with Jack and Lily Lambert, who are all on their way to the plane. There, they meet up with Morgan and JJ, who learn about Matt's newborn twin daughters. They then board the plane and discuss the case during the flight to Barbados. During the investigation, Simmons is paired up with Morgan and JJ. He delivers the profile along with the other members of the BAU and the International Unit. Afterwards, they looked up on the computer and eventually identify the unsub as Jerry Tidwell. The following night, Simmons uses a speedboat to get to Tidwell's boat, where he is holding the Sullivan family captive. After Tidwell is killed and he is informed about the son Nick being thrown overboard, Simmons locates Nick on a small raft, rescues him, and brings him back aboard Tidwell's boat. Back in Quantico, Simmons, along with the others, watch as the Sullivans are reunited with their relatives.

Spencer

Simmons reappears in the episode, working alongside Clara Seger when they are called in by Prentiss to help Reid, who was arrested in Mexico for drug possession and the murder of Nadie Ramos. At the time, the IRT was investigating another case in Costa Rica. The two IRT agents arrive at the local jail Reid is being held in and try to stop his transfer to Prisión de Máxima Seguridad El Diablo. Simmons tells Reid about a new lead, adding that there is no contraband on him. When Reid asks what were inside the vials of experimental medication he had, Simmons gives him a list of the medication's ingredients. This helps the BAU pinpoint Nadie's hometown. Just then, the Mexican police are given orders to transfer Reid to El Diablo. However, the agents are able to stop the transfer and have him extradited back to the U.S. after they realize the victim has dual American-Mexican citizenship. Afterwards, Simmons is seen onboard the BAU's plane, thanking Rossi for having him and Seger flown back to Quantico.

Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders

Simmons is portrayed as the muscle of the team, similar to the role Morgan played on the original show.

Season Thirteen

Simmons returned as a main character in the Season Thirteen premiere, "Wheels Up". He was contacted by Garcia following an attack on the BAU and joins in the effort to rescue an abducted member of the team.

Simmons officially joins the team in "To A Better Place".

In "Blue Angel", Simmons is guarding Kimberly "Dasha" Desmond, a former employee of Blue Siren and daughter of former hitman-turned-serial killer and abductor Gabriel Merza and has a conversation with her.

In "Dust and Bones", Simmons is forced to shoot and kill an unsub who charged at him attempted to kill with a scalpel after he orders her to drop the blade.

In "Cure", while working on a case, after JJ receives an email from the FBI's Assistant Director of National Security Linda Barnes, Simmons tells JJ Barnes was the main reason for the IRT's disbandment and how Barnes is more about gaining power than getting the the job done.

In "Miasma", on the plane to their case, Simmons tells the team more about his experience with Linda Barnes after Prentiss is called for an annual review and JJ is made Acting Unit Chief. Before Barnes disbanded the IRT, she started with the head of the team, presumably Jack Garrett, then she worked her way down to the other IRT members including Simmons; she had even tried to pit them against each other.

In "Annihilator", Linda Barnes joins the team on a case. During the case, she tries to have a conversation with Simmons, who replies that she's trying to split up the BAU like she split up the IRT; Barnes denies that. By the end of the episode, Barnes split the most of the team, leaving Alvez and Simmons with JJ at the BAU.

In "Ex Parte", Simmons becomes emotionally involved after discovering that Kristy is among the hostages taken by The Horsemen. He's close to killing the leader's son until Kristy stops him and reminds Simmons it's not who he is.

Season Fourteen

In "Rule 34", Simmmons' son, David, is suspended from school after physically lashing out at a friend over a comment regarding cop shows. He admits to his parents that one of his classmates losing her mother brought about fears for his own parents' safety, especially his father's, given the dangerous nature of his job.

In "Truth or Dare", Kristy tells Simmons that she's pregnant with their fifth child.

Season Fifteen

In "Spectator Slowing", Simmons stays behind on a case as Kristy is placed on bedrest and looks after the children.

In "Saturday", Simmons bought and assembled a bright red crib, which made Kristy unhappy. At the end of the episode, Kristy goes into labor and gives birth to Rosemary Simmons.

In "Ghost", Simmons, along with Luke Alvez, is taken hostage by a splinter group of a biker gang along with a former mob enforcer who blames the two for his brother's arrest and death while in captivity. Right before they are to be killed, Alvez and Simmons are able to break free and ambush him and the bikers, managing to subdue all of them until the rest of the BAU arrive.

Evolution

Simmons is mentioned in "Just Getting Started" that he and Reid are on classified assignments and it would be entirely up to them if they want to come back to the BAU.

Notes

  • His sidearm was a SIG Sauer P226R. In Season Two of Beyond Borders, both he and Jack Garrett, who also carried a P226R, switched to older models of the same weapon without a rail. Simmons continued to carry this weapon during the hunt for Peter Lewis and in the first few episodes of Season Thirteen. However, in "Dust and Bones", he is once again seen using the newer P226R model. In Season Fifteen, he seems to have switched back to the older model P226, now with a wood-colored grip.
  • In the Beyond Borders episode "Love Interrupted", there is a scene in which Simmons rides a motorcycle instead of Garrett's vehicle. Daniel Henney, the actor who plays Simmons, renewed his motorcycle license and did the scene himself instead of a stunt double.
  • It was mentioned in the backdoor pilot that his four children were all under three. However, the boys were recast as slightly older, likely between the ages four to six, when Beyond Borders was picked up.
  • Simmons was written to be of partial Korean descent. Likewise, Henney is biracial: his father is of Irish descent and his mother is Korean.
  • Like Derek Morgan, he usually kicks doors down and storms in. ("Wheels Up")
  • His first job in law enforcement was in Detroit, likely at the local FBI field office ("Blue Angel").
  • He has knowledge about the toxicity of venom produced by different species of snakes, likely honed from years of international travel with the IRT. ("Dust and Bones")
  • He is the only member of the BAU to wear a physical FBI badge on his belt, a trait carried over from his time with the IRT.
  • The watch he is wearing is a Casio G-Shock DW-6900BB-1ER.
  • On the plane ride home after completing a case, Simmons said that the sound of a fork scraping against metal makes his skin crawl. ("Mixed Signals")
  • After returning home from cases with the IRT, he would tell his children stories about his experiences while travelling around the world. Though he initially resisted, his wife, Kristy, persuaded him to write them down in a journal after realising they especially enjoyed them when Matt read them aloud. They refer to them as the "Simmons Stories". ("Saturday")
  • His third daughter is named Rose Mary Simmons, in honor of David Rossi. ("Saturday")
  • He played basketball while attending Carson City Crystal High School and later in a college team before his children were born. ("Ghost")
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