Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders

Season 1 M-Net (*101) 21:30

Best known as legless war veteran Lieutenant Dan in 1994 drama film Forrest Gump, these days Gary Sinise is loving his role as Agent Jack Garrett in Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2016-current), the spin-off of drama series Criminal Minds (2005-current). “I love these types of heroes. They deal with very challenging issues, cases, people and events – it’s a privilege to play them and try show off how grateful we are that we have these people,” he says.

The 61-year-old doesn’t just hon1

our these heroes on the screen – he’s started The Gary Sinise Foundation that assists “our country’s defenders, veterans, first responders, their families and those in need”. Plus, his band Gary Sinise & The Lt Dan Band play venues across the US at military support events.

The acting bug bit in high school 2

and Gary started the Steppenwolf Theater Company with two friends in Illinois. It’s become such a success that it’s hosted plays featuring actors including Ethan Hawke, John Malkovich, Joan Allen and William Petersen, aka Gil Grissom in CSI (2000-2015).

Gary’s theatre company is actually 3

where he met actress wife Moira Harris, whom he married in 1981. They have three kids: daughters Sophie (27) and Ella (23), as well as son McCanna Anthony (25).

He’s a huge Disney fan and 4

admits to being “blown out of this world” when the entertainment giant asked him to narrate their Mission: SPACE ride in 2003 at the famous EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World, Florida.

In 2014, Gary flew 5

50 military men and women and their families to Disneyland in Los Angeles to visit the studio where Forrest Gump was filmed because “I couldn’t not do anything. I’ve become committed to being somebody who can try make a difference, even if it’s something as small as going to an amusement park,” he says.