Criminal Minds’ Paget Brewster has been a mainstay of the long-running crime drama since the introduction of her character, Emily Prentiss, early in Season 2.

It was the role of a lifetime, one that assured her place in the industry, and it came at the perfect time – only a year after her embarrassing spoof film: My Big Fat Independent Movie.

Brewster’s first hit role came in Season 4 of Friends, right as the show was becoming a cultural sensation.

She guest starred in six episodes as Kathy, Joey’s girlfriend over whom Chandler falls head over heels.

For the next eight years, she toiled away on small productions with limited roles. She popped in for a single episode of George Lopez and Two and a Half Men, and was set to be one of the leads in Andy Richter Controls the Universe, a poorly-rated show that was listed on TV Guide’s 60 shows that were “canceled too soon.

”

Her first starring film role came in 2005, one that she’d just as soon forget.

My Big Fat Independent Movie was a parody film meant to mimic the cult successes of Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie.

The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.