The 15 Best Criminal Minds Guest Stars Ranked

Famous for his role as Dawson Leery on the teen drama “Dawson’s Creek,” James Van Der Beek has continued to work steadily in television through the years, appearing in the main cast of “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,” “CSI: Cyber,” and “Pose.” He has also appeared as a guest star on a number of TV shows like “Ugly Betty,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Medium,” and “Modern Family,” just to name a few. But Van Der Beek’s two-episode appearance as Tobias Hankel in “Criminal Minds” Season 2 would prove one of the creepiest performances of his career, as well as one of the more memorable unsubs to cross paths with the BAU.

After suffering from severe religious abuse as a child that left him branded with a hot poker and nearly drowned by his father, Hankel becomes hooked on a pretty intense homemade drug cocktail. The trauma and drug use cause his personality to split into three, one of whom considers himself the vengeful angel Raphael. Hankel’s dueling personalities, theological knowledge, and hacking skills converge dangerously. While Reid eventually takes him down, it’s only after Hankel kidnaps him, tortures him, and gets him strung out on Dilaudid, leaving the brainy profiler with lasting trauma that would haunt him throughout his BAU career.