Born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, to Michael and Sandra Cook, Andrea Joy Cook began acting at the age of 17. She has appeared in nearly a dozen films and several TV shows before the age of 25. Before taking up acting, she was a dancer, having started dancing competitively at age 4 in the styles of tap, jazz, and ballet. Her first big role came in the 1999 film The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola. Cook stars as Jennifer “JJ”” Jareau in the CBS hit show Criminal Minds.”
A.J. Cook
Movies
Heroine
Tru Davies, a medical grad student in Boston whose grant is suddenly pulled out from under her, takes a job at a local morgue. There, she discovers that she has the power to “re-live” the previous day over again to help the people who wrongly ended up dead. She uses…
Fun Facts
Was first Higher Ground (2000) cast member to know of Hayden Christensen's winning the role of "Anakin Skywalker"".
Met her husband in film class at UVU (Utah Valley University, formerly UVSC, Utah Valley State College).
Her father, Mike, is a teacher and her mother, Sandra, works for a psychiatrist.
Before she got into acting, she was a competitive dancer and taught dance back home in Oshawa.
Didn't begin acting until she was 17 years old.
Her first acting job was in a McDonald's commercial in 1997.
She has three siblings, Nathan, Paul and Angela.
Fan of New York Jets.
At a young age she suffered from extreme astigmatism (which caused her to have been declared ""legally blind""). She ultimately obtained an eye-implant called ""Visian ICL"", which drastically improved her vision.
Her TV sons on Criminal Minds (2005) (Henry LaMontagne and Michael LaMontagne) are played by her real life sons Mekhai Andersen and Phoenix Andersen.
Ranked #88 on Maxim's ""Hot 100"" of 2014 list.
Gave birth to her first child at age 30, son Mekhai Andersen, on September 13, 2008. He weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 20 inches long. Child's father is her husband, Nathan Andersen.
Gave birth to her second child at age 37, son Phoenix Andersen, on July 23, 2015, at 5:49 a.m., weighed 7 lbs., 6 oz., and measured 20.5 inches. Child's father is her husband, Nathan Andersen.
Is a huge fan of the L.A. Kings.
Good friends with her former Higher Ground (2000) co-star, Jewel Staite."
Quotes
I am just your everyday, average girl. I live by the beach. I wear flip flops. I don't wear make-up. I go to the gym. My husband and I are just really laid-back people.
[about her fans] I have some amazing fans! They're just so dedicated and so nice and so sweet. I'm like no one and I'm just starting out and these people appreciate your work and it's nice to hear that.
[on her role in Final Destination 2 (2003)] It's challenging in the way that it's a lot of work, I'm very busy. It's challenging in a way that it's a sequel and I feel I got big shoes to fill. I wasn't at all affiliated with the first one and it was very successful and I'm just kind of afraid that people will get to the theatre and say, "Who's this girl? She wasn't in the first one!"" So that pressure is there and in that sense . . . it has been difficult.
I want to live life and be happy and not worry about what anyone thinks. I want to try to be the best I can be and leave the world better off than when I entered it."