Gil Grissom has spent the last fifteen years helping Las Vegas move from number 14 to number two in the U.S. Crime Lab rankings. He grew up in Marina Del Rey, California. His mother ran an art gallery in Venice, and his father was in the import/export business, dealing primarily with communist China. Grissom’s parents divorced when he was five. At eight or nine, Grissom began riding his bike out to the beach every day to collect dead seagulls, possums and anything else he could find. He would bring the remains home and conduct autopsies, slowly teaching himself the ins and outs of death.

As a teenager, Grissom became known to local authorities, who employed him for quick autopsies on dead animals like cats and dogs. By age sixteen, Grissom was an unofficial intern for the L.A. County morgue. He worked his way through college, and at age 22 went to work full time as the youngest coroner in the history of L.A. County. Eight years later, a headhunter recruited him to run the Field Services Office in Las Vegas. His philosophy about his work has always been: “if you want to learn about forensics, master everything else first.”

While others may have a reason for being a CSI, for Grissom the job is not about choice. Grissom could no more work in another profession than a fish could stop swimming. CSI is not a job for Grissom; it’s an expression of who he is as a person, the perfect synthesis of personality and profession. Grissom’s specialty is entomology.

Catherine Willows was born on a ranch in western Montana. She was the eldest daughter of fourth-generation ranchers, but the rural life was never for her. Catherine could ride before she could walk, but horses were always for taking her away from work. She left home the first time as a sixteen-year old. She lived in Seattle for a year with her would-be rock-star boyfriend, eking out a living as a waitress. When he left her for an older woman, she went home, only to find home wasn’t there anymore. Her parents had been forced to sell their ranch and had moved to town. They made it clear that Catherine was on her own. 

The next stop for Catherine was Las Vegas. She waited tables until she discovered a much more lucrative line of work: exotic dancing. The men loved her, and the money poured in. Catherine spent it all on school and on the aspiring career of her music-producing boyfriend, Eddie. Dating turned to engagement, which turned to marriage. When their turbulent relationship ended, Eddie left her with ten dollars in the bank, a coke habit and a small child, Lindsey. 

Catherine pulled it together for her own sake and for the sake of her daughter. She didn’t become a CSI because she wanted to right the wrongs of the world; she became a CSI because it makes her feel like a kid solving puzzles. She loves the challenge, and she loves the buzz of working a case. It’s a high for her, and anything that makes Catherine feel as good as she does can’t be all that bad. Catherine’s specialty is blood spatter analysis.

Warrick Brown is the only member of the CSI team born and raised in Las Vegas. To this day, Warrick has never met his father. His mother passed away when he was seven, leaving him in the care of his maternal grandmother. He grew up in a strict household, and that meant he kept his teenage job as a runner secret from his grandmother. 

Warrick was quite literally born to live in Vegas. He loves the casinos, loves the action, and loves the pulse of the city. He can move just as easily through the Clark County Courthouse as he can through the Sportsbook at Hard Rock. To let off steam, he DJ’s at clubs run by his friends and writes his own songs. Spending his whole life in Las Vegas means Warrick knows at least one person in every bar, club and hotel in the city. He’s connected, and he uses those connections to move between his worlds. He went through a lot of women in his early twenties, but the first time he fell in love, the woman broke his heart. Much to Catherine’s chagrin, Warrick married in season 6. 

Warrick knows how all the games are played in Las Vegas and is aware of the universal truth of the city: the only one who wins consistently is the house, because the odds are stacked. Warrick’s got enough of a rebel in him to challenge those odds, and enough of a realist in him to know the only one watching out for him is him, so he’ll cut his losses to fight again another day if need be. Warrick’s specialty is audio/visual analysis.