Zach Gilford is recovering after suffering a healthy scare earlier this week – with his sense of humor still intact.
“Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun day,” Gilford, 42, captioned a series of selfies on Instagram Stories on Tuesday, Dec. 17. “Good thing we wrapped up @criminalminds last week.”
In the first two photos shared, Guilford showed his face with a sort of reaction that caused his face to swell and his eyes to close completely.
The third and final photo, meanwhile, showed that his face was already on the mend.
“Thank you to all the nurses, doctors and staff at @huntingtonhospital for getting my face back to normal. … Still a little way to go,” he captioned the third photo, calling out the California-based hospital. He did not disclose further details.
Guilford stars as Elias Voight in Criminal minds revival from his debut in 2022, a prolific serial killer who spends years building his own network of killers and assisting them in their crimes. While talking exclusively about Us Weekly in August, Guilford revealed that he was only supposed to appear in the first season before being asked to stay.
“I only signed a one-year contract,” she explained. “And part of the first season, (showrunner) Erica (Messer) told me: “I don’t know what will happen. We didn’t make up the end of the season, but we decided we weren’t going to kill you. We want to keep you. So I came back and I was so happy to (do it).”
The character remained a mainstay in Season 2 and will return for Season 3, which wrapped filming earlier this month. In addition to giving Guilford a juicy role in front of the camera, it also provided the actor with a milestone in his career: his first time in the director’s chair.
“I’ve wanted to direct forever. I shadowed Friday Night Lights. I’ve been a shadow on almost every show I’ve been on,” Guilford gushed. “It’s just hard to get that opportunity. I’ve wanted to do it for a long time. And it was inspiring for me when I had to direct my episode because Erica and everyone just wanted to “Do your episode.” Do what you want.’
“It was pretty damn cool,” he added. “It was so much fun.”
Gilford started out as Matt Saracen FNL in the early 2000s before transitioning to lead roles Good girls, midnight mass and more. He met his wife Kyle Sanchezon the set of their 2010 TV pilot The matadorsand the couple married two years later. Since then, they have worked together numerous times, including on Evolution.
While speaking to us, Guilford admitted how “lucky” he was to be a part of Criminal minds franchise.
“I don’t know how I got so lucky. I’ve been really lucky in my career, but it’s been great,” Guilford shared of his experience on the CBS procedural. “Everybody who comes on that set says, ‘This is the best set I’ve ever been on,'” he said us. “It’s so much fun working with your friends and they really are the best group of people. Then, as an aside, our team is pretty damn awesome. They are so silly, they are so cool, they are so funny, they are so cool and they are so good at what they do. I appreciate being on set (where) that’s the mood. It all comes from showrunner Erica Messer.”
