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Who is Gil Grissom?

The character Gil Grissom is the heart of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation but he is also an enigmatic figure. Grissom is hard to get to know and both his crack team at the Las Vegas Police Department Crime Lab and fans of the television show have to be patient to learn more about what makes the genius scientist tick.

According to the imdb.com character profile of Grissom, under his obsessive eye and expertise, the Las Vegas Police Department Crime Lab is one of the finest crime-solving units in the country. It is second only to the FBI national headquarters at Quantico (made famous by film The Silence of the Lambs where Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling is in training). Grissom is very socially awkward but excels with people when he is teaching or in his work domain, which is pretty much 24/7!

Grissom is also a world-renowned forensic entomologist – insect expert – and seems to prefer the company of the dead. That way he can avoid emotion and focus on his first love – science. Interestingly Grissom has also become somewhat of a sex symbol for fans of the TV franchise. A 2005 Slate.com article dubbed Grissom ``The sexiest man in the morgue’’ and speak to fans who indulge in writing and reading online fan fiction that imagines what Grissom gets up to when he’s not at the crime lab.

In a 2009 television interview on CBS program The Early Show , actor William Petersen said of his famous and beloved character:  "I think he has a big heart. I don't think he would do what he does if he didn't have a big heart. He likes to pretend he has a big brain instead.’’

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is on TV1 daily.