A killer turn for comic actors

Jason Alexander (left, with Joe Mantegna) as a professor who claims to have committed murders on ''Criminal Minds.'' (sonja flemming/cbs)

HOLLYWOOD - As George Costanza, the balding bumbler on "Seinfeld," Jason Alexander was all about bringing the funny. But in last night's episode of "Criminal Minds," the actor was all about bringing the pain.

The latest installment of the CBS procedural featured Alexander in dramatic makeover mode, portraying a deranged professor who claims to have killed several women and who puts a terrified mother in peril as part of his personal vendetta against serial killer profiler David Rossi (Joe Mantegna).

Alexander is the latest in a growing parade of unlikely performers - primarily comic actors - who are embracing their dark sides on "Criminal Minds." The drama, which centers on the search for demented serial killers by the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, is one of the network's most reliable and popular hits, frequently landing among the 10 highest-rated series.

Jamie Kennedy, best known for his pranks on "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" and outrageous characters in films such as "Malibu's Most Wanted," last season played a serial killer who ate his victims. Frankie Muniz, the brainiac title character in "Malcolm in the Middle," portrayed a tortured graphic artist who took bloody comic-book-style revenge on his adversaries.

And Cybill Shepherd ("Cybill," "Moonlighting") plays the mother of a serial killer in an upcoming episode.

Of course, "Criminal Minds" is not the first series to feature comedians as vicious murderers. Martin Short in 2005 played a serial rapist-murderer in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Robin Williams was a killer on the same series and in films such as "Insomnia."

Edward Allen Bernero, a "Criminal Minds" executive producer, said casting established actors against type makes the show's premise more effective.

"It's hard to imagine Jason Alexander killing 12 people, but that goes a little bit of distance of what we're trying to show. A serial killer could be your next-door neighbor. It's the last person in the world you would think of."

Some of the guest stars have been surprised when approached by producers to play killers, said Bernero: "The most common reaction is, 'Really? Me?' But then they really get into it because it's exciting for them to do something they don't usually get to do. And I'm never surprised at a comic actor who can reach that dark place."

Kennedy's change of pace impressed network executives so much that they cast him as a regular on "Ghost Whisperer."

The actor really took to his "Criminal Minds" role - a killer who liked to worship Satan in his underwear.

"Doing that role was really not a challenge for me," said Kennedy. "When I'm being funny, my behavior is more heightened, so I wanted to show another side."