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| Michelle Monaghan |
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"You don't grow up in a town of 700 thinking you're going to be an actress. I loved doing [school] plays, but it was just something to keep me busy."
| Date of Birth: March 23, 1976 |
| Birthplace: Winthrop, Iowa |
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| Plenty of models try their hand at acting, but few have had Michelle’s extraordinary success. In addition to starring in Mission: Impossible III, the Iowa native has also appeared in blockbusters like Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Supremacy and North Country. |
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| As M: I III’s damsel in distress, Michelle manages to do the impossible: She actually makes us root for Tom Cruise. We can assure you it won’t happen again. |
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Michelle Monaghan was born March 23, 1976, in the tiny town of Winthrop, Iowa. The youngest of three children, her house was always crawling with ankle biters thanks to her mother, Sharon, who operated a day care on the premises.
After graduating from high school, Michelle made the trek to Chicago to begin a degree in journalism at Columbia College. Although her studies interested her, the harsh realities of the business did not. As she recalls, "There I was three years into a journalism degree with plans to become an investigative television reporter when I found out I was going to have to start out in a small market like Iowa. So I left."
In fact, Michelle got as far away as she physically could. Falling back on her good looks, the Winthrop native embarked on a modeling career that would eventually take her on assignments to Milan, Singapore, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Slowly but surely, she also launched a secondary career as an actress, making her television debut in 2000 in the popular series Young Americans.
Although modeling continued to be her bread and butter, Michelle also padded her resume in 2001 with an appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as well as a small role in Perfume, a film about the lives of a group of New York City models.
Although the parts provided her with screen time, nothing could have prepared her for the challenges of working with bonafide acting legends in the 2002 film Unfaithful. Recalling her first day on the set with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, Michelle reminisces, "I started thinking of that game from Sesame Street, ‘Which of these three things does not belong?’" Luckily she overcame her jitters and the film went on to rake in $119 million worldwide.
Despite the collosal success of Unfaithful, Michelle’s true breakthrough occurred a year later when she joined the cast of FOX’s hit show Boston Public. Playing idealistic high school teacher Kimberly Woods, Michelle won over fans and critics alike and parlayed her success into a role in the 2003 film It Runs in the Family. Co-starring Kirk and Michael Douglas, the family drama gave Michelle her biggest burst of screen time yet.
2004 brought even bigger roles as she appeared in the Anthony LaPaglia drama Winter Solstice and the Matt Damon mega-hit, The Bourne Supremacy. Although Solstice was something of a sleeper, The Bourne Supremacy went on to make over $274 million worldwide.
It also made Michelle a bankable star and she responded with a career year in 2005 thanks to memorable appearances in four huge hits, including Constantine, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and North Country. However, it was her starring role in the dark comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that brought her the most notoriety. Michelle’s role as super sexy Harmony Faith Lane earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations from both the Saturn Awards and the Satellite Awards. More importantly, it gave her the chance to strut her stuff alongside Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. “I have to say I was in awe of them,” she admits. “These were two actors that I really admired for such a long time, but on the first day they literally said, 'Go for it -- do whatever you want creatively.'”
Michelle capped off the year by marrying her longtime boyfriend, Peter White, an Australian graphic designer. Since then she has also appeared in the 2006 summer blockbuster Mission: Impossible III as Tom Cruise’s fiance, Julia.
Although Michelle is clearly enjoying her success, she also admits to being a bit apprehensive. "All of this [acting] scares the hell out of me,” she confesses. “I'm frightened and uneasy and sometimes my heart skips a beat. But, hey, it got me out of Iowa, right?" |
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© James Devaney
WireImage.com |
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