Michelle Monaghan

Michelle Lynn Monaghan, known as Michelle Monaghan, was born on March 23, 1976, in the small town of Winthrop, Iowa. Monaghan grew up with two older brothers, Bob and John, and a substantial amount of Irish and German ancestry informs her heritage. A lifelong Catholic, Monaghan moved to Chicago after graduating high school to study journalism at Columbia College Chicago. During her college years, she became a prolific model, with notable stints in Milan, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and the United States. She was one semester shy of earning her journalism degree when she decided to pursue an acting career in New York.

Monaghan's television and film career started in the year 2000. She debuted on the big screen in Perfume and had her breakthrough in 2002 with the television series Boston Public. She went on to star alongside renowned actors in numerous movies and TV series, most notably in the Mission: Impossible series, the HBO anthology crime drama series True Detective, and the Netflix thriller series Messiah. She has received numerous accolades, including nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Saturn Award, and a Critics' Choice Movie Award. One of her notable roles came in 2024 when she took on a supporting role in the horror film MaXXXine and had a star role in the third season of The White Lotus.