Early life

Monaghan was born in Winthrop, Iowa to parents Sharon Monaghan, who ran a day care center in the family's home for forty years, and Robert Monaghan, a factory worker. She has two older brothers, Bob and John. Her parents brought up twelve foster children over a period of twelve years. Monaghan has Irish and German ancestry, and was raised Catholic.

She graduated from East Buchanan High School in 1994, where she was class president and acted in several plays. After graduation, she moved to Chicago to study journalism at Columbia College Chicago and began to model. She modeled in Milan, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong, as well as in the United States. With one semester remaining to complete her journalism degree in 1999, she left for New York to pursue an acting career, where she appeared as a model in several magazines and catalogs before making her acting debut.

Career

Monaghan's first notable appearances, though minor roles, were in episodes of Young Americans (in which she appeared twice), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, came in 2001. She made her big screen debut that year in the small role of "Henrietta" in the movie Perfume. This was followed by another small role in Unfaithful in 2002.

Monaghan got a big-break role in 2002 when she co-starred in the television series Boston Public playing the role of Kimberly Woods. After guest-starring for a season, she returned to film, appearing in It Runs in the Family in 2003, Winter Solstice in 2004, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005.

In 2007, she starred in The Heartbreak Kid as Miranda, opposite Ben Stiller. She also starred in Gone Baby Gone receiving excellent notices for her performance as the female protagonist, Angie Gennaro, opposite Casey Affleck. In 2008, she appeared as "Hannah" alongside Patrick Dempsey in Made of Honor, and co-starred in Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf. She also starred in the movie Trucker as Diane Ford.

Monaghan starred in the critically acclaimed HBO anthology series True Detective.

In April 2016, Monaghan was reported to have joined the principal cast of Shawn Christensen's independent feature film Sidney Hall, which began filming later that month.

Personal life

Monaghan met Australian graphic artist Peter White at a party in 2000. They married in Sydney five years later in August 2005 and live in New York. She gave birth to their daughter Willow Katherine White in 2008 and son Tommy Francis White on October 30, 2013.

In 2011, Monaghan had a mole on the back of her calf, which she had examined then removed. It was diagnosed as skin cancer.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Perfume	Henrietta
2002	Unfaithful	Lindsay
2003	It Runs in the Family	Peg Maloney
2004	Winter Solstice	Stacey
2004	Bourne Supremacy, TheThe Bourne Supremacy	Kim
2005	Constantine	Ellie	Uncredited
2005	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Gwen
2005	North Country	Sherry
2005	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	Harmony Faith Lane
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Julia Meade
2007	Gone Baby Gone	Angie Gennaro
2007	The Heartbreak Kid	Miranda
2008	Trucker	Diane Ford
2008	Made of Honor	Hannah
2008	Eagle Eye	Rachel Holloman
2010	Somewhere	Rebecca
2010	Due Date	Sarah Highman
2011	Source Code	Christina Warren
2011	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	Julia Meade-Hunt	Uncredited cameo
2011	Machine Gun Preacher	Lynn Childers
2012	Tomorrow You're Gone	Florence Jane
2013	Penthouse North	Sara
2013	Expecting	Andie
2014	Fort Bliss	Maggie Swann
2014	Better Living Through Chemistry	Kara Varney
2014	Playing It Cool	Her
2014	Justice League: War	Diana Prince/Wonder Woman	Voice role
2014	The Best of Me	Amanda Collier
2015	Pixels	Violet van Patten
2016	Sleepless Night		In post-production
2016	Patriots Day	Carol Saunders	Filming
2017	Sidney Hall		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Young Americans	Caroline Busse	2 episodes
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dana Kimble	Episode: "Consent"
2002	Hack	Stacy Kumble	Episode: "Favors"
2002-03	Boston Public	Kimberly Woods	8 episodes
2013	American Dad!	Gina (voice)	Episode: "Max Jets"
2014	True Detective	Maggie Hart	Season 1 regular (8 episodes)
2015	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Herself	Episode: "Michelle Monaghan Wears a Burnt Orange Dress and White Heels"
2016	The Path	Sarah Lane	Main role

Awards and nominations

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Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
2005	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	Nominated
2007	Critics' Choice Movie Awards	Best Acting Ensemble	Gone Baby Gone	Nominated
2009	San Diego Film Critics Society	Best Actress	Trucker	Won
2014	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	True Detective	Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	True Detective	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]