Michelle Monaghan

Within merely several years, Michelle Lynn Monaghan has wonderfully compiled such an amazing resume along her career as an American actress. Successfully gaining a number of high-profile appearances either in small or big screen productions, this comely brunette, without doubt, has positioned herself as one of the rising stars in Hollywood film industry. With the natural talent and beauty she possesses, it seems very possible for her to embrace wide recognition as an influential entertainment figure in this universe.

A genuine Iowa country girl, Michelle was born on March 23, 1976 to Bob and Sharon Monaghan in a small town of Winthrop. Raised along with her two older brothers, John and Bob, she decided to leave her hometown shortly after her high school graduation to pursue a degree in journalism at Chicago's Columbia College. In order to pay the tuition, the youngster afterwards took a side job as a model for catalogs which surprisingly went quite well. Showered with heavy demand for print ads, she eventually gave up her study, thus set out to work full-time in modeling.

As her parents fortunately were very supportive on her decision, Michelle walked freely to New York where she later flourished her status through the runways plus a number of poses in magazines and catalogs. It was also during this period that she began to grow a fondness for acting, immediately earning her TV debut in Warner Bros' drama series, "Young Americans" (2000). This was shortly followed by an initial film appearance in "Perfume" (2001) which sadly went unnoticed.

Not discouraged, Michelle kept looking for another chance, this time satisfyingly made her way to gain people's attention through a supporting role in "Unfaithful" (2002) alongside Richard Gere and Diane Lane. However, it was FOX's hit series "Boston Public" (2002-2003) that ultimately catapulted her to the spotlight when her brilliant portrayal of an idealistic young high school teacher named Kimberly Woods garnered positive response from both critics and viewers. This breakthrough automatically gave her wider opportunity to craft her name in the entertainment industry for sure.

After her role in the series came to its end by 2003, Michelle put full concentration on the big screen productions, starring in "It Runs in the Family" (2003) and "Winter Solstice" (2004) alongside Anthony LaPaglia and Allison Janney. Following the tremendous commercial success of her next film, "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004), she then joined Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in another box office hit "Mr and Mrs Smith" (2005) before took part in Niki Caro's drama flick entitled "North Country" (2005). Teamed up with Charlize Theron, she played a co-worker of the Oscar winner's character who experienced sexual harassment at a local mining company in Northern Minnesota.

Less than a month after the release of "Country", audience finally found Michelle as the female lead in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang." In this black comedy, she portrayed a struggling actress who is involved in a murder mystery, thus helps Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer to reveal the truth behind the incident. Happily married to her longtime sweetheart, Pete White, since August 2005, the beauty continued to strike hard for she later appeared opposite Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise in 2006's "Mission: Impossible 3" which remarkably grossed $397.9 million worldwide. More high-profile stints followed afterwards, such as those in "Gone Baby Gone" (2007), "The Heartbreak Kid" (2007), and "Eagle Eye" (2008).