Maggie Q

Maggie Q 
Biography

Birth Name                      Margaret Denise Quigley
Birth date                         May 22, 1979
Birth place                        Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Height                              5' 6" (1.68 m)
Occupation                      Actress
Years active                     1998–present


Maggie Denise Quigley was born to a Polish-Irish American father (originally based in New York) and a Vietnamese mother. Her father met her mother during the Vietnam War. Maggie has two older half-siblings from her mother's previous marriage, and two older sisters. The family moved to Hawaii and settled in Mililani.

Maggie Q attended Mililani Waena Elementary School and Wheeler Intermediate School. She also attended Mililani High School, where she was on the cross country, track and field, and swim teams. She won the title of "Best Bod" senior year, and graduated from Mililani High School in 1997.

Margaret Denise Quigley,  professionally known as Maggie Q,  is an American actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the title character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.

Maggie dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but modeled and found herself bursting onto the Hong Kong movie scene - eventually becoming a full-fledged superstar in Asia. She changed her name to the easily pronounceable "Maggie Q" (for the Chinese audience). She had a cameo in the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker smash hit Rush Hour 2 (2001) and is part of the supporting cast in Mission: Impossible III (2006), starring Tom Cruise.


At the suggestion of a friend, Q began modeling in Tokyo at the age of 17, before making an unsuccessful move to Taipei, and finally trying in Hong Kong.  She has said it was not easy for her: "I had twenty bucks in my pocket. I mean, I literally did the same thing that my mother did when she left Vietnam... didn't speak the language... had no money." But, it was in Hong Kong, that she was selected by Jackie Chan, because he saw a potential action star. His intensive training taught her the importance of professionalism and always doing her own stunts. Q later said, "I had never done a day of martial arts in my life when I started in the business. I couldn’t even touch my toes."

In 1998,  she started her acting career in the TV drama House of the Dragon, which was a huge hit in Asia. In 2000, Q made her film debut as Anna in the horror film Model from Hell, and went on to star as an FBI agent Jane Quigley in the action thriller Gen-Y Cops the same year. Her appearance in Gen-Y Cops impressed Jackie Chan so much that she was cast in Manhattan Midnight and Rush Hour 2.

In 2002, she starred as martial artist assassin Charlene Ching in the action film Naked Weapon. In 2005, Q played Harmony in the German-Singaporean TV mini-series House of Harmony, opposite Fann Wong. The same year she also co-produced the animal treatment documentary Earthlings narrated by Joaquin Phoenix.

In 2006, she starred alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III. She played Zhen, the only female member of the IMF team. In 2007, she appeared as Mai Linh in the Bruce Willis movie Live Free or Die Hard,  the fourth film in the Die Hard series, and as Maggie in Balls of Fury.

In 2008, Q played fictional Cao Ying, a granddaughter of the warlord Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, her first ancient Chinese costume performance. That same year, she also appeared in the drama/thriller movie Deception starring Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman, as Tina, an investment banker who introduced Jackman's character to an exclusive anonymous sex club list.

Q also stars in the video game in the Need for Speed franchise Need for Speed: Undercover, as the seductive lead character, federal agent Chase Linh, who is the player's only contact to the Tri-City Police.

In 2010, she became the lead character, an assassin gone rogue, on the new CW series, Nikita, a revamp of the movie/TV title.