Dominic Monaghan
Monaghan at the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Wellington, New Zealand
Born	Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan 8 December 1976 (1976-12-08) (age 32) Berlin, Germany
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present

Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan^[1] (born 8 December 1976) is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost. He is currently portraying the character Simon on FlashForward.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Monaghan was born in Berlin, Germany, to British parents: Maureen, a nurse, and Austin Monaghan, a science teacher.^[2] Dominic has a brother, Matthew, who is a year older. Matthew is a teacher, as well as a singer and musician. Monaghan's family lived in Berlin, Düsseldorf- Lohausen, Stuttgart, and Münster, moving about every 4 years. When he was about 11 years old Dominic's family moved from Germany to Heaton Moor in Stockport, Greater Manchester,^[3] and later to Manchester. Monaghan's first language is English, but he also speaks some German and is well known for his ability to impersonate others and replicate accents. His parents gave him the name Dominic because they liked it; Bernard is his maternal grandfather's name, and Patrick his paternal grandfather's name. He chose Luke as his confirmation name after one of the characters from Star Wars, his favorite movie, which was also one of his inspirations for becoming an actor. He attended St. Anne's RC High School (where his uncle taught and later became head teacher) and Aquinas College, where he studied English literature, drama and geography.

[edit] Career

Although Dominic held many occupations when he was younger, he always wanted to be an actor. After his second year at St. Anne's, Monaghan became a regular in school plays such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and Bugsy Malone before joining Manchester Youth Theatre. There, he was scouted for Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, on which he played Hetty's under-aged sidekick, Geoffrey Shawcross, for four seasons. He made his feature film debut as Russian sailor Sasha in TV film Hostile Waters.

Monaghan narrated Ringers: Lord of the Fans, a documentary about Lord of the Rings fandom. He also provided the narration for The Discovery Channel's documentary Devil's Bible in 2008.

On 15 July 2009 it was confirmed that he will be joining the cast of ABC Studios' new science fiction television series FlashForward as the character Simon. The series premiered on 24 September 2009.^[4]

[edit] Personal life

Monaghan is an adamant nature lover, and has been active in the planting of trees, cacti, and the pod-seeds of mature hedge-row bushes. He owns a small forest in India, and has worked with the animal rights group PETA.^[5] Despite his involvement with PETA, Monaghan is not a vegetarian. Monaghan has a great love for insects and reptiles that he developed during his childhood, and has kept an assortment of them as pets, including a chameleon.^[6]

An avid outdoorsman, Dominic enjoys activities such as surfing, kayaking, snowboarding, European football, basketball, and hiking. He has also stated that he likes hunting for insects and reptiles outdoors. Very physically active, he learned karate as a child, practices yoga, and is frequently seen going to the gym to work out. He is a long time supporter and fan of Manchester United.

Dominic loves to play various games, and has hosted game nights for fellow cast members in the past. He is also fond of working the New York Times crossword puzzle.

On his right arm he has a tattoo of the Elvish word "nine" written in Quenya-mode Tengwar, a reference to his involvement in the Lord of the Rings and the fact that his character was one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Seven other cast members and one of the stunt doubles also got matching tattoos during the film's production, at Dominic's instigation. Below that tattoo is another that reads, "Life imitates art", an Oscar Wilde quote. On his left arm is a tattoo, "Living is easy with eyes closed", a line from The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever". He also has two stars tattooed on his left foot, one black, and one white.^[7]

He resides in the Los Angeles, California area. In 2008 Monaghan held a photographic exhibit in Los Angeles in which he sold prints of his own works. A portion of the proceeds from the exhibit were given to an orangutan rescue organization.

He has dated his former Lost co-star Evangeline Lilly since 2004. In June 2008 Monaghan traveled to Argentina with Lilly to film the pilot of the American version of CQC, (a successful television programme in more than five countries).^[8] In June 2009 he and Evangeline traveled to Rwanda together for a holiday. He is also frequently seen with her in the Vancouver area, where she has a home.

He has long been working on a script with LOTR co-star and good friend Billy Boyd.^[9] Dominic provided the inspiration for the naming of Boyd's band Beecake after he sent his friend a picture of a cake covered in bees. ^[10]

Monaghan also appeared in the video "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" which was a response by Jimmy Kimmel to Sarah Silverman's "I'm Fucking Matt Damon."

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Films

[edit] Television

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dominic Monaghan at the Internet Movie Database
• Dominic Monaghan interview
• Dominic Monaghan television appearance handling wild animals