Birth name- Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan

Date of Birth – 8 December 1976

Age- 33

Birth Place- Berlin, Germany

Profession- Actor

Years active- 1996-present

Early life

Monaghan was born on 8 December 1976 in Berlin, Germany. His mother, Maureen was a nurse and his father, Austin Monaghan was a science teacher. His elder brother, Matthew is a singer, musician and a teacher. His family shifts about every four years. They moved to Heaton Moor in Stockport, Greater Manchester and afterwards shifted to Manchester.

Monaghan can speak German to some extent and is famous for his ability to mimic accents. Bernard is his maternal grandfather’s name and Patrick is his paternal grandfather’s name which points towards his Irish heritage. He added Luke because of the character of his favorite movie Star Wars which inspired him to become an actor. His father gifted him The Lord of the Rings book and asked him to finish reading the book in six months. However, he did it in just two months. He went to St Anne’s Roman Catholic High School and later to Aquinas College for studying English Literature, geography and drama.

Career

Monaghan changed many jobs when he was young but he always wished to be an actor. After second year of his High School, he regularly participated in school plays like Bugsy Malone, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. Later, he joined Manchester Youth Theatre. He played Geoffrey Shawcross in ‘Hetty Wainthropp Investigates’ for four seasons.

Hostile Waters was Monaghan’s debut feature film in which he played a Russian sailor. He narrated Devil’s Bible for The Discovery Channel and Ringers: Lord of the Fans. His TV series work includes “This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper” (2000), Monsignor Renard, Chuck etc. Furthermore, he played a drug addict Charlie Pace on ABC show ‘Lost’.

His film credits include An Insomniac’s Nightmare, Spivs, The Purifiers, Shooting Livien, I Sell The Dead, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Pet (underproduction). In July 2009, it was announced that he is going to join the cast of FlashForward, playing the character of a quantum physicist Simon. He also played Caleb Reese in a shot named Gloria which was a program of REESES Puff’s Extraordinary Cinema.

Personal Life

Monaghan loves nature and he is active in plating trees. He supported animal rights group PETA and also holds a small forest in India. Despite his love for nature and animals, he is a non-vegetarian. He likes surfing, playing football, kayaking, hiking and such fun activities. He finds playing New York Times crossword puzzle interesting and he is also fond of playing games and several times hosted games night for his co-stars. He got trained in Karate during his childhood and performed yoga. Moreover, he headed towards gym for gaining physical strength and weight training.

He loves tattooing and has several tattoos embedded on his body. English word ‘nine’ is written on his right arm in Quenya-mode Tengwar which signifies his association with The Lord of the Rings. “Life imitates art” is also tattooed below the tattoo of nine. “Living is easy with eyes closed” is written on his left arm. Two stars are also crafted on his left foot.

He dated actress Evangeline Lilly for three years. After that, he was spotted with Lilly in Vancouver while shooting the American version of CQC.

Role in FlashForward

Monaghan played Dr. Simon Campos who is a quantum physicist and a research partner of Dr. Lloyd Simcoe. He doesn’t agree that the blackout took place because of him. To prove himself, he surrenders himself to FBI who found him Suspect Zero. He tells people that he saw himself struggling with people and killing a man in his flashforward which was actually not true. He was one amongst the people who were awake during blackout.

Awards

He won Screen Actors Guild Award for his film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ in which he played Meriadoc Brandybuck. He also received Screen Actors Guild Award for TV series ‘Lost’.