The 10 Best Michelle Monaghan Movies and TV Shows, Ranked (2024)

Michelle Monaghan is a former model turned all-star actress who is best known for popular films and television hits such as Gone Baby Gone, True Detective, and Mission: Impossible III. Born in the small town of Winthrop, Iowa, Monaghan eventually moved to Chicago and attended Colombia College Chicago where she majored in journalism and also started her modeling career. By 1999, Monaghan decided to pursue acting and, after taking on a few small television parts, she made her feature film debut in the 2001 movie, Perfume, and soon after earned a supporting role in the romantic thriller, Unfaithful.

She earned her breakthrough role in the drama, Boston Public, in which she guest-starred for a season before returning to the silver screen. Monaghan established herself as a promising leading lady with films such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Source Code and continued to dabble in television, notably the Hulu series, The Path. For over two decades, Monaghan has proven herself as a versatile talent who has successfully entertained a wide range of audiences in several noteworthy movies and shows.

10 'Trucker' (2008)

Director: James Mottern

Truck driver, Diane Ford (Monaghan) is an independent woman with an 11-year-old son, Peter (Jimmy Bennett), who she never sees, which doesn't seem to phase her. When Peter's father, Len (Benjamin Bratt), becomes severely ill, he asks Ford to take care of their son until he can get back on his feet. Initially, Ford agrees to take Peter in for the time being, but as the mother and son get to know each other, Ford struggles with Peter interfering with her lifestyle and establishing a relationship with her son, who isn't too thrilled about the situation either.

The independent drama, Trucker, takes a genuine, detailed view into small-town life and features one of Monaghan's top-tier performances. While the movie has a rather predictable melodramatic storyline, Trucker still earned favorable reviews, noted for its accurate observations of a lesser known world as well as Monaghan and Nathan Fillion's natural on-screen dynamic. Film critic, Roger Ebert, named Trucker as one of the top ten best movies of 2009, mainly praising Monaghan's "remarkable" performance and writer and director, James Motten, in his feature film debut.

Watch on Tubi

9 'Fort Bliss' (2014)

Director: Claudia Myers

Monaghan stars in the 2014 war drama, Fort Bliss, as Staff Sergeant Maggie Swann, a decorated Army medic who, after serving an extended tour over in Afghanistan, finally returns home. While Swann adjusts back to civilian life, she struggles as a single mother to rebuild her relationship with her son, Paul (Oakes Fegley), as well as cope with the physical and mental impact she endured while serving overseas.

Unlike a majority of military and war films, Fort Bliss provides the rare perspective of a female officer who, after serving her country, tries to pick up the pieces of her former life while also coping with the trauma and events she witnessed during her tour. Monaghan gives one of her best dramatic performances in Fort Bliss, portraying an internally conflicted but loving mother who genuinely wants to mend the bond with her son but cannot escape the darkness of war and bloodshed. The film wasn't a major success but, overall, Fort Bliss earned positive reviews and is noted for demonstrating Monaghan's raw talent and range.

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8 'Mission: Impossible III' (2006)

Director: J.J. Abrams

Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent, Ethan Hunt, who, after retiring from fieldwork, has settled down with his fiancé and nurse, Julia Meade. Despite his retirement, Hunt is approached with a special mission to rescue one of his former proteges who has been captured while investigating a dangerous arms dealer, Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Hunt decides to return for one more mission and, with his former team assembled, he's catapulted into a tangled web of corruption and, of course, danger.

In Mission: Impossible III, Monaghan plays Hunt's future wife, Julia, who is unaware of Hunt's former job and eventually becomes a pawn in a dire scheme. Cruise and Monaghan have electric chemistry and when she is unwillingly thrown into the mix of the game, it adds a bit of comic relief to the rather intense scenario. Between her and Cruise's banter and surprising herself with how well she handles a high-risk situation, Mission: Impossible III is a solid example of how Monaghan can easily hold her own in an action-packed movie.

Mission: Impossible III

PG-13

IMF agent Ethan Hunt comes into conflict with a dangerous and sad*stic arms dealer who threatens his life and his fiancée in response.

Release Date

May 5, 2006

Director

J.J. Abrams

Cast

Tom Cruise , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Ving Rhames , Billy Crudup , Michelle Monaghan , Jonathan Rhys Meyers , Keri Russell , Maggie Q

Runtime

126 minutes

Main Genre

Action

Watch on Paramount+

7 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' (2018)

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

With the help of a CIA assassin, August Walker (Henry Cavill), Ethan Hunt and his IMF team are tasked with preventing a massive nuclear attack by an extremist, John Lark, and an ex-agent, Soloman Lane (Sean Harris), who has gone rouge and turned to international terrorism. As Hunt and his team embark on an intense race to find the weapons and the terrorists involved, the mission becomes complicated when Hunt learns that the location of his ex-wife, Julia Meade, has been discovered by Lark.

Monaghan gives a surprising return in Mission: Impossible - Fallout as Hunt's now ex-wife, Meade, who Hunt's colleagues believe was killed in a terrorist attack, but had secretly been placed in hiding for her own protection. According to Collider's Gregory Mysogland, Monaghan's return is the franchise's best reveal, noting how her character brings both humor and drama to the film while also upping the ante of the film's already intense plot. Even though she enters the story more than mid-way through, Monaghan's character raises the emotional stakes for Hunt and provides some answers to Cruise's multifaceted character.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

PG-13

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies, race against time after a mission gone wrong.

Release Date

July 27, 2018

Director

Christopher McQuarrie

Cast

Tom Cruise , Henry Cavill , Ving Rhames , Simon Pegg , Rebecca Ferguson

Runtime

147 minutes

Main Genre

Action

Watch on Paramount+

6 'Patriots Day' (2016)

Director: Peter Berg

During the annual Boston Marathon, two bombs explode near the crowded event, injuring dozens and even resulting in several unfortunate casualties. In the aftermath of the senseless attack, police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) along with an FBI agent, Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon), and Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), are in a race against the clock to track down the suspects and bring them in before they manage to escape the city.

The action thriller, Patriots Day is based on the Boston Marathon bombing which occurred on April 15, 2013, and gives an insider's view into the actions of the men and women who identified and apprehended the two suspects. Monaghan is riveting as Wahlberg's on-screen wife who is not only rocked by the tragic event but must also be strong for her husband who is in the thick of things and also trying to wrap his mind around what has happened. She might not have a major role in this gripping drama, but Monaghan, whose character is also a nurse, adds another perspective into the thick of things and experiences victims and survivors firsthand, bringing an empathetic ease and comfort to the tense story.

Patriots Day

R

Release Date

December 12, 2016

Director

Peter Berg

Cast

Alin Halajian , Melissa Benoist , Mark Wahlberg , Michelle Monaghan , J.K. Simmons , Kevin Bacon

Runtime

130

Main Genre

Drama

Watch on Netflix

5 'Source Code' (2011)

Director: Duncan Jones

After a bomb explodes on a commuter train, a military pilot, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), is assigned to try and figure out the suspect's identity by experiencing the last final moments of a victim on the train. As Stevens relives the victim's life over and over, he is soon confident that he can not only find out who is responsible for detonating the bomb but also possibly stop the event from occurring at all.

Source Code is one of the best time loop films and is considered to be a cross between the hit comedy, Groundhog Day, and Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express with a sci-fi twist. Monaghan stars as the friend and love interest of Gyllenhaal's character, Christina Warren, and soon becomes a major focus of the protagonist's mission. Source Code earned rave reviews from audiences and critics, including film critic, Roger Ebert, who gave the movie three and a half stars, calling it an "ingenious thriller." Monaghan beautifully executes her performance and again proves her immense capability to star alongside a powerhouse like Gyllenhaal in one of his best movies.

Source Code

PG-13

A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.

Release Date

April 1, 2011

Director

Duncan Jones

Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal , Michelle Monaghan , Vera Farmiga , Jeffrey Wright , Michael Arden , Cas Anvar , Russell Peters , Brent Skagford

Runtime

93 Minutes

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

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4 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (2005)

Director: Shane Black

Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) is a small-time crook who is on the run from the law, but when he accidentally finds himself auditioning for an upcoming mystery movie, he gets the part and is sent to Hollywood for a screen test. Once Lockhart arrives, he quickly finds himself in a complex web of a murder plot with a hardboiled private eye, Perry Van Shrike (Val Kilmer), and his childhood crush, Harmony Lane (Monaghan).

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a tongue-in-cheek neo-noir comedy partially based on the 1941 novel, Bodies Are Where You Find Them, written by Brett Halliday. Downey and Monaghan are a hilarious duo who compensate for their difficult pasts with blatant arrogance and disrespectful attitudes combined with hilarious deadpan humor. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is considered to be one of Monaghan's greatest breakthrough feature performances and expertly plays off her established co-stars with incredible comedic timing and seductive swagger.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

R

After being mistaken for an actor, a New York thief is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery.

Release Date

November 11, 2005

Director

Shane Black

Cast

Robert Downey Jr. , Val Kilmer , Michelle Monaghan , Corbin Bernsen , Dash Mihok , Larry Miller , Rockmond Dunbar , Shannyn Sossamon

Runtime

103 Minutes

Main Genre

Crime

Rent on Amazon Prime

3 'The Path' (2016-2018)

Creator: Jessica Goldberg

In Upstate New York, Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul), his wife, Sarah (Monaghan), and their two children are all members of a spiritual group known as the Meyerism Movement. During a trip to Peru, Eddie has a spiritual revelation about the founder of Meyerism, Stephen Meyers, causing him to question his faith in the movement. When Eddie returns home, he doesn't share his experience with anyone, including Sarah, who is a major figure in the movement, and after a while, she becomes suspicious of her husband and his level of faith.

Monaghan stars in the Hulu original drama series, The Path, as Sarah Lane, who was born into Meyerism and has cultivated immense authority and power within the movement. Using her natural charm and alluring beauty, Monaghan does a phenomenal job at portraying a seemingly innocent girl next door, but as the series progresses, her true colors begin to meticulously show through her facade. The Path earned generally positive reviews and was noted for its deep writing and powerful performances by the overall cast and, while it has its fair share of moments that drag, it's still worth watching to see the finale end results.

Watch on Hulu

2 'Gone Baby Gone' (2007)

Director: Ben Affleck

When a little girl goes missing from her home, a private eye, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck), is hired to investigate the circ*mstances surrounding the girl's disappearance and hopefully bring her home safely. With the help of his partner, Angie Gennaro (Monaghan), they begin tracking down leads and talking to friends and family of the girl's mother, but as they dig further into the crime, they discover a massive conspiracy contrived with good intentions.

Gone Baby Gone is a thrilling twist of a mystery that also stars Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, and Titus Weaver. Monaghan delivers a compassionate but tough character who perfectly aligns with Affleck's character and holds her own in an ensemble cast of all-stars. The film earned overall positive reviews, praising the film's director, Ben Affleck, for his exceptional direction as well as the riveting performances by the cast who effortlessly bring the working-class folks and rough streets of Boston authentically to life on the silver screen.

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1 'True Detective' (2014)

Creator: Nic Pizzolatto

Louisiana homicide detectives, Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) are called out to a horrific scene of a young woman who appears to be a victim of some satanic ritual or cult. As the investigation sends both detectives into a rabbit hole of trauma and corruption, Hart tries to keep his marriage and family intact while Chole struggles to come to terms with his unfortunate past full of loss and devastation. Years later, the detectives are questioned about their investigation and must recount the gruesome details of the case that changed their lives forever.

True Detective is an intense psychological crime series that features some of the finest performances by the lead cast, including Monaghan, who plays Harrelson's patient, empathetic wife, Maggie. Monaghan's character is vital and essentially keeps both men afloat during their investigation, which seems to consume them both more and more each day. While both McConaughey and Harrelson earned praise for their roles, Monaghan is the unsung hero in True Detective, delivering a passionate but hauntingly beautiful character who is inadvertently thrown into the middle of the unwavering chaos and deafening darkness of this torrid tale.

True Detective

TV-MA

Crime

Drama

Mystery

Anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.

Release Date

January 12, 2014

Creator

Nic Pizzolatto

Cast

Mahershala Ali , Stephen Dorff , Matthew McConaughey , Woody Harrelson , Jodie Foster , Kali Reis , Colin Farrell , Rachel McAdams , Vince Vaughn

Main Genre

Crime

Seasons

4

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