Dominic Monaghan

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
Years active	1996 - present
Awards won Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Cast - Motion Picture 2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Best Ensemble - Drama Series 2005 Lost

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

Biography

Early life

Monaghan was born in Berlin, Germany. At the age of twelve, his family moved from Germany to Heaton Moor in Stockport, Greater Manchester,^[2] and later to Manchester. Monaghan's first language is English, but he also speaks German and is well known for his ability to impersonate others and replicate accents. 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.

Although he had many occupations when he was younger, he always wanted to be an actor. After his second year at St. Anne's, he became a regular in school plays such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and Bugsy Malone. Monaghan then went on to join Manchester Youth Theatre where he was scouted for Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. 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.

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.^[3]

Monaghan narrated Ringers: Lord of the Fans, a documentary about Lord of the Rings fandom. 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. Several other cast members also got similar tattoos during the film's production. On his left arm is a tattoo saying "Living is easy with eyes closed", a line from The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever". He also has two stars tattooed on his left ankle.^[4]

Has been dating his former Lost co-star Evangeline Lilly since 2004. Last year the couple broke up, but 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). ^[5]

Monaghan resides in Los Angeles, California. He is currently working on a script with LOTR co-star Billy Boyd.^[6]

He is a supporter of Manchester United Football Club.

Monaghan has been confirmed to have been cast in the X-Men movie spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Barnell Bohusk / Beak.

Filmography

Films

Television

Footnotes

External links

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