Maggie Q
ALL ABOUT MAGGIE Q
Full Name: Maggie Denise Quigley
Date of Birth: 22 May 1979
Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Profession: Actress, Model
Relationship: Daniel Henney, Daniel Wu
Bio:
A former top model and established film actress in Hong Kong and across Asia, Maggie Q made her U.S. debut in “Mission: Impossible III.”
Born in Hawaii to an American father and a Vietnamese mother, Q moved to Hong Kong at the age of 18 to pursue a career in modeling. She quickly rose to the status of supermodel in many parts of Asia and appeared on more than 100 magazine covers including various Asian editions of Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Madame Figaro, Marie Claire, and Elle.
Q began her acting career in the highly acclaimed Asian television drama “House of the Dragon,” which opened the door to feature films. She starred along side Paul Rudd in the movie “Gen-Y Cops” (2000), a film produced by Jackie Chan, who was so impressed by her acting in his movie, that he cast her in the award-winning film “Manhattan Midnight” (2001). In addition to starring in numerous Chinese films, including the popular “Naked Weapon” (2002), Q also starred in several European films such as Italy’s Rai Entertainment film “The Counting House” (2006) and the Germany/Singapore two-part television movie, “House of Harmony” (2005).
After recovering from her first US press rounds for “MI:3,” Q will star opposite Dan Fogler, George Lopez and Christopher Walken in Spyglass Entertainment/Rogue Pictures’ “Balls of Fury” (lensed 2006), a comedy about an ex-ping pong champion who enters the secret world of ping pong to find the man who killed his father.
Trivia:
Shortened her last name from Quigley to Q in order to make it easier for Chinese audiences to pronounce.
Spokesmodel for Shiseido cosmetics.
Sometimes credited as: Mei-Kei Lei; Meiqi Li; Maggie M. Quigley; Maggie Quigley
Of Vietnamese and Irish-American descent. Raised in Hawaii.
Was a fashion model and television personality before she became a movie actress.
Is the youngest of five children.
Although she is actually Vietnamese-American, Maggie pursued modeling careers first in Japan, then Taiwan, then Hong Kong. Her transition into acting was almost coincidental and since then she has become both a top model and actress in Hong Kong, along with garnering a certain amount of fame across Asia.
For her first several Hong Kong films, since Maggie could not actually speak Cantonese - she actually had to learn her lines phonetically. Some lines may also have been dubbed.
Mentions in an interview that her favorite food is Vietnamese food, since that’s the food she grew up with at home.
Is Eurasian like fellow actresses Devon Aoki, China Chow, Kelly Hu, Kristin Kreuk, ‘Jaymee Ong and actors Andrew Johnston, Brandon Lee, Keanu Reeves, Rob Schneider, Russell Wong and Michael Wong.
Her Vietnamese mother met her Irish-American father while he was stationed in Vietnam.
Maggie’s unique look made her a popular attraction and before long she was gracing the covers of major publications such as Cosmopolitan, Harpers Bazaar, Elle, FHM, and Marie Claire.
A huge star in Hong Kong TV and movies, Maggie has also enjoyed roles in American films like Rush Hour 2, Around the World in 80 Days and Mission: Impossible III
She ended a highly-publicised relationship with Chinese-American actor Daniel Wu in 2001. The couple were an item before either of them became famous.
Quotes:
On Doing Stunts: “I got smashed in the face with a piece of two-by-four which left one side of my face completely black for two weeks. I’m also deaf in one ear where my eardrum was blown out in an explosive stunt.”
(on how she got her name shortened to just Maggie Q): What happened was when I was living and working in Hong Kong, one of the biggest newspapers there when they first started writing about me, around seven/eight years ago, they couldn’t pronounce last name. I think to them it was just like, ‘Oh, uh.’ And so they printed Q, Maggie Q. And because it was a big paper, everyone followed them.
Filmography:
Maggie Q Filmography as an Actress:
2007 Live Free or Die Hard
2007 The Tourist
2007 Balls of Fury
2006 Mission: Impossible III
2004 Rice Rhapsody
2003 Naked Weapon
2000 Gen-Y Cops
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