Maggie Q life and biography

Maggie Q is an American actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.

Q was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father works for a government, and is of Irish, and Polish descent. Her mother is a golf course employee, and is a Vietnamese immigrant. Her parents met while her father was stationed in Vietnam during the war. Q grew up with four siblings.

Q attended Mililani Waena Elementary School and Wheeler Intermediate School. She also attended Mililani High School, where she was on the cross country, track and field, and swim teams. She won the title of "Best Bod" senior year, and graduated from Mililani High School in 1997.

Maggie Q started her acting career in the TV drama House of the Dragon, which was a huge hit in Asia. In 2000, she made her film debut as Anna in the horror film Model from Hell. She retrieved her surname, at least for her character, as FBI agent Jane Quigley in the action thriller Gen-Y Cops the same year. Her performance impressed Jackie Chan, who saw her potential as an action star. At the time, though, that was all acting.

"I had never done a day of martial arts in my life when I started in the business," Q said. "I couldn't even touch my toes," a possible exaggeration by the former athlete. But she credits Chan's professionalism and dedication, including doing stunts, for really launching her, with roles in Manhattan Midnight and Rush Hour 2.

In 2002, Quigley starred as martial arts assassin Charlene Ching in the Naked Weapon. In 2005, she played Harmony in the German-Singaporean TV mini-series House of Harmony, opposite Fann Wong. That same year, she also co-produced the animal treatment documentary Earthlings narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. The following year, she moved on to a big-budget American movie, appearing with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III as Zhen, the only female member of the IMF team.

More commerce followed in 2007, when Maggie played opposite Bruce Willis as Mai Linh in Live Free or Die Hard. That same year, she was also Maggie in Balls of Fury. The next year, Q stepped up to her first Chinese costume drama as the fictional Cao Ying, a granddaughter of the warlord Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon. In the West, she appeared in the thriller Deception with Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman.

Maggie Q is also big in pixels, starring in the Need for Speed: Undercover installment of the video game series. Naturally, she is the seductive lead character, federal agent Chase Linh, who is the player's only contact to the Tri-City Police.

In 2010, Maggie made a splash on the CW network's new version of Nikita. Based on Luc Besson's movie La Femme Nikita, which already inspired an American movie and TV series. The new version takes up where the old series left off, with Nikita escaped from her murderous former employers and interfering with their nefarious plots. Q resembles to Anne Parillaud, the slightly built but energetic French brunette who originated the role.

Maggie Quigley has been a vegetarian for many years, and was featured in two almost nude ads for PETA Asia-Pacific. She was also responsible for the removal of all real fur from the wardrobe on Three Kingdoms. In 2008, Maggie was name PETA Asia-Pacific's "Person of the Year," and as one of its "Best-Dressed Celebrities."

Q has three tattoos, one being a phoenix on her hip, which she has had to conceal for most of her roles, but is nicely visible at times in Nikita. She lives in Los Angeles with her seven rescued dogs. Maggie is a lifelong advocate for animals, working a number of groups.

"I remember being a child and feeling a really close connection to the natural world," she told peoplepets.com. "Dogs, birds, cats, rabbits it didn't matter. They were my refuge. That connection helped me through a lot of awkward stages."

Shortly after moving to Hong Kong, and before her success, she stopped by the local SPCA to make a donation although "I was really poor at the time," Maggie told the interviewer. Of course, she went to look at the dogs and fell in love with a white puppy.

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