Maggie Q - Biography

Who is Maggie Q?

Maggie Q is an actress, model, animal rights activist by profession and American by nationality. She is well known for starring in Nikita, Designated Survivor, Mission: Impossible III, Live Free or Die Hard, Queen of Canton.

Maggie Q – Age, Parents, Siblings, Education, Ethnicity

Maggie Q’s birth took place on May 22, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. She was born as Margaret Denise Quigley to the father of Irish, Polish descent and immigrant mother of Vietnamese ethnicity. Her parents had first met during the Vietnam war and her father was stationed in Vietnam.

young Maggie Q (Image: Instagram)

She is not the only child of her parents and has 4 silbings- two older sisters and two older half-siblings from her mother’s previous marriage. Her sisters are named Andrea Quigley, Maria Quigley, Nicole Quigley and brother is named Martin Quigley. Their ethnicity is Multi-ethnic (Irish, Polish, Vietnamese).

Maggie Q received her primary education from Mililani Waena Elementary School and Wheeler Intermediate School. Later she attended Mililani High School where she was an active athlete. She was on her school’s cross country, track, and field, and swim teams. She graduated in 1997.

Q was awarded an athletics scholarship to a private university where she had intended to study veterinary science. However, as her family could not support her financially, she left her hometown in the summer to work and earn enough money so that she could join the college in the fall.

Maggie Q – Career

Early Career

At the age of 17, Maggie Q began modeling in Tokyo, Japan. She then moved to Taipei, Taiwan but struggled to find work. Her next move to HongKong, where she began to use the stage name “Maggie Q” as Asian audiences could not pronounce Quigley, was not also not easy. 

Maggie Q first began working as a model (Image: Pinterest)

Fortunately, she was discovered by Jackie Chan. Chan taught her the importance of professionalism and advised her to do her own stunts.

Maggie Q, who had never done martial arts, began to learn it for the entertainment business. Finally in 1998, then 19-year-old Q became a sensation in Asian countries as she had been cast as the recurring character Devine in the TV drama House of the Dragon.

After a few successful hits in the Hong Kong cinema, she was cast in 2001’s Rush Hour 2 which gained her recognition in Hollywood.

Films, Series, PETA

Since her breakthrough role, Maggie Q has starred in over 2 dozen films including Naked Weapon (2002), Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Deception (2008), Priest (2011), The Divergent Series (2015, 2016), Fantasy Island (2020), The Argument.

In TV series, Q has had a recurring role in Young Justice (2012-2019) and lead/main role in Nikita (2010-2013), Stalker (2014-2015), Designated Survivor (2016-2019), Queen of Canton.

In addition, Q is also an animal rights activist. She has been a PETA spokesperson and was named Person of the Year by PETA Asia-Pacific in 2007.

Co-stars

On the set of Fantasy Island, Maggie Q has worked with Michael Peña, Jimmy O. Yang, Nathalie Emmanuel, Charlotte McKinney.

Maggie Q – Awards, Nominations

Maggie Q has been nominated for several awards- Young Hollywood Awards (2014), Teen Choice Awards (2011, 2012, 2013), IGN Summer Movie Awards (2010, 2012), TV Guide Awards (2013). 

Among her nominations, she has won the Asian Excellence Awards (2007), Hawaii International Film Festival (2009).

Maggie Q – Boyfriend, Husband, Children, Divorce

Since her rise to fame in her late teens, Maggie Q has been in several high profile relationships. She has dated  Daniel Wu,  Daniel Henney (2005), Justin Long (2007), Brett Ratner (2008 – 2010).

She began a romantic relationship with her Stalker co-star, Dylan McDermott, in 2014. And on January 14, 2015, it was announced that she and her longtime boyfriend have gotten engaged. 

Maggie Q, Dylan McDermot (Image: Getty Images)

However after 4 year-long engagement, in February 2019, the couple split instead of getting married.

Currently, Q is single, sans husband, children and as she has never been married, divorce is out of context.

Maggie Q – Net Worth, Salary

Her net worth has been estimated to be around $9 million while the figure on her annual salary has not been shared with the public,

Maggie Q – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Maggie Q is active with several hundred thousand followers and counting.