Maggie Q Biography

Birth Name : Margaret Denise Quigley

Date of Birth : 22 May 1979, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Height : 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Occupation : Actress

Born and raised in Hawaii, Maggie Denise Quigley's parents met during the Vietnam War. Her father is Irish American and her mother is Vietnamese. After Maggie graduated from high school, she began modeling and traveled through Asia before winding up in the Hong Kong movie business. Unable to speak Cantonese, she had to learn her lines phonetically. After being cast in a bit role in Rush Hour 2 starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, she began to make a name for herself in Asia, and the media shortened her last name to Q because the Chinese found her full name difficult to pronounce.

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.