Michelle Monaghan recalls non-‘Sleepless’ times in Chicago

LOS ANGELES — Though Michelle Monaghan was born in Iowa and grew up there, the actress clearly remembers trips to nearby Chicago as a kid.

“My first memory was my parents taking me to a Cubs game and going to Wrigley Field. We loved sports in my family,” she said.

Beyond that baseball game experience, Monaghan noted that from those first visits, she made a decision “that truly had a huge impact on the rest of my life.

“Since Chicago was the first big city I experienced, that skyline, that urban environment was what I came to think of as the kind of place I would want to go after high school. I determined very early on that is where I wanted to go when I went to college.”

Her choice ended up being Columbia College Chicago, where the future model and actress would end up majoring in journalism.

“I think for some reason I wanted to perform on some level, but I grew up in a town of 700 people [in Winthrop, Iowa]. Back then, I didn’t know that acting was even a possibility. But looking back, I think I figured out journalism was a possible way for me to perform — likely as a television reporter or something like that.

“Interestingly, I still do the old journalism drill of asking the five ‘W’s’ of ‘who, what, where, when and why,’ plus I add ‘how’ when I consider a role and prepare for it. … So it’s nice for my parents that all that money they spent on my college tuition in Chicago didn’t go to waste!”

During our interview alongside her “Sleepless” co-star Jamie Foxx, Monaghan’s reminiscences led the Oscar winner to recall his own Chicago experiences early in his career.

“312, at 8th and Wabash,” said Foxx, making note of a comedy club — an outpost of Michael Williams’ Los Angeles Comedy Act Theater — where he once did stand-up. “The comedy scene in Chicago was incredible. Michael Williams did a comedy scene in Chicago where all the black comedians would perform in the early ’90s. There was a lot of great comedy that went through there. There were great comics like [the late] Bernie Mac that I got to watch and meet and hang out with.”

It’s a big weekend for Monaghan, who has two films hitting theaters in wide release across the country. Along with “Sleepless,” Monaghan also co-stars in “Patriots Day,” playing the wife of a police sergeant (Mark Wahlberg) investigating the Boston Marathon bombing.

“Our main goal,” she said,”was to tell this important story about some amazing people — the survivors and the families of those who were tragically killed in the bombing. … I think [director] Peter Berg did that beautifully.”

In “Sleepless,” Monaghan plays an internal affairs agent at the Las Vegas Police Department who believes Foxx’s Vincent Downs character is a corrupt cop. Downs, an undercover police officer, finds himself stuck between a group of crooked cops, internal affairs and some very dangerous drug dealers when a cocaine heist goes wrong — leaving Downs totally exposed.

As retaliation, Downs’ teen son is kidnapped and he must race the clock over one night to both get his son freed and arrest the bad guys. Monaghan spends most of the movie chasing after Foxx.

According to Monaghan, “I’m a bit of a tomboy, so I like being in an action film. I grew up with older brothers, so I’m used to running away from somebody. It was nice to chase somebody else for a change.”