Maika Monroe

Maika Monroe is an American actress. She is most notable for her leading roles in The Guest and It Follows, which established her as a scream queen. Such roles recurred in the horror films Villains and Longlegs.
She also starred in the thrillers Greta and Watcher. Aside from her horror and thriller roles Monroe appears in the action film Independence Day: Resurgence, the neo-noir Hot Summer Nights and the action film God Is a Bullet.

Early life, family and education

Maika Monroe was born Dillon Monroe Buckley on May 29, 1993, in Santa Barbara, California. Her mother was a sign language interpreter, and her father worked in construction. She later changed her first name to Maika, by which she had already been known for most of her life.
At age 17, Monroe left Santa Barbara and moved to Cabarete, Dominican Republic, to continue training in kiteboarding after spending the previous summer there. She completed her senior year of high school online.

Career

Acting

Monroe made her acting debut with a small role on Eleventh Hour, a drama series. Three years later, she made her film debut in the 2012 drama At Any Price, playing Cadence Farrow. She relocated to Los Angeles for the film, and credits the part for encouraging her to continue acting.
In 2013, she played a minor character in Sofia Coppola's crime film The Bling Ring. She next appeared in the drama film Labor Day as Mandy, a farm girl who romances with a young man and eventually becomes his wife and the mother of his child. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, and it was released that same year.
In 2014, Monroe achieved a career breakthrough with two films. She played Anna Peterson in the psychological thriller film The Guest, and headlined the horror film It Follows as Jamie "Jay" Height. The latter premiered at the 67th Cannes Film Festival and established Monroe as a scream queen. Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Chris Nashawaty said the film was "airtight" because of "Monroe’s moody teenage authenticity". Both films garnered a cult following while It Follows ranks among the best horror films of the 2010s.
In 2015, Monroe appeared in the Western film Echoes of War. In 2016, she starred in the invasion thriller film The 5th Wave, based on the novel of the same name. Also that year, Monroe starred in the science fiction film Independence Day: Resurgence, the sequel to Independence Day, playing former First Daughter Patricia Whitmore.
In 2017, Monroe starred alongside Timothée Chalamet in the neo-noir coming-of-age film Hot Summer Nights as his girlfriend McKayla. In 2019, Monroe played Sandra in drama film Honey Boy. In 2020, Monroe portrayed Cindy Williams in the Canadian mystery thriller Flashback.
In 2022, Monroe played Julia in Watcher, the psychological thriller feature directorial debut of Chloe Okuno. In 2023, Monroe played Case in the film God Is a Bullet, an adaption of the 1999 novel of the same name.
Monroe was cast as Lee Harker in the horror film Longlegs alongside Nicolas Cage. Monroe said the role was "incredibly impactful for me. It also felt unique, and it was something I had never done. Lee is so incredibly different from who I am and how I move through life." On working with Cage, she said that "He's the best. He's such a genuine human." The film was released in 2024 and became the highest grossing independent feature of that year.

Other

Monroe is also a professional kiteboarder, as of 2015.

Personal life

Monroe was in a relationship with actor Joe Keery from 2017 to 2022. Since 2023, she has been dating real-estate agent Dalton Gomez.
Monroe has also been romantically linked to actor Zac Efron.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	At Any Price	Cadence Farrow
2013	The Bling Ring	Beach Girl
2013	Labor Day	Mandy Chambers
2014	The Guest	Anna Peterson
2014	It Follows	Jamie "Jay" Height
2015	Echoes of War	Abigail Riley
2015	Burned	Lila	Short film
2016	The 5th Wave	Ringer
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	Patricia Whitmore
2017	Hot Summer Nights	McKayla Strawberry
2017	The Scent of Rain and Lightning	Jody Linder
2017	Bokeh	Jenai
2017	Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House	Joan Felt
2017	I'm Not Here	Karen
2017	The Tribes of Palos Verdes	Medina Mason
2018	After Everything	Mia
2018	Tau	Julia	Also executive producer
2018	Greta	Erica Penn
2019	Honey Boy	Sandra
2019	Villains	Jules
2019	How To Be Alone	Lucy	Short film
2020	Brothers by Blood	Grace
2020	Flashback	Cindy Williams
2022	Watcher	Julia
2022	Significant Other	Ruth Miller	Also executive producer
2023	God Is a Bullet	Case Hardin
2024	Longlegs	Agent Lee Harker
2025	In Cold Light	Ava
2025	100 Nights of Hero	Cherry
2025	The Hand That Rocks the Cradle	Polly Murphy / Rebecca
2026		Kenna Rowan	Completed
		Heidi	Post-production
		Winifred Notty	Filming