Dominic Monaghan schools U of O actors

Lost star warns students of pitfalls of acting

by Tegan Bridge and Charlotte Bailey

photo by Hisham Kelati

Published: Nov 3

ON OCT. 22, hundreds of University of Ottawa students were present at a practical talk sponsored by the theatre department, and given by famed actor Dominic Monaghan. Students, who had lined up in the stairwells outside for over half an hour before the doors opened, filled theatre seats and stood in the aisles to hear words of wisdom from the professional performer. Monaghan—best known for his roles of Charlie Pace in Lost and Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord Of The Rings—spoke about his experiences, as well as the trials and rewards of acting.

“I've been extremely fortunate in terms of the jobs I've been lucky enough to take,” said Monaghan at the event. “I appreciated when actors would come in and talk to me, and I’d like to give back when I can.”

Monaghan is currently in Ottawa filming a post-apocalyptic thriller called The Day, but made time to speak at both the U of O and Algonquin College. Monaghan’s goal was to offer theatre students solid advice for careers in acting, using his personal experiences to help others.

“You need passion for that type of thing, for this job, because it's all-consuming,” explained Monaghan. “It has an effect on all facets of your life: your relationship with your parents, your family, your friends. Things that make you happy in your life tend to be compromised to a certain extent by the drive that you have for acting.”

His speech spoke to the realities of a career as an actor; the positives, but also the challenges that he has encountered. His first professional audition, for example, was for a TV show and even though he thought he did well at the audition, he didn't get the part. His agent told him not to take it to heart, and that they just went for someone else.

“Sometimes it's not about nailing the audition,” said Monaghan. “Sometimes they want someone who's six-foot-two, or they want someone that's five-foot-three, or someone with green eyes, or someone with three legs. And you just don't have that.”

Although he has experienced good fortune in this industry, Monaghan has also had to deal with dissapointment in his career; namely, the uncertainty that comes in a field like acting. According to him, only half the roles one is awarded actually make it to the production stages. He was offered his dream job—a role playing a football player—and was bitterly disappointed when the project fell through. However, had he taken that role and the job worked out, he wouldn't have been able to play Merry in The Lord Of The Rings.

Monaghan also spoke about how rewarding his experiences have been. He addressed his Lord of the Rings days, saying that he would “do anything for Peter Jackson.” He also spoke about how attached he became to the people he worked with on the set of the hit TV show Lost.

“For me, it's not just a show: it's friends, and people I love, and experiences, and memories,” explained Monaghan. “And it's all wound up in this Lost thing. For me, it's surfing, and chameleons, and being in love, and the sun, and the ocean, and, you know, having arguments, and crying, and getting drunk. That's Lost for me—it's not just this TV show.”

Although Monaghan’s speech might have been a sobering occurrence, his message was clear: if one is really passionate about performing, they should be relentless in their pursuit.

“[There are] sacrifices you have to make because of the job that you've chosen to do,” said Monaghan. “It's a great job and I love it. But it comes at a price.”