Poppy Montgomery

Poppy Montgomery
Montgomery in May 2015
Born	Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donaghue (1972-06-19) 19 June 1972 (age 44) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Citizenship	Australia / United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Shawn Sanford (m. 2014)
Partner(s)	Adam Kaufman (2005-2011)
Children	3

Poppy Montgomery (born Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donaghue; 19 June 1972) is an Australian-American actress. She played FBI agent Samantha Spade on the CBS mystery drama Without a Trace from 2002 to 2009, and played Detective Carrie Wells on the CBS/A&E police drama Unforgettable from 2011 to 2016.

Montgomery was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to Nicola (née Montgomery), an executive and market researcher, and Phil Donahue, a restaurateur. She is one of six children. Her parents named all their daughters after flowers – Rosie, Daisy, Lily and Marigold, and their son Jethro Tull, after the rock band Jethro Tull.

Montgomery disliked school, being expelled from six private academies before finally dropping out at the age of 15 to pursue stage acting and to travel around Bali with her then boyfriend. Montgomery emigrated to the United States at the age of 18, arriving in Florida to meet a boyfriend whom she had met when he was an exchange student. After five days, she realized that "[she] couldn't stand him" and took a bus to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

When Montgomery moved to Los Angeles, she stayed with two of her brother's friends while sending a head shot every day to Julia Roberts' former manager, Bob McGowan, until he signed her. She appeared in several small television roles through the late-1990s, including NYPD Blue.

Her first big break was when she won the role of Marilyn Monroe in the 2001 CBS miniseries Blonde, based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel. The next role she was offered was a starring role as Samantha Spade on the CBS mystery drama Without a Trace. The series revolved around a missing-persons unit of the FBI in New York City. On being offered the part, she later said, "They (the producers) called me up and said, 'Will you do it?' I said, 'Um' and they said, 'Anthony LaPaglia is in it' and I said, 'sure'. It was that simple." Montgomery portrayed Samantha Spade for seven seasons, from when the show began on 26 September 2002 until it ended on 19 May 2009.