Poppy Montgomery facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Poppy Montgomery
Montgomery in May 2015
Born	Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donahue (1972-06-15) June 15, 1972 (age 53) Sydney, 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 Donahue on June 15, 1972) is an actress from both Australia and the United States. She is well-known for playing FBI agent Samantha Spade in the TV show Without a Trace. This mystery drama was on CBS from 2002 to 2009. She also starred as Detective Carrie Wells in the police procedural show Unforgettable from 2011 to 2016.

Growing Up

Poppy Montgomery was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her mother, Nicola, worked as an executive. Her father, Phil Donahue, owned restaurants. Poppy is one of six children in her family. Her parents gave all their daughters flower names: Poppy, Rosie, Daisy, Lily, and Marigold. Their son was named Jethro Tull, after a famous rock band.

Poppy didn't enjoy school very much. She was asked to leave six different private schools. When she was 15, she decided to drop out of school. She wanted to try acting on stage. She also traveled to Bali with her boyfriend at the time. At 18, Poppy moved to the United States. She went to Florida to meet a boyfriend she knew from when he was an exchange student. But after just five days, she realized they didn't get along. So, she took a bus to Los Angeles to start her acting career.

Her Acting Career

When Poppy Montgomery arrived in Los Angeles, she stayed with friends. She sent a photo of herself every day to Bob McGowan, who used to manage Julia Roberts. Eventually, he agreed to represent her. In the late 1990s, she got a few small roles on TV. One of these was on the show NYPD Blue.

Poppy's big chance came in 2001. She won the role of Marilyn Monroe in the CBS miniseries Blonde. This show was based on a book by Joyce Carol Oates. Her next important role was playing Samantha Spade on the CBS mystery drama Without a Trace. This show was about an FBI team in New York City that found missing people. Poppy played Samantha Spade for seven seasons. The show started on September 26, 2002, and ended on May 19, 2009.

In 2011, Poppy Montgomery finished filming a TV movie called Magic Beyond Words. In this movie, she played J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books.

That same year, she started a new show called Unforgettable. This was a police procedural drama on CBS. Poppy played Carrie Wells, a former detective. Carrie has a special memory condition called hyperthymesia. This means she can remember everything perfectly. She uses her amazing memory to help solve crimes for the NYPD in Queens. The show ran for 22 episodes in its first season. It was first cancelled in 2012, but then brought back for more seasons. Unforgettable had a second season with 13 episodes and a third season with 13 episodes. After the third season, CBS cancelled it again. But in 2015, the A&E channel picked up the show for a fourth season. This season had 13 episodes and aired from November 2015 to January 2016. The series was finally cancelled in February 2016.

Family Life

Montgomery in 2009

Poppy Montgomery met actor Adam Kaufman in 2005. They worked together again in the 2010 TV movie Lying to be Perfect. In 2007, Adam Kaufman joined the cast of Without a Trace. He played Brian Donovan, who was Samantha's boyfriend on the show. In June 2007, Poppy announced she was expecting a baby with Adam. Her pregnancy was even written into the storyline of season six. Their son, Jackson Phillip, was born on December 23, 2007. Poppy's co-star from Without a Trace, Anthony LaPaglia, became Jackson's godfather. In 2011, Poppy and Adam Kaufman separated.

Later in 2011, Poppy began dating Shawn Sanford. He worked as a director for Microsoft. They met in Puerto Rico. In April 2013, Poppy gave birth to their daughter, Violet Grace. In November 2014, their son Gus Monroe was born. On April 4, 2014, Poppy shared on the show Live! with Kelly and Michael that she and Shawn got married. They had a wedding at Disneyland on Chinese New Year, with their children there.

Poppy Montgomery is a citizen of both Australia and the United States. In 2013, she moved from Los Angeles to New York City. This was so she could keep filming Unforgettable.

Movies and TV Shows

Film

Television

See also

In Spanish: Poppy Montgomery para niños