She became widely known for starring as the title character in the CW action series Nikita from 2010 to 2013.

Maggie Q is an American actress who launched her career in Hong Kong action films before breaking into Hollywood with Mission: Impossible III (2006). She starred as the title character in the CW series Nikita (2010-2013), appeared in the Divergent film franchise as Tori Wu, and played FBI agent Hannah Wells in Designated Survivor (2016-2019). In 2025, she began starring as Detective Renée Ballard in the Prime Video series Ballard.

Born Margaret Denise Quigley on May 22, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Vietnamese mother and Irish-Polish American father who met during the Vietnam War. She was a competitive athlete at Mililani High School, winning an athletics scholarship to study veterinary science, but left Hawaii at 17 to model in Tokyo and eventually Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Jackie Chan became her mentor, training her intensively in martial arts and stunts despite her having no prior martial arts experience.

Maggie Q stands 5 feet 6 inches tall and is deaf in her left ear. She dated actor Dylan McDermott from 2014 to 2019 after meeting on the set of Stalker, and they were engaged from January 2015 until their split. She is a committed vegan and animal rights activist who has campaigned with PETA and refuses to wear fur in her films. She practices Buddhism after being raised Catholic and has four siblings.