Checking in with CAMERON MONAGHAN
Cameron Monaghan couldn’t ask for two more dissimilar characters and productions than the ones on which he appears these days.
On “Gotham,” which airs Thursdays on Fox, Monaghan gets to play it over the top as criminally insane murderer Jerome Valeska, a character he calls “fantastical and monstrous and both goofy and very harsh and brutal.” While on “Shameless,” which will soon go into production on its ninth season, he’s the more subdued Ian Gallagher, the strong-willed, bipolar, gay third child of the hardscrabble Chicago clan at the center of the Showtime comedy/drama.
“Obviously, a huge shift in tone and focus,” the 24-year-old actor says, “You know, ‘Shameless’ is so rough-and-tumble and everything is shot hand-held. It has this sort of grit to it and it’s about the reality of the harshness and also the ironies of the world but it’s on a smaller and more focused and character-based level. And obviously, ‘Shameless’ exists in its own little heightened reality of itself.”
“But when you get to something like ‘Gotham,’ ” he continues, “obviously we’re working with these massive sets on soundstages. We’re working with cranes and all sorts of crazy rigs and closed-down streets and old cars and props and gunfights and all this stuff and it’s based off these existing properties. Everything is bigger and things take longer to shoot and all these things . ... At the end of the day, you’re coming in to play and to try to invent something with everyone and sometimes with a larger production like this you have to plan ahead a little bit more to reveal these fun moments.
“But regardless at the end of the day, I’m still just this kid who gets to play like I’m on the playground,” he says with a laugh, “and mess around with these ridiculous characters. It’s awesome.” Full name: Cameron Riley Monaghan Birth date: Aug. 16, 1993 Birthplace: Santa Monica, Calif. (but raised in Boca Raton, Fla.) Family ties: Is the only child of Diane Monaghan, an insurance claims specialist and single mother Marital status: single, in a relationship with actress Peyton List
Other TV credits include: “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Threshold,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “Criminal Minds,” “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide,” “Numb3rs,” “The Mentalist,” “Monk,” “Fringe,” “The Glades,” “Terriers,” “NCIS,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Mercy Street,” “Son of Zorn”
Movie credits include: “The Wishing Stone” (2002), “The Music Man” (TV, 2003), “Click” (2006), “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006), “Dog Gone” (2008), “Another Harvest Moon” (2010), “Prom” (2011), “Vampire Academy” (2014), “Mall” (2014), “Amityville: The Awakening” (2017)
Favorite book: “When I was a teenager, I read this young adult novel called ‘Feed’ by M.T. Anderson. And it’s sort of about this dystopian world where everyone has chips in their heads and they feed into this sort of advanced internet, and it’s written through the character’s own perspective . ... It’s something that to this day I still think about it a lot. So I don’t know if it’s my absolute favorite but it’s definitely up there.” Favorite musical artists: “I really like SZA right now and that’s because my girlfriend got me into her, but I really enjoy her tone. I’m listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar, obviously as everybody is. I love a lot of old soul, so like Marvin Gaye or Otis Redding. It’s mood-dependent. It’s one of those things where If I said one specific artist I’d wake up tomorrow just regretting that decision.”