Monica Barbaro and her on-screen father in FUBAR have perfected the art of lying to each other: both have worked as secret CIA operatives for years without the other’s knowledge. Barbaro’s real-life parents divorced when she was young, but she maintained a close relationship with her father. Monica often accompanied her father, a season-ticket holder, to San Francisco Giants games.
Monica Barbaro is Italian, Mexican, German, English, and Welsh
Monica Barbaro was born on 17th June 1989 to Nicholas Barbaro and Heidi Wagner. Nicholas is of Italian descent; Heidi is Mexican, German, English, and Welsh.
Discussing her role in At Midnight, Monica accused Hollywood of misrepresenting Mexican and Italian people. At Midnight, a romantic comedy, mostly takes place in Mexico City, where the main characters fall in love. Monica explained:
“I have Mexican and Italian heritage and it’s funny because if I only watched movies to learn about my history, I’m destined to kill a lot of people. So that is just the saddest thing and just not a full picture of the Italian American community or the Mexican community [and] the Mexican American community.”
Monica grew up alongside two older siblings, Eva and Michael. Her parents divorced when she was a child. Despite her love for acting, Monica pursued ballet for most of her young life. She ditched dancing for acting after graduating from NYU. “Once I got out [of school] I was like, ‘OK, this is my time.’ I had that realization, ‘I can’t not do this any longer,’” Monica told Cosmopolitan.
Monica is still close to her parents. She told Glamour that she called her mom immediately after learning she’d booked her Top Gun: Maverick role. Monica said: “All hell was breaking loose. I was like, ‘Mom, I got the part and she’s not a love interest, she’s a pilot!’ We were both tearing up and she’s like, ‘I need to call the plumber.’”