There are some hiccups getting connected with Maggie Q, television’s latest incarnation of the beautiful
rogue assassin, Nikita, but when we finally do, I forget the animated voice at the other end of the phone line
has shared the screen with the likes of Hollywood powerhouses Tom Cruise in MI:III, Bruce Willis in the last
Die Hard installment, and Paul Bettany and Karl Urban in the thriller Priest (due out this May). Instead, I’m
swept away by Maggie’s obvious passion for animal rescue: this girl isn’t just hardcore on screen, she’s got
some serious spirit that defies anyone not to take an interest in the issue.

Coming from an animal-loving family, Maggie has a canine connection that is practically inherent. It started
with doing odd jobs around the neighbourhood to get one of the neighbour’s new puppies. Six-year-old
Maggie then told her parents she’d found the pup on the street and that the flea-and tick-infested animal had
no where to go, so they’d have to keep it.

“I would do things like that, anything to get an animal; any dog off the street and cat that got hit by a car. I
would bring them home, that was me,” she says.

When we talk, Maggie is on a break from filming in Toronto and has just returned to her Los Angeles home
from her daily hike with the family: Cesar, Ladybird, and Pedro.

 

MD: We’ll start with what’s number one on our minds: tell us about your dogs.
MQ: The three that I have now are from Asia and two are from different rescue groups that I worked with.
At one point my count was up to eight rescue dogs. They were like Russian dolls, 90 pounds all the way down
to the Chihuahua, who is 3½ pounds. Four of them were best friends and the other four were best friends.
When my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, we basically split them down the middle. We’re still friends and when
he’s traveling, I still look after the dogs.
MD: What do you love best about your brood?
MQ: Most people love that their dogs are really loyal, really loving; what I love about my dogs is they all
have attitude. It sets them apart. You can have a Lab who’s always really happy, always gets the tennis ball.
My dogs all have attitude problems and it just makes me laugh.
MD: If you were a dog, which breed would you be?
MQ: I’d probably be a cross between my two favourites; a Pit and a German Shepherd.
MD: I’d say that fierce combination suits your choice in character
roles as well.
MQ: It totally does. There are two power breeds that I love. I
love all breeds, but German Shepherds and Pit Bulls are two of
my favourite dogs of all time. I grew up with Pit Bulls and despite
what they go through, and what their reputations are, and what
we as people have turned them into, they are the greatest family
dogs. They’re so good with kids, so loving, so loyal, and they’re
so strong.
MD: Are there any characteristics that you share with your
dogs?
MQ: My dogs are very specific about whom they like. They
know whom they like and they know whom they don’t like, and
that’s totally momma. I have the same instincts.
MD: If they were movie stars,
who would they be?
MQ: I think Cesar, my
son—he’s the Shepherd-looking
one—he would be Humphrey
Bogart; so perfect and handsome.
Or even Brando; I don’t think
there’s anyone more beautiful
than a young Marlon Brando. My
white Shepherd is definitely Grace
Kelly, and Pedro, my Chihuahua,
I don’t know…George Lopez?
[Laughing] Do you know why?
George is a really good friend of mine.
MD: How did you become involved with animal charity?
MQ: I started in animal charity, fundraising, and rescue in 1997
when I moved to Asia. I worked with Hong Kong Dog Rescue,
which I got two of my dogs from, and PETA Asia Pacific. After
that, I started working with Animals Asia Foundation, which is
probably one of the greatest groups in the world. They do dog and
cat rescue and they rescue the Moon Bears of China. We opened a
rescue center for these bears in Vietnam and one in China. I also
work on a government level with them in China on getting dogs
and cats out of meat markets, which is one of the most horrifying
things you’ve ever seen in your life. I still have nightmares.
MD: It takes a special kind of person to take a stand when the
rest of us aren’t strong enough to stomach it.
MQ: It’s hard to be. It’s funny; when you’re an animal lover
and get involved in animal rights, it’s a whole different deal,
impossible almost. Sometimes, I don’t want to know any more,
but it’s one of my life’s missions. Animal cruelty is absolutely
unnecessary in the world that we live in. I’m going to do everything
that I can in my lifetime.
When I moved to LA from Asia, I wanted to get involved and
my publicist said ‘I’ve got the group for
you.’ I don’t think I’ve ever been more
touched in my life by a story than by the
story of Best Friends: how they came to
be and what they’ve done for animals.
The two founders have become two of my
closest friends. I go up to [the sanctuary
in] Utah every year for a week to ten days
and volunteer at the shelter. It’s my sanctuary,
it’s where I go to find peace and
recharge and see the work that people are
doing for animals.
MD: What’s your favourite thing to do
with your dogs?
MQ: My favourite thing to do is our
hikes. Nothing makes me happier than
to see my dogs running, running at full
speed in the mountains, up the trails and
through the trees.I think dogs that are
doing things that are really wild and really
natural are what’s most beautiful.
MD: Tell me about your perfect day.
MQ: I think my perfect day is usually
when I’m up at Best Friends. I go to
volunteer and I usually rent a little house.
The whole day spent in service to animals,
that’s my perfect day.
MD: So when you’re on set in Toronto
and your dogs are at home in LA, what do
you miss about them most?
MQ: They make me laugh. Not on purpose
obviously, but they’re just so comical
and they have so much attitude. When
they’re around, there’s so much joy and
when they’re not, it’s harder to find that
joy.
MD: What’s the most important lesson
they’ve taught you?
MQ: All my dogs came from bad backgrounds
and were all at one point really
out of control. Now, I take them to movie
sets. They’re so grateful and so happy
with the simplest thing—their walk, their
family time on the sofa—and I think that
we, as people, get so jaded. The minute
that we forget that the simplest things
should make us happy, that’s when we
become unhappy.
MD: You’re a big advocate of training. Is there a particular
method you adhere to?
MQ: I think that’s one thing that people don’t realize; it’s not
just about rescue, it’s about rehab, too. I wouldn’t be the responsible
owner that I am, the parent that I could be, without Tyson
Kilmer. He’s the new face of where we need to go in terms of
rescue and rehab.
MD: Whom do you admire?
MQ: Jeffrey Masson Moussaieff is a wonderful author who
basically writes from the emotional point of view of animals. Jane
Goodall is one of my ultimate heroes, always. The founders of
Best Friends. And those people who have the small little rescue
groups, the grassroots people, the people who use their own
money everyday to take one, two, three dogs off the street and
find them homes, those people honestly are my ultimate heroes.
The people that do the everyday stuff—I look at them with a lot
of awe and admiration, it takes a lot of selflessness.
MD: And what inspires you?
MQ: I make decisions with my heart. It moves me forward
towards the projects I should be doing and the organizations I
should be working with. I feel that if you know what you love,
you’ll always be okay.
MD: Is there a message from your heart you’d like to leave
with our readers?
MQ: I’m excited about things in my career always, but the
thing that excites me most is the idea that my voice could be
louder one day and that people will take the time to be the compassionate
beings that we are evolved enough to be. We’re the
only animals on the planet that evolved in this way, who can
make informed decisions and understand what compassion really
is. We’ve been given that gift, why aren’t we using it? It’s our
responsibility.