Born on May 29, 1993 in Santa Barbara, California, Maika Monroe kiteboarded competitively prior to launching her acting career. In 2013, she placed second in the International Red Bull Big Air competition held in the Dominican Republic. While still a professional in the watersport, Monroe turned her focus to acting, making her debut as Cadence Farrow in "At Any Price" (2012), a Ramin Bahrani film that was featured in the 69th International Venice Film Festival. Monroe followed up this effort with a small role in the Sofia Coppola film "The Bling Ring" (2013), a fictionalization of a real-life teen criminal ring preying on celebrities in Hollywood, starring Emma Watson. She quickly signed on to play alongside Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet in Jason Reitman's drama "Labor Day" (2014), and was cast in the psychological thriller "The Guest" (2014) directed by Adam Wingard. She went on to star alongside Nicolas Cage in the horror thriller "Longlegs" (2024) written and directed by Osgood Perkins.