Michelle Monaghan’s is not a face you want to cover up, though that’s exactly what she was once asked to do. In the 10 years since, she’s learned a lot about her craft. Having no formal training, she gained that knowledge largely on the job, feeling in over her head and questioning her abilities, but persevering anyway. The result is a combination of humility and confidence that’s as rare as it is enviable in an actress—or human. Watch her work sequentially—try Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Trucker, and True Detective for starters—and you can see her coming into her own on screen. And what of the people who’ve questioned the decision of someone so genuinely nice and unnervingly beautiful to take on a string of less-than-likeable characters? With all due respect, she’d like to punch them in the face. “I don’t need you to like them, I just need you to spend a moment in their shoes.”

Michelle and our host discuss her path, The Path, how sex is rarely just sex, and learning the meaning of “improv” the hard way. And after all these years, they lift the veil on their past.