At the beginning of John Wick, the titular character's wife, Helen, is already dead.
She lives in the film as a memory, which the main character, played by Keanu Reeves, is
determined to keep alive within himself. For instance, near the start of the movie, John
watches a video of Helen on his phone, taken during a trip to the beach when they were
happy together.
Most of what audiences learn about Helen Wick comes from hearing what John was willing to
do for her. John had been an assassin, but left this life behind before their marriage,
completing an impossible task in order to get out without strings attached. When her
death from a terminal illness was imminent, Helen arranged for a puppy to be delivered
to John as a way to help him deal with his grief and find something else to love. Tragically,
that doesn't end well either, but it's undeniable that the actress playing John Wick's wife,
Bridget Moynahan, makes quite the impression. Here's why Helen from John Wick looks so familiar.
After entering the public eye thanks to her work as a model, Moynahan's first big acting
role came on the second season of HBO's Sex and the City. She played Natasha, a young
woman that Mr. Big meets in Paris when he's not dating series protagonist Carrie Bradshaw.
Much to Carrie's dismay, Big not only chooses Natasha instead of her, but he also goes ahead
and marries the new woman, something he hadn't seemed to consider in his relationship with
Carrie.
But after their marriage, Big admits to Carrie that he made a mistake, and the pair begin
to have an affair, with him cheating on Natasha, and Carrie cheating on her boyfriend Aidan.
Eventually, Natasha discovers them, chasing after Carrie and breaking her tooth in the
process. The event leads to Carrie calling off the affair, but the damage has already
been done to Big and Natasha's marriage. The pair ultimately get divorced, ending Moynahan's
unforgettable time on the show.
Moynahan's biggest blockbuster role came in the 2004 science-fiction blockbuster I, Robot.
She portrayed Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist who helps robot-hating detective Del Spooner,
played by Will Smith, investigate a death that might have been caused by a robot. Unfortunately,
robots repeatedly attack the pair as they investigate, and they eventually uncover a
much larger conspiracy in the form of a plot by a rogue central computer.
Only a few elements of the film I, Robot are based on Isaac Asimov's collection of short
stories of the same name, but Moynahan's role is one of them. The character appeared in
much of Asimov's robot-themed fiction, serving as chief robopsychologist at the manufacturing
company U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., and was often portrayed as a brilliant, if
coldly logical, scientist.
Lately, the best place to see Moynahan has been on the CBS procedural drama Blue Bloods,
where she plays Erin, the only daughter of New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan,
played by Tom Selleck. While her brothers Danny, Jamie, and the deceased Joe followed
their father into the family business of policing, Erin Reagan decided to become a New York County
Assistant District Attorney.
Any character on a show that's been running for 11 seasons will have seen her fair share
of ups and downs, and Erin is no different. She's had a variety of love interests since
divorcing her husband Jack Boyle, played by Peter Hermann. However, some of Erin's potential
love interests were either the District Attorney, or would eventually take on the role, making
them her boss. She's watched her daughter Nicky, played by Sami Gayle, grow up. Multiple
times, she's had to be saved by members of her family, meaning that there's never a dull
moment on the show.
Blue Bloods' busy, network-drama schedule, which has seen more than 220 episodes to date,
has kept Moynahan busy for the better part of a decade, with her appearing in only a
handful of other film roles during that time. These include Battle: Los Angeles, Midnight
Sun, Crown Vic, and two of the three John Wick movies that have been released thus far.
Perhaps that's why a gig as John Wick's wife was especially appealing, as it was something
small that wouldn't require much of a time commitment from Moynahan, who is already very
busy starring on a successful TV show.
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