Meet Monica Barbaro, aka Timothée Chalamet’s love interest in Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown: the actress landed her breakthrough role in Top Gun: Maverick – but did she date Tom Cruise?

Dec 25 , 2024

Monica Barbaro plays Bob Dylan’s love interest Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown. Photo: AP

The actress plays Joan Baez – Bob Dylan’s love interest – opposite Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown, and worked with a vocal coach to nail the Queen of Folk’s singing voice

Any time there’s a new biopic out in Hollywood – especially when it’s about a beloved figure – fans’ expectations are understandably sky-high. But when the person being immortalised on film comes out to praise the actor playing them, the debate’s settled for good.

Recently, Nobel-winning singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who is the subject of the Timothée Chalamet-fronted biopic A Complete Unknown, penned an appreciation post for the lead actor on his X account. “Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me,” he wrote in part.

Elle Fanning, Boyd Holbrook and Monica Barbaro with honorees Timothée Chalamet and James Mangold earlier this month. Photo: AP

However, it isn’t just the Dune star who’s being talked about in relation to the project. Actress Monica Barbaro, who plays Dylan’s love interest and “Queen of Folk” Joan Baez, is also taking on a big responsibility.

In an interview with Variety, she opened up about taking guitar lessons to do her character justice. “Every day was multiple hours doing my own training and it took a lot of self-determination,” she said. Then came the challenge of emulating Baez’s vocal style, which Barbaro admits was “scarier”. “I felt much more vulnerable, especially since Joan Baez was known for her very specific sound,” she recalled. Ultimately, with the help of vocal coach Eric Vetro – who also worked with the cast of Wicked – Barbaro could channel Baez.

So, what else do we know about Monica Barbaro?

She’s a trained dancer

Monica Barbaro at the Elle Women in Hollywood celebration in November 2024. Photo: AP

According to her IMDB, Monica Barbaro was born in San Francisco but grew up just outside it in Mill Valley. Her parents Nick Barbaro and Heidi Wagner are divorced, according to an interview she gave to Box Angeles. Growing up, Barbaro learned a number of different musical instruments including piano, violin, flute, ukulele, and guitar.

Monica Barbaro is a ballerina-turned-actress. Photo: @monicabarbaro/Instagram

But it was dance that stirred her soul, and Barbaro mastered everything from ballet and salsa to flamenco and modern, earning her bachelor’s in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Going forward, the 34-year-old hopes to apply her talent for dance in an acting role, she told Variety.

Meet Monica Barbaro, aka Timothée Chalamet’s love interest in Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown: the actress landed her breakthrough role in Top Gun: Maverick – but did she date Tom Cruise?

The actress plays Joan Baez – Bob Dylan’s love interest – opposite Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown, and worked with a vocal coach to nail the Queen of Folk’s singing voice

She’s a trained dancer

She has an impressive filmography