When recounting the decision to cast the 9-year-old Monaghan, director and executive-producer Jeff Bleckner explained, 'There are some people, when you put them up on film, they sort of pop off the screen at you. Monaghan first came to national attention in 2003 for his role as Winthrop Paroo opposite Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Broderick in the ABC television adaptation of The Music Man. He attended Addison Mizner Elementary School and began to develop his acting skills by appearing in the Little Palm Children's Theatre's productions of Stuart Little, Winnie-the-Pooh, and The Pumpkin King (a theatrical adaptation of The Nightmare Before Christmas), as well as appearing as Alex in the small independent film The Wishing Stone, which was filmed in the Lake Worth, Florida area.
He appeared on the cover of his first catalogue at the age of five and appeared in his first regional commercial at seven. Recognizing that Monaghan was an exceptionally outgoing child, his mother sent his picture to modeling agencies when he was three.
He and his mother relocated to Boca Raton, Florida, shortly after his birth. Monaghan was born in Santa Monica, California, the only child of Diane Monaghan, an insurance claims specialist and single mother.
