All About Maika Monroe, the Actress Dating Dalton Gomez

Dalton Gomez and Maika Monroe made their relationship Instagram official in June 2024. She previously dated Joe Keery

Get to know Maika Monroe!

The It Follows star is dating Dalton Gomez, the real estate agent who was previously married to Ariana Grande.

Monroe and Gomez made their relationship public in June 2024. The actress posted an Instagram carousel with sweet PDA photos of the couple, including the pair sharing a kiss in the middle of the street, plus a cuddled-up pic of the two on a boat.

Prior to debuting their romance on her Instagram grid, the actress previously shared pictures of Gomez on her Instagram Stories, but they have since expired. The new post comes roughly eight months since they were first spotted kissing in photos obtained by TMZ in October 2023.

Since then, Monroe and Gomez have been seen together on various occasions. Most recently, the pair was spotted at Los Angeles’ LAX airport in May 2024, as seen in photos obtained by several outlets.

Neither of the two are strangers to dating in the spotlight. While Gomez was formerly married to pop sensation Grande, Monroe was in a long-time relationship with Stranger Things star Joe Keery.

Keery (who also is a musician who uses the name Djo and is known for his hit song "End of Beginning") dated Monroe for five years between 2017 and 2022. In June 2024, Keery opened up to Variety about his "big breakup" with the actress.

Meanwhile, Gomez's former relationship with Grande began during the COVID-19 pandemic in quarantine. They got engaged in December 2020, secretly wed in May 2021 and finalized their divorce in March 2024 after two years of marriage.

Read on to learn more about actress Maika Monroe, Dalton Gomez's girlfriend and Joe Keery's ex.

Related: Ariana Grande’s Ex-Husband Dalton Gomez Goes Instagram Official with Maika Monroe

She's a California native

Monroe was born and raised in Santa Barbara, Calif. on May 29, 1993. She is the daughter of mom Dixie and dad Jack Monroe.

She attended Santa Barbara Middle School, where her acting career began. What started with school plays quickly transitioned to auditions for commercials, which ultimately laid the foundation for the acting career she has today.

Monroe also is a competitive athlete, who pursued professional kiteboarding simultaneously with advancing her acting career.

“I can’t believe that I’m pursuing all my dreams and they are coming true at 18,” she told a local Santa Barbara outlet in February 2012. “Everything that I love and everything that I want to do with my life, I’m doing right now, and it’s so so amazing and so exciting!”

Her real name is Dillon

Maika was born Dillon Monroe Buckley, but changed her name at a young age.

"When I was about 7 years old, I asked my mom other names she was going to name me," the actress explained to The Hollywood Reporter in June 2016. "She said 'Maika' was her second choice. I was like, 'That’s my name!'"

She continued, "So I went around to all my neighbors and my teachers and said, 'I’m no longer going to respond to Dillon. My name is Maika.' And it stuck."

Related: Scream Queen Maika Monroe on 'It Follows' and Turning Nightmares into Horror Movie Gold

She starred opposite Zac Efron in her first role

Monroe's first role was opposite Zac Efron, playing the heartthrob's love interest in family drama At Any Price in 2011. "I remember just screaming and being so excited," she recalled of learning she booked the gig.

The actress revealed she hadn't been introduced to the High School Musical alum prior to filming.

"I was preparing myself,” Monroe remembered prior to meeting on set. "I’m thinking this guy has to be kind of arrogant and stuck up because, you know, how dang cute he is. But he is just so much fun and so down to earth. We had the best time."

She's an established scream queen

Monroe's breakthrough role was in the Sundance horror hit It Follows in 2014, in which she played Jamie "Jay" Height. That same year, she starred as Anna Peterson in the psychological thriller film The Guest, two roles that solidified her status as a scream queen.

"I love horror movies. It’s so fun being absolutely terrified," Monroe told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2016. "It’s damn hard to shoot, though. I didn’t realize how difficult it was to make a horror movie as an actor."

Monroe explained why It Follows was especially "very difficult" to film, telling PEOPLE in 2015 that she "didn't realize how hard it is to make a horror film." She said the "screaming, running, crying" everyday was "emotionally and physically exhausting."

Her favorite part, however, was "working with the director [David Robert Mitchell]" because he's "so specific and knows exactly what he wants." She added, "When you have complete trust in a director, it’s a very good thing."

Since then, Monroe has appeared in 2015's Echoes of War and 2016's film The 5th Wave. That same year, she starred in the science fiction film Independence Day: Resurgence, the sequel to 1996's Independence Day.

Among her most recent projects include the Paramount+ thriller Significant Other in 2022, in which she starred opposite Jake Lacy. In July 2024, she's set to appear with Nicolas Cage and Blair Underwood in the mystery horror film Longlegs.

She's a professional kiteboarder

Monroe is a professional kiteboarder, a sport she picked up from her dad at the age 13. A serious competitor, she decided to finish high school remotely amid her move to the Dominican Republic to train and compete.

“All of my friends do not understand how I could leave high school my senior year ... I think, How could I not?," she told The Kiteboarder in August 2011. "For me, kiting is what I want to do and there is no better place to live than Cabarete. My friends all think I am crazy."

When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in June 2016, Monroe discussed how her kiteboarding training has helped her acting career.

"It taught me determination, working hard for something. There’s lots of discipline," she began. "I enjoy roles that are quite physical. That was really fun with Independence Day, being a fighter pilot, kicking some ass."

The sport also serves a valuable purpose for her even when she's not pursuing it at a high level: she kiteboards as a way to decompress from life on set. "If I know that I have a chunk of time off, usually I am trying to fly somewhere like Brazil or the Dominican Republic to get in the water and escape this insane industry."

Related: Joe Keery and Maika Monroe's Relationship Timeline

She was in a long-term relationship with Joe Keery

Monroe and Stranger Things' Keery dated for five years. Their romance began in 2017, when they first met at a Los Angeles party prior to working together on the film After Everything later that year.

A few months later, the duo went public with their romance at the Stranger Things season 2 premiere on Oct. 26, 2017. They made their red carpet debut as a couple and posed for photos, one of which included a kiss.

In the years since, the two were spotted at events including the SAG Awards and Paris Fashion Week. In September 2020, Monroe took a few photos of Keery's musical endeavor as Djo.

In August 2021, Keery briefly opened up about his relationship with Monroe in an interview with GQ. "Over quarantine, it was like we spent so much time together, which was rare," the actor said at the time.

While Keery said lack of time spent together is a "disadvantage" of dating someone in the same industry, he pointed out the "advantages" as well: "Somebody who kind of understands what's going on with you in a pretty deep way... I think she's like me. She doesn't take it all too seriously."

The two were last photographed together at the Vanity Fair Oscar party on March 27, 2022; sometime after that, Monroe and Keery split, which he briefly referenced when discussing his time on the Fargo set in Calgary, Ontario.

“I had also gone through a big breakup, right as I was leaving Rome, so I was really isolated and focused on my work,” he told Variety, saying he was committed to "being able to roll with the punches and buckle in" at a tough time.

In October 2023, the actress was spotted kissing Gomez.

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