What Happened To The Cast Of Monk?

For eight seasons, “Monk” struck that perfect balance between hard-cracking detective work and comedy. Police procedurals were a dime a dozen in the early 2000s, but the thing to set this one apart from its contemporaries was the fact the titular Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) dealt with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This fueled his 312 phobias, which occasionally got in the way of him solving cases, but they also allowed him to view the world in a unique way that would help him solve various crimes. 

“Monk” ended in 2009, but fans got one last fix thanks to 2023’s made-for-Peacock movie, “Mr. Monk’s Last Case,” which /Film called “an overdue reunion” with much of the central cast reprising their roles. But it’s not like the cast was kept in stasis for 13 years between the show’s ending and the reunion. Many of them went on to other things, filling out their filmographies with myriad other projects. Others have stayed out of the limelight for various reasons, and a main cast member tragically died far too soon. Here’s what the “Monk” cast has been up to since the show ended.

Tony Shalhoub played the lead, Adrian Monk, endowing the character with a sense of both comedy and tragedy. Monk’s wife died prior to the events of the show, and the trauma of such an event exacerbated his OCD tendencies and phobias. But that didn’t stop Monk from becoming an iconic detective among the ranks of Inspector Closeau of “Pink Panther.” 

Once the show ended, Shalhoub stayed busy. While he had plenty of stage performances on his resume before “Monk,” he really got into it post-2009. He was even nominated for a Tony in 2014 for “Act One,” and he won the award in 2018 for his part in “The Band’s Visit.” For those that don’t partake in the theater, he’s had plenty of film and television credits as well, voicing Splinter in 2014’s live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and its sequel. Most notably, he plays Abe Weissman in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” father to the titular Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan). He was nominated several times for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, ultimately winning in 2019. 

But acting isn’t Shalhoub’s only passion. He’s also an investor in the New York City restaurant, Rezdôra, which opened in 2019 and earned a Michelin star.

Lieutenant Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) provided a good amount of comedic relief on “Monk,” like constantly asking others to guess what his big news is when they just want to get to the important information. While he’s a bit more naive than some of his coworkers at the San Francisco Police Department, he’s still valuable on investigations. 

He’s garnered numerous other TV credits since “Monk” ended, appearing in “Justified,” “Bones,” “Supergirl,” and “The Boys,” to name just a few. He married fellow actor Jes Macallan of “Mistresses” fame in 2012, but the couple divorced in 2017. Toward the end of the 2010s, Gray-Stanford had a whole other problem on his hands when he began experiencing heart failure, eventually requiring a transplant.

He wrote about his experiences with heart failure for Today in 2022 and how he thought he’d be the last person to have to deal with something like this. As he put it, “I’m now 14 months out from my heart transplant and I feel great. I wear the scar on my chest as a badge of honor.”

Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Adrian Monk go way back, but when Monk comes back onto the force after an extended hiatus following his wife’s death, the two start off somewhat frosty. Over time, Stottlemeyer comes to accept Monk’s unusual way of looking at cases, with the two getting on much friendlier terms later in the series.

Levine was already a known face thanks to his role of Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs.” He even improvised his infamous “Goodbye Horses” dance, making the character all his own. Levine hasn’t been short on work since “Monk” ended, with recurring parts in “Ray Donovan” and “The Alienist.” He also ventured back into horror territory in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” playing mercenary Ken Wheatley, who winds up meeting his doom at the wrong end of an Indoraptor. 

With such a deep voice, Levine has become a go-to pick for playing stern figures. He can play characters who operate on both the right and wrong sides of the law, with plenty more projects coming down the pipeline for him.

Halfway through season 3, Adrian Monk needs a new assistant. That’s when Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) walks through the door, but she’s not there to work with him initially. She wants to hire him to investigate two intruders breaking into her home, but as they work the case together, she realizes there’s something special about him and takes the position. 

Howard had a burgeoning acting career even before her “Monk” role, with major roles on “Boston Common” and “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.” She was even in “Son of the Mask,” which might be one of many sequels that didn’t need to happen, but after “Monk,” it seemed like the world would see a lot more of her. On the contrary, things have been pretty quiet with her on the acting front. She’s had a couple of parts here and there, but her most notable project since “Monk” is, appropriately enough, 2023’s “Mr. Monk’s Last Cast: A Monk Movie.” 

Howard did make headlines in 2019 following sexual misconduct allegations against Senator Al Franken. She performed with Franken during the 2005 USO tour in which the misconduct reportedly occurred. But Howard told The New Yorker, “I get the whole #MeToo thing, and a whole lot of horrible stuff has happened, and it needed to change. But that’s not what was happening here.”

Adrian Monk had a lot of trauma and mental health problems. Fortunately, he had a great psychiatrist in the form of Dr. Charles Kroger (Stanley Kamel). In many instances, he’s the only one who can talk to Monk when he gets too much in his own head, and oftentimes, his chats with the detective allow him to see something he had previously missed about a case. 

Kamel’s acting career dates back to the 1960s; he even appeared in the original “Mission: Impossible” TV series. Other highlights include having recurring roles in “Days of Our Lives” as well as “Melrose Place,” but “Monk” would be his final gig. 

Kamel tragically died in 2008 from a heart attack at the age of 65. His death occurred between seasons 6 and 7 of “Monk,” and when the show returned from its hiatus, they wrote Dr. Kroger out. The season 7 premiere sees Monk learning that Dr. Kroger has also passed away from a heart attack, and the episode is dedicated in remembrance of Kamel.

Before Natalie Teeger became Monk’s assistant, he had Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram). She plays a big role in getting Monk out of his self-imposed exile after his wife’s death, and she accompanies him on many of his trips to the San Francisco police station to ensure he doesn’t go off the rails too much. She’s an integral figure in Monk’s emotional journey, but the forces behind the scenes clearly saw differently. 

Despite being nominated for a Golden Globe for her role on “Monk,” USA let her go in the middle of season 3. The network put out a statement at the time (via Today): “‘Monk’ has decided to go in a different creative direction with some of its characters. Bitty will not continue with the cast and we thank her for her notable contributions and wish her the very best.” 

This might not be the full story. There were also rumors around this time that Schram, along with other members of the supporting cast like Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine, sought pay raises. While Gray-Stanford and Levine were kept around, it appears Schram got the short end of the negotiation stick. She would reprise her role in the “Monk” season 8 episode, “Mr. Monk and Sharona” but hasn’t done much acting since. She appeared in a 2009 episode of “Ghost Whisperer” as well as a 2016 film called “Moments of Clarity” that also starred Eric Roberts, but for the most part, she’s moved away from the limelight. 

Emmy Clarke joined the “Monk” cast the same time Traylor Howard did. Clarke plays Julie Teeger, Natalie’s daughter, whom she has to juggle raising with her work as Monk’s assistant. She usually has a more minor role in episodes, often appearing in the background. Occasionally, she’s actively part of Monk’s investigations, like in season 5’s “Mr. Monk and the Big Game” when her basketball coach is found dead, and she wants Monk to figure out what really happened. 

“Monk” remains Clarke’s most notable acting role. She continued acting for a little bit, like in the 2010 TV movie “The Line” in addition to her most recent performance in an episode of “The Warlock.” It seems she’s largely moved away from performing, as she spent seven years working for the media agency Good Apple, working her way up to director of social media. Since 2022, she’s worked at TikTok as the vertical team lead. Anyone who wants to keep up with what Julie Teeger is up to these days can follow Clarke on Instagram where she regularly posts about her fabulous life, and yes, the comments are filled with people reminiscing about watching her on “Monk.” 

When Bitty Schram’s Sharona Fleming was still in the “Monk” cast, she had a son, Benjy, played by Kane Ritchotte. More specifically, Ritchotte played her son in the pilot and throughout seasons 2 and 3. Max Morrow played Benjy throughout the rest of season 1. With either actor, the character makes for an intriguing foil for Monk, who doesn’t quite know how to bond with such a young kid. 

Ritchotte continued acting for a little bit, appearing in TV series like “All of Us” and “The Dead Girls Detective Agency.” However, throughout the 2010s, much of his focus was on music. He played the music in the bizarre Disney experiment, DEV2.0, which consisted of a bunch of child actors playing covers of Devo songs. Ritchotte played the drums for this outfit, and eventually, he moved to playing the drums for Portugal. The Man from 2012 to 2013. Fun fact: Portugal. The Man is partly responsible for the “Beavis and Butt-Head” revival.

Most recently, Ritchotte merged his acting and musical talents with a brief stint on “Daisy Jones & the Six.” His band more* plays the fictitious outfit The Winters, and they contributed the song, “Over/Under” to the soundtrack.

Héctor Elizondo was a prolific actor long before joining the cast of “Monk” as Dr. Neven Bell. He becomes Monk’s psychiatrist starting in season 7 following Dr. Kroger’s death. Monk is naturally skeptical over trusting another psychiatrist, but for the show’s remaining two seasons, he becomes an immense asset to the detective, just like Dr. Kroger. 

Elizondo has over 150 acting credits to his name. Some projects you’ve definitely heard of, like his role as Detective Jon Flint in “Beverly Hills Cop III.” Others are more obscure, like the 1980s “Casablanca” prequel you probably never heard of, but he won acclaim for his performance on this series as Captain Louis Renault. Following “Monk,” he’s continued acting in a variety of shows, including 194 episodes of “Last Man Standing.” He’s also done a lot of voice acting in recent years in “Green Eggs and Ham” and “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.”

Elizondo has had a storied career, and throughout that time, he’s refused to take roles that depict Latinos in a negative light. In a 1999 interview with The Washington Post, he said, “I didn’t want to be associated with Latinos when the association is violence. I didn’t know that in my culture. The violence I experienced was from the non-Latinos.”

Adrian Monk’s wife, Trudy (Stellina Rusich, then Melora Hardin), is dead before the events of the show begin, but she still shows up in various ways, either through flashbacks or visions. Hardin plays Trudy throughout the bulk of “Monk,” starting in season 3 all the way up until its final episodes. One of the longest-running storylines in the show involves Adrian trying to figure out who’s behind Trudy’s death, as she’s killed with a car bomb that Adrian believes was meant for him. 

Most probably know Hardin for her role as Jan in “The Office.” She was a terrible match for Michael Scott (Steve Carell), but that awkward dynamic made for one of the best episodes in the entire series — “Dinner Party.” Beyond “The Office,” some of her other credits include “Falling Skies,” “The Blacklist,” and “Transparent,” the last of which she was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

In 2021, Hardin joined the season 30 cast of “Dancing With the Stars,” ultimately finishing in sixth place. And she’s moved on to exploring opportunities behind the camera. She’s directed a documentary movie called “Hunter’s Thunder” about working with a woman recently who was a fan of her work as a child star on the 1977 TV series “Thunder” and how the serendipitous meeting changed both of them.

A great deal of comedy from “Monk” comes from the titular character’s interactions with Harold Krenshaw (Tim Bagley). Harold appears periodically, and the two often argue about the best way to organize things. They both have OCD, but their compulsions are incompatible with one another. They also compete over who Dr. Kroger and then Dr. Bell like more. 

If you watch a good number of sitcoms, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Bagley before. He’s had prominent roles in “Will & Grace,” “The League,” and “Workaholics.” One of his more recent roles involves playing Brad Schraeder on HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere” throughout seasons 2 and 3. He’s the love interest to Joel (Jeff Hiller), a part that clearly meant a lot to Bagley, as he’s gay in real life. 

Throughout his career, Bagley has tried to bring greater gay representation to media. In an interview with The A.V. Club, he talked about refusing to play into flamboyant gay stereotypes when auditioning for a role on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” “It said they were looking for a flamboyant gay man, and I was, like, ‘I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do that kind of stereotype,” he explained. “I was in the waiting room, and I saw all these guys, and I would hear them auditioning, and it was all kind of over the top. So, I purposely tried not to do that.” He got the role on “Curb” and has committed his career to playing characters who are unabashedly gay without making them stereotypes.