‘Monk’ Turns 20: Where’s the Cast Now?
Two decades ago, on July 12, 2002, TV audiences first got acquainted with Adrian Monk, the phobia-prone, obsessive-compulsive private detective at the heart of the USA police comedy Monk.
And with its series finale eight seasons later, Monk set the record for the most-watched episode of an hour-long drama on basic cable, holding that honor until The Walking Dead shambled along. And actor Tony Shalhoub added three Emmys to his trophy shelf along the way for his portrayal of the quirky P.I.
Monk’s longevity is a testament to the writers and cast, who sustained the show after fan-favorite actor Bitty Schram’s abrupt exit midway through Season 3. (Schram, who returned for one episode in the final season of Monk, reportedly left the show amid a contract dispute as she and other supporting cast members renegotiated their pacts.)
So in stepped actor Traylor Portman, who took over as Monk’s new assistant and ingratiated herself with wary fans. “I will always be grateful to Traylor because she came in when the show was in crisis and saved our baby,” Monk executive producer Andy Breckman told The Wall Street Journal in 2009. “We had to make a hurried replacement, and not every show survives that. I was scared to death.”
With Monk turning 20 years old on July 12, here are updates on its cast members.
Tony Shalhoub (Adrian Monk)
In 2018, Shalhoub won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance in the Broadway show The Band’s Visit. The following year, he won his fourth Emmy Award in 2019 for his supporting role as professor Abe Weissman in the Amazon Prime Video comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. His other recent TV work includes a starring role as U.S. Senator Red Wheatus on the CBS political satire BrainDead.
Bitty Schram (Sharona Fleming)
Schram dropped out of the spotlight after Monk ended: Her only screen credit since her 2009 Monk reprise is a small part in the 2016 movie Moments of Clarity.
Jason Gray-Stanford (Randall Disher)
In the years since Monk, Gray-Stanford has guest-starred on the TV shows Supergirl, The X-Files, iZombie, The Boys, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, among others. In 2020, he underwent a heart transplant after being diagnosed with heart failure, and he wrote in a subsequent TODAY essay that he would have only survived for a few weeks had he not gotten a new heart.
Ted Levine (Leland Stottlemeyer)
Levine has taken on many TV roles recently, the biggest of which include Lt. Hank Wade in the FX police drama The Bridge, retired police chief Thomas F. Bynes in the TNT period drama The Alienist, cult-ish leader Obie Garbeau II in the Showtime comedy On Becoming a God in Central Florida, and ranch owner Horst Klensasser in the ABC crime drama Big Sky.
Traylor Portman (Natalie Teeger)
As of a 2014 profile in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Traylor Portman (credited on Monk as Traylor Howard, her maiden name) raising a 2-year-old son, Julien, with her architect husband, Jarel Portman. She did return to the role of Natalie Teeger in 2020 for a Monk short in Peacock’s The At-Home Variety Show, joining Shalhoub, Gray-Stanford, and Levine for the bit.
Emmy Clarke (Julie Teeger)
According to her LinkedIn profile, Clarke got a bachelor’s degree in communications and media studies after Monk ended and now works as a team lead of client solutions for TikTok.
Stanley Kamel (Charles Kroger)
Kamel died of a heart attack midway through Monk’s run, passing away at age 65. The actor also had recurring roles on Days of Our Lives, Melrose Place, and Beverly Hills, 90210.
