Monica Anne Esteva Wilson (Monique) was born in Manila, Philippines on May 4, 1970. Her father, Johnny Wilson, was a famous Philippine film and television star, and her mother, Teresa Esteva Wilson, was a successful theatre administrator in Manila.

Her mother first took Monique to see a theatre show when she was three years old. It was a performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank”. Her mom had to stop the 3-year old Monique from climbing onto the stage at the interval. That night began Monique’s love affair with theatre.

Her mother enrolled her and her three siblings in a summer theatre workshop when she was nine. Her first break came when she sang on top of a piano at a party where theatre directors Zeneida Amador and Baby Barredo (founders of Repertory Philippines, one of the country’s oldest theatre companies) were in attendance. They cast her on the spot as one of the orphans in the musical Annie in 1980 – replacing one of the child actors who had to leave the country. That was her first professional stage appearance, and a quick succession of productions soon followed: lead roles in The Sound of Music, The South Pacific, A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Fiddler On The Roof, Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, The Diary of Anne Frank, Zorba, A Funny Things Happened On The Way To The Forum, Nunsense, Les Liason Dangereuses, The Real Thing, Little Shop of Horrors, Lion In Winter, among many others.