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These days, Bridget Moynahan is best known as Erin Reagan on the long-running hit drama Blue Bloods. But she landed her breakthrough role a full decade before the show started. Moynahan was among the ensemble of female actors who headlined the 2000 film Coyote Ugly. As she revealed, her young son intensely reacted to seeing his mom dance on the titular bar in the film.

What other projects have Bridget Moynahan worked on?

Between Coyote Ugly and Blue Bloods, Moynahan had a solid run in several high-profile Hollywood films. She appeared with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity, opposite Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears, and Al Pacino and Colin Farrell in The Recruit in the early 2000s. Most notably, she was the female lead in Will Smith’s hit sci-fi action film I, Robot. 

But for over a decade, Blue Bloods has kept fans tuning in to CBS weekly to catch up with the personal and professional challenges of the Reagan family. Tom Selleck leads the show as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan. But Moynahan remains one of the most integral stars on the show, too — as Selleck’s on-screen daughter. However, the path that led her to the role ultimately starts with Coyote Ugly.

How Bridget Moynahan’s son reacted to her role in ‘Coyote Ugly’

Moynahan has a teenage son with her ex, Tom Brady. Although she hasn’t shown her son much of her work, the actor mentioned his reaction to her performance in Coyote Ugly during a 2022 interview on The Drew Barrymore Show.

“So I think it was the 20th anniversary maybe of Coyote Ugly, and he saw me dancing on the bar in those sassy leather pants that wrapped up the crotch. And he [said], ‘Mom, you are so wild.’ And I was like, ‘Hmm, yeah. That’s just the script.’”

But this wasn’t the first time Moynahan shared the story of her 20th anniversary rewatch of Coyote Ugly. In fact, she revealed a bit more detail in a 2020 Live with Kelly and Ryan appearance. While she again mentions her son’s calling her “wild,” Moynahan never even got the chance to finish watching the movie due to a power outage.

Actress Bridget Moynahan and son Jack attend the U.S. Open in 2018
Bridget Moynahan and son Jack at the U.S. Open in 2018 | Jean Catuffe/GC Images
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Bridget Moynahan returns to another iconic role in 2023

Coyote Ugly might have been her first big break. And Blue Bloods might be what’s been keeping her busy for the past decade. But Moynahan’s fans might not realize another of her most notable roles. Since 2014, she has played John Wick’s (Keanu Reeves) wife, Helen, in the John Wick films.

Although Helen died before the first movie’s opening, her memory lives on in John. And Moynahan has frequently appeared via flashback, in archive footage, in a photo, or some combination of all three. And she’s back for John Wick: Chapter 4, set to hit theaters on March 24, 2023.

Meanwhile, Blue Bloods airs on Fridays at 10 pm Eastern Time on CBS.

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