Michael Madsen

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For other uses, see Michael Madsen (disambiguation).
Michael Madsen

Michael Madsen in 2006
Born September 25, 1958 (1958-09-25) (age 49)
Chicago, Illinois, US
Years active 1982-Present
Official website

Michael Soren Madsen (born September 25, 1958) is an American actor and poet. He is particularly well known for his "tough guy" image on screen.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Madsen was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Elaine (née Melson), an Emmy-winning poet, producer and playwright who often works for PBS, and Calvin Madsen, a fireman.[1] Madsen's mother left a career in corporate business to pursue a writing career.[2] Madsen's paternal grandparents were Danish and his mother has Irish and Native American ancestry.[3] His sister is actress Virginia Madsen. He also has an older sister Cheri, who owns a restaurant with her husband and three children. They live in Wisconsin.

Madsen was nine when his parents separated and he frequently had to change schools. He began to steal and was sent to jail a few times. Madsen's acting career began at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where he served as an apprentice under John Malkovich.

[edit] Career

Madsen was cast in a small role in his first movie, WarGames (1983). He moved to Los Angeles and appeared in other films, including as arrogant baseball player Bump Bailey in The Natural (1984), a deranged killer in Kill Me Again (1989) and as the tough but touching boyfriend of Susan Sarandon in Thelma & Louise (1991).

Then came a memorable role as the razor-wielding, sadistic ex-con and jewel thief "Mr. Blonde" in the bloody Quentin Tarantino crime story Reservoir Dogs. The film brought Madsen attention among critics and fans. During a scene in which Madsen's psychopathic Mr. Blonde tortures a police officer, actor Kirk Baltz ad-libbed a line about being father of a young child. Madsen, who himself had just become a father, was so upset that he had a great deal of difficulty finishing the scene. On some copies of the DVD, as Baltz completes the line, a voice can be heard off-screen saying "Oh, no, no ..." The ad-lib compounded Madsen's original reluctance to do the scene, due to his real-life aversion to violence.

Subsequently, Madsen was cast in a variety of major studio films, including Free Willy, Mulholland Falls, Wyatt Earp, Species and with Johnny Depp and Al Pacino in the critically acclaimed Donnie Brasco.

Since the mid 1990s, Madsen has appeared more often in lower-budget films released directly to video or television. Notable exceptions include his featured role in Tarantino's Kill Bill, in the James Bond adventure Die Another Day and in the film version of the Frank Miller graphic novel Sin City. He appeared in Scary Movie 4 in 2006 parodying Tim Robbins's character from War of the Worlds.

Madsen has been in a few television series, including the short-lived Vengeance Unlimited and most recently as "Don Everest" in the poker-themed ESPN series Tilt. He was in Michael Jackson's 2001 music video "You Rock My World" and has provided voice work for several video games, including Grand Theft Auto III, True Crime: Streets of L.A. and Driver 3. He provided voice work for the movie of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Maugrim the wolf, captain of the White Witch's secret police.

Madsen, uncredited, as the voice of Maugrim the Wolf in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Madsen, uncredited, as the voice of Maugrim the Wolf in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

He also provides narration for Animal Planet.

Madsen's latest voice-over role is for the Playstation 2 game Yakuza, where he voices the role of Futo Shimano, the violent and unforgiving leader of a Yakuza family. Tarantino has confirmed that he will use Madsen again, this time in the lead role of Babe Buchinsky in his long-planned war story Inglorious Bastards. Madsen also is expected to reprise his role as Bob in Sin City 2.

The actor appeared in Every Time I Die's music video "Kill The Music" and recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of screenplays by Tarantino.

Madsen has written a few books of poetry: Burning in Paradise (1998) and The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol. I: 1995-2005 (2005)

[edit] Personal life

Madsen's first marriage was to Georganne LaPiere, the half sister of Cher. He remarried, to Jeannine Bisignano, with whom he has two sons. Since 1996, he has been married to Deanna Morgan. Madsen has five children, all boys. Their names are Calvin (who has changed his name to Kalvin), Hudson, Luke and his sons Max and Christian from his marriage to Bisignano. He has said that the five films that he is proudest of are Reservoir Dogs, Donnie Brasco, Species, Free Willy, and Kill Bill.

The actor lived in a Malibu house that once belonged to the late Keith Moon, the original drummer of The Who, but recently moved to another Malibu home.

[edit] Award(s)

September 20th, 2007 won "Best Actor" award at the 23rd Annual Boston Film Festival for his role as Sean Kelleher in Strength and Honour.

Michael won the 9th Annual Malibu International Film Festival award on April 6th, 2008

[edit] Filmography

[edit] 1982 - 1999

[edit] 2000 onwards

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bell, Mark. "METHOD FEST TO PRESENT THE 2007 MAVERICK AWARD TO MICHAEL MADSEN", Film Threat, 2007-02-23. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  2. ^ Kennedy, Lisa. "A strong role, an equal partner", The Denver Post, 2007-02-21. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  3. ^ Bray, Tony. "Virginia Madsen", TV Now, April, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  4. ^ Michael Madsen (I)

[edit] External links

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