Michael Madsen

Michael Soren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has starred in central roles in such films as Free Willy, Reservoir Dogs, Donnie Brasco and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin City.

Early life
Madsen was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Elaine (née Melson), an Emmy-winning poet, television producer and playwright who often works for PBS, and Calvin Madsen, a firefighter. Madsen's mother left a career in corporate business to pursue a writing career. Madsen's paternal grandparents were Danish and his mother has Irish and Native American ancestry. His sister is actress Virginia Madsen, and he also has an older sister, Cheri.

Madsen's acting career began at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where he served as an apprentice under actor John Malkovich.

Career
In 1982, Madsen was cast by Edward McDougal for the lead in a small independent film, Against All Hope, his first movie. He then played a small role in the studio picture WarGames in 1983. That same year, he appeared in a small cameo bit part in the 1983 television movie Special Bulletin. Soon after, Madsen was cast as a psychopathic gunman who took Mary Beth hostage in the Cagney and Lacey episode "Heat", which aired October 22, 1984. 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 character Mr. Blonde tortures a police officer, actor Kirk Baltz ad-libbed a line about being a father to a young child. Madsen, who himself had just become a father, was so upset that he found it very difficult to finish the scene. On some copies of the film's DVD, as Baltz completes the line, a voice can be heard off-screen saying "Oh, no, no ..." The ad-lib exacerbated 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. He was also in the film 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out in 2003.

Madsen has been in a few television series, including the short-lived Vengeance Unlimited and 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 version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Maugrim the wolf, captain of the White Witch's secret police.

He also provides narration for Animal Planet and is heard in the PlayStation 2 game Yakuza, where he voices the role of Futo Shimano, the violent and unforgiving leader of a Yakuza family. Madsen played Sam Spade in Yuri Rasovsky's Grammy nominated sonic dramatization of The Maltese Falcon, which also features Sandra Oh and Edward Herrmann.

In August 2008, Madsen co-starred in Coma, a web series on Crackle.

Madsen went to Mexico City to co-star in boxing film Chamaco with Martin Sheen and Kirk Harris for director Miguel Necoechea in 2009. He is also starring alongside Vinnie Jones and Jamelia in the Robert Koltai film "Magic Boys".

Madsen is also expected to reprise his role as Bob in Sin City 2, which is in pre-production and has a release date of 2010. Fellow cast members include Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Clive Owen.

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.

In September 2009, he was filming the Magic Boys in Szeged, Hungary, which also stars Vinnie Jones. The film was never completed and there is no release date for this film and it us unknown when or if it will be released.

Madsen also  guest starred in the final season of 24 in April 2010. He played Jim Ricker, an old friend of main character Jack Bauer.

His latest released film, Let The Game Begin, hit the theaters in May 2010. The film also features Adam Rodriguez and Stephen Baldwin. Madsen played the lead in the independent horror film Infected.

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. Close friend Harvey Keitel is the godfather of Madsen's son Max. Since 1996, he has been married to Deanna Morgan, who was previously married to musician Brian Setzer of Stray Cats fame.

The actor lived in a Malibu house that once belonged to Keith Moon, the original drummer of The Who, and it was at this house on December 26, 2004 that David Carradine and his last wife, Annie, were married by their long time friend and attorney, Vicki Roberts.

Unlike the villainous characters he often plays, Madsen is very well known for his generosity and kindness. In 2002 he was presented an award for his work with the Shriners Hospital For Children, and he gave his casting director friend Bruno Rosato a Porsche 928. In September 2009, Madsen announced his participation in the Love Ride 26 to help raise money for local charities and those less fortunate. Love Ride began in 1981 and has been growing ever since including many celebrities from Malcom Forbes to Peter Fonda to Larry Hagman with musical entertainment from Robbie Krieger, David Crosby, Eric Burdon, Jackson Browne, Little Feat, Billy Idol, Bruce Springsteen, Dwight Yoakam, the Doobie Brothers, Sammy Hagar and others. The event was to have taken place on October 25, 2009 but was canceled two weeks before the event due to poor ticket sales and a steep decline in sponsorship and vendor support.

Poetry
Madsen is an accomplished poet. He has been writing poetry for over 10 years. Madsen began his writing on match books, napkins and hotel stationery in between his time working on movie sets and traveling around the world. In 2005, 13 Hands Publications, founded by Michael P. Naughton, compiled all of his poetry and released The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol I: 1995–2005. The book has been an international success and is the only authorized compilation of Madsen's poetry. The original books released were "Beer, Blood and Ashes" (1995), "Eat The Worm" (1995), "Burning in Paradise" (1998), and the now out of print "A Blessing of the Hounds" (2002), "46 Down; A Book of Dreams and Other Ramblings" (2004) and "When Pets Kill" (2005).

Madsen's friend and fellow actor Dennis Hopper described his poetry as a throwback to the Beat Generation: "I like him better than Kerouac: raunchier, more poignant, he's got street language, images I can relate to, blows my mind with his drifts of gut-wrenching riffs; this actor is a poet and he is cool, of course, he is Michael Madsen". Madsen notes his influences for his style of poetry as being Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski. His latest book of poetry, entitled American Badass, was released on Michael's birthday, September 25, 2009. Madsen dedicated the book to the memory of his friend and Kill Bill co-star David Carradine.

Photography
Madsen is also an accomplished photographer. In 2006, he released his first book of photography entitled: Signs of Life, published by 13 Hands Publications, which also contains some new selections of his poetry. He dedicated this book to the memory of his good friend and fellow actor Chris Penn, who starred with Madsen in Reservoir Dogs. In 2008, Michael Madsen was invited and appeared in Norway for the Norwegian translation and release of Burning In Paradise. He currently has limited edition prints of his photography available at Celebrities gallery in Maui, Hawaii.

Awards

 * Won Independent Firecracker Award for his book of poetry "Burning In Paradise" (1998).


 * Red Hen Press awarded Madsen with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his Complete Poetic Works in 2006.


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


 * Madsen won the 9th Annual Malibu International Film Festival award on April 6, 2008.

Filmography

 * Against All Hope (1982)
 * WarGames (1983)
 * Racing with the Moon (1984)
 * The Natural (1984)
 * The Killing Time (1987)
 * Shadows in the Storm (1988)
 * Iguana (1988)
 * Kill Me Again (1989)
 * Blood Red (1989)
 * The End of Innocence (1990)
 * Fatal Instinct (1991)
 * The Doors (1991)
 * Thelma and Louise (1991)
 * Beyond the Law (1992)
 * Reservoir Dogs (1992)
 * Straight Talk (1992)
 * Almost Blue (1992)
 * Inside Edge (1993)
 * A House in the Hills (1993)
 * Trouble Bound (1993)
 * Free Willy (1993)
 * Money for Nothing (1993)
 * Season of Change (1994)
 * The Getaway (1994)
 * Blue Tiger (1994)
 * Dead Connection (1994)
 * Wyatt Earp (1994)
 * Species (1995)
 * Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995)
 * Man with a Gun (1995)
 * Red Line (1996)
 * Mulholland Falls (1996)
 * The Winner (1996)
 * The Last Days of Frankie the Fly (1997)
 * Papertrail (1997)
 * Surface to Air (1997)
 * Donnie Brasco (1997)
 * The Girl Gets Moe (1997)
 * Executive Target (1997)
 * The Maker (1997)
 * Catherine's Grove (1997)
 * Ballad of the Nightingale (1998)
 * The Thief & the Stripper (1998)
 * Flat Out (1998)
 * Rough Draft (1998)
 * Species II (1998)
 * The Sender (1998)
 * Fait Accompli (1998)
 * Detour (1999)
 * The Florentine (1999)
 * Fall: The Price of Silence (2000)
 * Ides of March (2000)
 * Bad Guys (2000)
 * The Stray (2000)
 * The Inspectors 2: A Shred of Evidence (2001)
 * Luck of the Draw (2000)
 * The Alternate (2000)
 * Sacrifice (2000)
 * High Noon (2000)
 * The Price of Air (2000)
 * Outlaw (2001)
 * The Ghost (2001) (aka Code of the Dragon)
 * You Rock My World (2001)
 * Choke (2001)
 * Pressure Point (2001)
 * L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to Serve (2001)
 * 42K (2001)
 * Extreme Honor (2001)
 * Welcome to America (2002)
 * Love.com (2002)
 * Die Another Day (2002)
 * The Real Deal (2002)
 * Where's Angelo? (2003)
 * 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003)
 * My Boss's Daughter (2003)
 * Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
 * Vampires Anonymous (2003)
 * Les clefs de bagnole (2003)
 * Blueberry (2004)
 * Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
 * Frankenstein (2004)
 * Jacked$ (2004)
 * Hoboken Hollow (2005)
 * Sin City (2005)
 * Chasing Ghosts (2005)
 * The Last Drop (2005)
 * L.A. Dicks (2005)
 * Velvet Revolution (2005)
 * The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
 * All In (2006)
 * Scary Movie 4 (2006)
 * BloodRayne (2006)
 * Canes (2006)
 * UKM: Ultimate Killing Machine (2006)
 * Cosmic Radio (2007)
 * Living & Dying (2007)
 * Machine (2007)
 * Boarding Gate (2007)
 * Strength and Honour (2007)
 * Afghan Knights (2007)
 * Croc (2007)
 * Tooth & Nail (2007)
 * Being Michael Madsen (2007)
 * Eyes Front (2008)
 * Vice (2008)
 * House (2008)
 * Hell Ride (2008)
 * Crash and Burn (2008)
 * Last Hour (2008)
 * Deep Winter (2008)
 * No Bad Days (2008)
 * 45 R.P.M. (2008)
 * Killer's Freedom (2008)
 * Serbian Scars (2008)
 * You Might as Well Live (2009)
 * Lost in the Woods (2009)
 * Road of No Return (2009)
 * A Way With Murder (2009)
 * Shannon's Rainbow (2009)
 * Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia (2009)
 * Break (2009)
 * The Way (2009)
 * Chamaco (2009)
 * The Killing Jar (2009)
 * Clear Lake, WI (2009)
 * Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)
 * Christmas Crash (2009)
 * Hired Gun (2009)
 * Outrage (2009)
 * Creepshow RAW (2009)
 * The Bleeding (2010)
 * The Portal (2010)
 * The Lion of Judah (2010)
 * The Big I Am (2010)
 * Conflict of Interest (2010)
 * Road Raiders (2010)
 * Now Here (2010)
 * Not Another Not Another Movie (2010)
 * Firedog (2010)
 * Magic Boys (2010)
 * Web Cam 3D (2010)
 * Let the Game Begin (2010)
 * The Story of Bonnie and Clyde (2010)
 * Men Don't Lie (2010)
 * The Forest (2010)
 * Infected (2011)

Series
Miami vice 1 episode (give a little take a little)
 * Tour of Duty – Sleeping Dogs (1989)
 * Big Apple (2001)
 * Vengeance Unlimited (1998–1999)
 * Tilt (2005)
 * CSI Miami (2010)
 * 24 (2010)

Video games

 * Grand Theft Auto III (2001) (voice) Toni Cipriani
 * True Crime: Streets of LA (2003)
 * Driv3r (2004) (voice) Det. Tanner
 * Narc (2005)
 * Yakuza (2005)
 * Reservoir Dogs (2006) (voice) Vic Vega AKA "Mr. Blonde"