Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as
Reservoir DogsReservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
,
Free WillyFree Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."...
,
Donnie BrascoDonnie Brasco is a 1997 crime drama film directed by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia's Five Families based in New York City...
, and
Kill BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
, in addition to a supporting role in
Sin CitySin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
. Madsen is also credited with voice work in several video games, including
Grand Theft Auto IIIGrand Theft Auto III is a 2001 open world action computer and video game developed by DMA Design in the United Kingdom, and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Microsoft Windows,...
,
True Crime: Streets of L.A. and
DRIV3RDriv3r, more commonly known as Driver 3 , is a racing, shooting, and adventure video game. It is the third installment in the popular Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari. Driv3r was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004...
.
Early life
Madsen was born in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois, the son of Elaine (née Melson), an
EmmyAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning poet, television producer, and playwright who often works for PBS, and Calvin Madsen, a
firefighterFirefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
. 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 MadsenVirginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
, and he also has an older sister, Cheri.
Madsen's acting career began at the
Steppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
in Chicago, where he served as an apprentice under actor
John MalkovichJohn Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
.
Career
In 1982, Madsen was cast by
Edward McDougalEdward T. McDougal grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He is the son of C. Bouton McDougal, Vice President and General Counsel for R. R...
for the lead in a small independent film,
Against All Hope, his first movie. He then played a small role in the studio picture
WarGamesWarGames is a 1983 American Cold War suspense/science-fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy....
in 1983. That same year, he appeared in a bit part in
Edward ZwickEdward M. Zwick is an American filmmaker and film producer noted for his epic films about social and racial issues. He has been described as a "throwback to an earlier era, an extremely cerebral director whose movies consistently feature fully rounded characters, difficult moral issues, and plots...
's 1983 television movie
Special BulletinSpecial Bulletin is an American made-for-TV movie first broadcast in 1983. It was an early collaboration between director Edward Zwick and writer Marshall Herskovitz, a team that would later produce such series as thirtysomething and My So-Called Life...
. 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 NaturalThe Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. The book follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman who seeks to kill arrogant athletes to "better the world"...
(1984), a deranged killer in
Kill Me AgainKill Me Again is a 1989 American thriller film directed by John Dahl and starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, and Michael Madsen. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer distributed the film.-Plot:...
(1989) and as the tough but touching boyfriend of
Susan SarandonSusan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
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 TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
crime story
Reservoir DogsReservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
. 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 BaltzKirk Baltz is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Career:Baltz is best known for his role as Marvin Nash, an LAPD police officer in the famous torture scene of the 1992 Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Kirk also starred in another film written by Tarantino, 1994's...
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 WillyFree Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."...
,
Mulholland FallsMulholland Falls is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori and written by Pete Dexter. The drama features Andrew McCarthy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith, Treat Williams, and John Malkovich.Nolte plays the...
,
Wyatt EarpWyatt Earp is a 1994 American semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Isabella Rossellini, Mark Harmon,...
,
SpeciesSpecies is a 1995 science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge...
and with
Johnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
and
Al PacinoAlfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
in the critically acclaimed
Donnie BrascoDonnie Brasco is a 1997 crime drama film directed by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia's Five Families based in New York City...
.
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 BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
, in the
James BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
adventure
Die Another DayDie Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
and in the film version of the Frank Miller graphic novel
Sin CitySin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
. He appeared in
Scary Movie 4Scary Movie 4 is the fourth film of the Scary Movie franchise, directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, and produced by Craig Mazin and Robert K. Weiss. It is distributed by The Weinstein Company via its Dimension Films unit in the U.S. and Television, and...
in 2006 parodying
Tim RobbinsTimothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
's character from
War of the WorldsWar of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
. He was also in the film
44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out is a 2003 American film directed by Yves Simoneau. The film premiered on the FX Network in June 2003.-Plot:...
in 2003.
In 2008 he had a starring role as "The Gent" in Quentin Tarantino's "HELL RIDE" that was written & Directed by Larry Bishop.
Madsen has been in a few television series, including the short-lived
Vengeance Unlimited Vengeance Unlimited was a TV series broadcasted during 1998-1999 on ABC which lasted for just one season of sixteen episodes. The show starred Michael Madsen as Mr. Chapel, a mysterious and pragmatic character keen on serving justice to those who have been ignored by the law...
and as "Don Everest" in the
pokerPoker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
-themed
ESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
series
TiltTilt is a U.S. TV series set against the backdrop of the World Championship of Poker tournament in Las Vegas, and with the tagline "You're playing poker. They're playing you." The series first aired on January 13, 2005, and is the second original drama series from ESPN, following Playmakers...
. He was in
Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's 2001 music video "
You Rock My World"You Rock My World" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson from his tenth, and final, studio album Invincible . The song was released as the lead single from the album in August 2001 by Epic Records. The lyrics pertain to being in love and trying to gain a woman's affection...
" and has provided voice work for several video games, including
Grand Theft Auto IIIGrand Theft Auto III is a 2001 open world action computer and video game developed by DMA Design in the United Kingdom, and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Microsoft Windows,...
,
True Crime: Streets of L.A. and
DRIV3RDriv3r, more commonly known as Driver 3 , is a racing, shooting, and adventure video game. It is the third installment in the popular Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari. Driv3r was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004...
. He provided voice work for the movie version of
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of...
as
MaugrimMaugrim is a fictional wolf, a servant of White Witch in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. He is captain of the witch's Secret Police...
the wolf, captain of the
White WitchJadis is the main antagonist of The Magician's Nephew and of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in C.S. Lewis' series, The Chronicles of Narnia...
's secret police.
He also provides narration for
Animal PlanetAnimal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
and is heard in the PlayStation 2 game
YakuzaYakuza, originally released in Japan as is an action-adventure fighter video game developed and published by Sega in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2...
, where he voices the role of Futo Shimano, the violent and unforgiving leader of a Yakuza family. Madsen played
Sam SpadeSam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....
in
Yuri RasovskyYuri Rasovsky is an American award-winning writer and producer working in the field of radio drama in the United States....
's Grammy-nominated sonic dramatization of
The Maltese Falcon, which also features
Sandra OhSandra Oh is a Canadian actress. She is best known for the role of Dr. Cristina Yang on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, for which she has won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award. She also played notable roles in the feature films Under the Tuscan Sun and Sideways, and had a supporting role on the...
and
Edward HerrmannEdward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
.
In August 2008, Madsen co-starred in
Coma, a web series on
CrackleCrackle is a digital network and studio, featuring commercially supported streaming video content in Flash Video format. It is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and its content consists primarily of Sony's library of films and television shows...
.
Madsen went to Mexico City to co-star in boxing film
The Kid: Chamaco with
Martin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
and
Kirk HarrisActor-writer Kirk Harris has been the lead actor in several films that have had arthouse theatrical releases in the US.He is currently starring in the western thriller "The Sorrow" for director Vernon Mortensen. He stars in the film with newcomer Ryan Ballance, John Savage, Michael Madsen and...
for director Miguel Necoechea in 2009.
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 2012. Fellow cast members include
Jessica AlbaJessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
,
Rosario DawsonRosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
, and
Clive OwenClive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
.
The actor appeared in
Every Time I DieEvery Time I Die is a metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. Their musical style is rooted in technical hardcore with strong southern metal and mathcore elements, and is also characterised by their cryptic, bitingly sarcastic lyrics. The band announced on July 14, 2008 that they had...
'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' is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary....
, Hungary with
Vinnie JonesVincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones is an English film actor and retired Welsh footballer.Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. As a member of the...
. The film was never completed, due to the arrest in December 2010 of producer Gabor Koltai by Hungarian authorities on charges of fraud.
Madsen guest-starred in the final season of
2424 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
in April 2010. He played Jim Ricker, an old friend of main character
Jack BauerJack Bauer is the main protagonist of the American television series 24. His character has worked in various capacities on the show, often as a member of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit based in Los Angeles, and working with the FBI in Washington, D.C...
.
His latest released film,
Let The Game BeginLet the Game Begin is a 2010 American film romantic comedy from Twisted Light Productions, directed by Amit Gupta. The film stars CSI: Miami actor Adam Rodriguez and Stephen Baldwin...
, opened in May 2010. The film also features
Adam RodriguezAdam Michael Rodríguez is an American actor and director. He is best known for his long running role as Eric Delko on CSI: Miami.-Life and career:...
and
Stephen BaldwinStephen Andrew Baldwin is an American actor, director, producer and author. One of the Baldwin brothers, he is known for his roles as William F. Cody in the western show The Young Riders and as Stuart in the movie Threesome...
. Madsen played the lead in the independent
horror filmHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Infected.
He is currently one of the stars of the western thriller
The Sorrow with
Kirk HarrisActor-writer Kirk Harris has been the lead actor in several films that have had arthouse theatrical releases in the US.He is currently starring in the western thriller "The Sorrow" for director Vernon Mortensen. He stars in the film with newcomer Ryan Ballance, John Savage, Michael Madsen and...
,
John SavageJohn Savage is an American film actor, producer, production manager, and composer.- Acting career :...
, newcomer Ryan Ballance and
Yvonne DelarosaYvonne DeLaRosa, sometimes De La Rosa or Delarosa, is an American television and film actress. Internationally recognized from television and film, Yvonne DeLaRosa is considered one of the most beautiful Latin-American actresses of our time...
.
Personal life
Madsen's first marriage was to actress
Georganne LaPiereGeorganne LaPiere Bartylak is an American actress and half sister of Cher. Her movie career spans from 1974 to 1996. She was once married to actor Michael Madsen....
, the half sister of
CherCher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
. He remarried, to Jeannine Bisignano, with whom he has two sons. Close friend
Harvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
is the godfather of Madsen's son Max. Since 1996, he has been married to Deanna Morgan, who was previously married to musician
Brian SetzerBrian Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group The Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with a jazz-oriented big band.-Career:Setzer was born in Massapequa, New York...
of
Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
fame. They have 3 sons together.
The actor lived in a Malibu house that once belonged to
Keith MoonKeith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
, the original drummer of
The WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, and it was at this house on December 26, 2004 that
David CarradineDavid Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
and his last wife, Annie, were married by their longtime friend and attorney, Vicki Roberts.
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
Malcolm ForbesMalcolm Stevenson Forbes was publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes and today run by his son Steve Forbes.-Life and career:...
to
Peter FondaPeter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
to
Larry HagmanLarry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
with musical entertainment from Robbie Krieger,
David CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
,
Eric BurdonEric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
,
Jackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
,
Little FeatLittle Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
,
Billy IdolWilliam Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
,
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
,
Dwight YoakamDwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
, the Doobie Brothers,
Sammy HagarSam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
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.
Madsen has done several films with
Daryl HannahDaryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
, these include
Kill BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
,
Shannon's RainbowShannon's Rainbow is a 2009 drama and family film both produced and directed by Frank E. Johnson. It stars Julianne Michelle and Claire Forlani, with a musical score by emmy winner Charles David Denler....
,
ViceVice is a 2008 crime film released straight to DVD. It stars Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah.Tagline: It's a dirty job.- Plot :An undercover drug deal goes wrong and Max sees the other cops involved start dropping...
, and the upcoming films
EldoradoEldorado is an upcoming horror-comedy film. It is directed and written by Richard Driscoll and stars Peter O'Toole, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah and Michael Madsen. The film also stars Brigitte Nielsen, Kerry Washington, Jeff Fahey, Steve Guttenberg and Bill Moseley...
as well as the film
Garbage in which they play friends called Daryl and Michael. Hannah took part in the fictional documentary
Being Michael MadsenBeing Michael Madsen is a 2007 comedy film directed by Michael Mongillo and produced by Daniel A. Sherkow. The film takes a mockumentary approach in re-imagining actor Michael Madsen as a paparazzi-hounded movie star who hatches a revenge scheme against a tabloid journalist...
.
Poetry
Madsen 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 HopperDennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
described his poetry as a throwback to the
Beat GenerationThe Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
: "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 KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
and
Charles BukowskiHenry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
. His latest book of poetry, entitled
American Badass was released on Madsen's birthday, September 25, 2009. Madsen dedicated the book to the memory of his friend and
Kill Bill co-star David Carradine.
In 2008, Madsen was invited and appeared in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
for the Norwegian translation and release of
Burning In Paradise. In November 2010 he was the Guest of Honor for his poetry at the Crossing Border Festival at
The HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
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 PennChristopher Shannon "Chris" Penn was an American film and television actor known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, Rush Hour, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider.-Early life:Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of Leo Penn,...
, who starred with Madsen in
Reservoir Dogs. 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
Red Hen Press is an American non-profit press specializing in the publication of literary fiction and poetry located in Pasadena, California. Founded by Kate Gale, the mission of Red Hen Press is to discover, publish, and promote works of literary excellence that have been overlooked by mainstream...
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
Strength and Honour is a boxing film that was shot in Cork, Ireland. Filming took place in the city and county including Kinsale, Rochestown, Passage West and the un-opened maternity ward of the Cork University Hospital as well as the new airport....
.
- Madsen won the 9th Annual Malibu International Film Festival award on April 6, 2008.
Selected filmography
- Kill Me Again
Kill Me Again is a 1989 American thriller film directed by John Dahl and starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, and Michael Madsen. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer distributed the film.-Plot:...
(1989)
- Thelma and Louise
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri, the film's plot revolves around Thelma and Louise's escape from their troubled and caged lives. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, and co-stars Harvey Keitel as a...
(1991)
- Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
(1992)
- Free Willy
Free Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."...
(1993)
- The Getaway
The Getaway is a 1994 crime thriller and a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jennifer Tilly, and was directed by Roger Donaldson.-Plot:...
(1994)
- Species
Species is a 1995 science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge...
(1995)
- Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home is a 1995 family film, directed Dwight H. Little, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment banner. It is a sequel to the 1993 film Free Willy, also starring Jason James Richter and August Schellenberg. Free Willy 3: The Rescue, was subsequently...
(1995)
- Mulholland Falls
Mulholland Falls is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori and written by Pete Dexter. The drama features Andrew McCarthy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith, Treat Williams, and John Malkovich.Nolte plays the...
(1996)
- Donnie Brasco
Donnie Brasco is a 1997 crime drama film directed by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia's Five Families based in New York City...
(1997)
- Die Another Day
Die Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
(2002)
- 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out
44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out is a 2003 American film directed by Yves Simoneau. The film premiered on the FX Network in June 2003.-Plot:...
(2003)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
(2003)
- Kill Bill: Volume 2
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
(2004)
- Sin City
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
(2005)
- Strength and Honour
Strength and Honour is a boxing film that was shot in Cork, Ireland. Filming took place in the city and county including Kinsale, Rochestown, Passage West and the un-opened maternity ward of the Cork University Hospital as well as the new airport....
(2007)
- Vice
Vice is a 2008 crime film released straight to DVD. It stars Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah.Tagline: It's a dirty job.- Plot :An undercover drug deal goes wrong and Max sees the other cops involved start dropping...
(2008)
- Green Lantern: First Flight
# "Main Title" # "The Ring Chooses Hal" # "Hal Meets / The Flight of The Lanterns" # "Labella's Club" # "Going After Cuch" # "The Way I Heard It" # "Bugs in the Baggage" # "Teleport Pursuit"...
(2009) (voice)
- Outrage (2009)
- Corruption Gov (2010)
- The Brazen Bull
The Brazen Bull is an 2011 American thriller/horror released on July 13, 2011. It was written, directed, and produced by Douglas Elford-Argent. It stars Jennifer Tisdale as the main role and Michael Madsen as the killer. It was released on DVD on September 2, 2011.-Plot:An ice cold tale of...
(2011)
- Eldorado
Eldorado is an upcoming horror-comedy film. It is directed and written by Richard Driscoll and stars Peter O'Toole, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah and Michael Madsen. The film also stars Brigitte Nielsen, Kerry Washington, Jeff Fahey, Steve Guttenberg and Bill Moseley...
(2012)
TV series
- Tour of Duty
Tour of Duty is an American drama television series on CBS. It ran for three seasons from September 1987 to April 1990 as 58 one–hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark, and produced by Zev Braun....
– Sleeping Dogs (1989)
- Big Apple
Big Apple is an American television drama series that was originally broadcast in the United States on CBS in 2001. The story centers on two New York City Police Department detectives Mooney and Trout working with the FBI to solve a murder with ties to organized crime...
(2001)
- Animal Precinct
Animal Precinct is an American documentary reality television series that originally aired from June 26, 2001, to February 4, 2008, on Animal Planet...
(2001–2005)
- Vengeance Unlimited
Vengeance Unlimited was a TV series broadcasted during 1998-1999 on ABC which lasted for just one season of sixteen episodes. The show starred Michael Madsen as Mr. Chapel, a mysterious and pragmatic character keen on serving justice to those who have been ignored by the law...
(1998–1999)
- Tilt
Tilt is a U.S. TV series set against the backdrop of the World Championship of Poker tournament in Las Vegas, and with the tagline "You're playing poker. They're playing you." The series first aired on January 13, 2005, and is the second original drama series from ESPN, following Playmakers...
(2005)
- CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
(2010)
- 24
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
(2010)
Video games
- Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 open world action computer and video game developed by DMA Design in the United Kingdom, and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Microsoft Windows,...
(2001) – Toni Cipriani (voice)
- True Crime: Streets of LA
True Crime: Streets of LA is an action-adventure video game developed by Luxoflux and published by Activision for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube in November 2003 and the first game in the True Crime series...
(2003) – Rafferty (voice)
- Driv3r
Driv3r, more commonly known as Driver 3 , is a racing, shooting, and adventure video game. It is the third installment in the popular Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari. Driv3r was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004...
(2004) – Detective John Tanner (voice)
- NARC
NARC is originally a 1988 arcade game designed by Eugene Jarvis for Williams Electronics and programmed by George Petro. It was one of the first ultra-violent video games and a frequent target of parental criticism of the arcade game industry. The object is to arrest and kill drug offenders,...
(2005)
- Yakuza
Yakuza, originally released in Japan as is an action-adventure fighter video game developed and published by Sega in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2...
(2005) – Futo Shimano (voice)
- Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is a video game based on the Quentin Tarantino film of the same name. Released in 2006, it garnered mostly mediocre reviews and caused minor controversies for its violence, being banned in Australia and New Zealand.-Plot:...
(2006) – Vic Vega aka Mr. Blonde (voice)
External links