Michael Madsen

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Michael Madsen
Born Michael Søren Madsen
(1957-09-25) September 25, 1957 (age 55)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Other names Maykl Madsen
Occupation Actor, producer, director, writer, poet, photographer
Years active 1982–present
Spouse(s) Jeannine Bisignano
Georganne LaPiere
Partner(s) DeAnna Madsen (1996–present)
Children 5 sons[1]
Website
MichaelMadsen.com

Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) 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 Dogs, Free Willy, Piranhaconda, Donnie Brasco and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin City. Madsen is also credited with voice work in several video games, including Grand Theft Auto III, True Crime: Streets of L.A., DRIV3R, Dishonored and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. In January 2012, Madsen was a housemate in the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother 9.

Contents

Early life [edit]

Madsen as a senior in high school, 1975

Madsen was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Elaine (née Melson), an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, poet and playwright, and Calvin Madsen, a firefighter.[2] Madsen's mother left a career in corporate business to pursue a writing career.[3] Madsen's paternal grandparents were Danish and his mother has Irish and distant Native American ancestry.[4] 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 [edit]

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 bit part in Edward Zwick's 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.[5]

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. He was unable to play the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction as he couldn't get out of rehearsals for the film Wyatt Earp. As a result, the role instead went to John Travolta and relaunched his career. Madsen was still regretting this decision over a decade later.[6]

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.

In 2004, Tarantino discussed an idea for a movie starring Madsen and John Travolta as the Vega brothers.[7] The film would have seen Madsen and Travolta reprising their roles as Vic (Mr. Blonde) from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. However in 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the project (which he intended to call Double V Vega) was "kind of unlikely now".[8]

In 2008, he had a starring role as "The Gent" in Quentin Tarantino's "Hell Ride" that was written and directed by Larry Bishop.

Madsen in 2006

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 DRIV3R. 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.[9]

Madsen went to Mexico City to co-star in boxing film The Kid: Chamaco with Martin Sheen and Kirk Harris 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 October 4, 2013. Fellow cast members include Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Clive Owen.[10]

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 filmed the comedy feature Magic Boys in England and Hungary, co-starring with Vinnie Jones, directed by Robert Koltai and written by screenwriter Ivo Marloh. The film is scheduled for general release in late 2012.

Madsen guest-starred in the final season of 24 in April 2010. He played Jim Ricker, an old friend of main character Jack Bauer.[11]

His latest released film, Let the Game Begin, opened in May 2010.[12] The film also features Adam Rodriguez and Stephen Baldwin. Madsen played the lead in the independent horror film Infected.[13]

In September 2010, Madsen appeared as himself in the music video for Sky Ferreira's single "Obsession."

He is currently one of the stars of the western thriller The Sorrow with Kirk Harris, John Savage, newcomer Ryan Ballance and Yvonne Delarosa.

On 5 January 2012, Madsen entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. He finished in 4th place in the final of Celebrity Big Brother.

In August 2012, Madsen appeared in the music video for Justin Bieber's single "As Long As You Love Me".

Personal life [edit]

"I like to diversify. And I am all about longevity. I want to be doing this for as long as I can. I have made, I think, 72 pictures now. And I have made a lot of studio stuff and I have made a lot of low-budget stuff. The fun of making independent films is that they are a lot more open and it is a lot easier to ad-lib and create a character and collaborate with the director. With a studio picture, you are a lot more controlled and your whole environment and your whole presentation is a lot more monitored."

— Michael Madsen[14]

Madsen's first marriage was to actress 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.[15] They have 3 sons together.

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 longtime friend and attorney, Vicki Roberts.[16]

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[17] 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 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, Justin Bieber 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 Hannah, these include Kill Bill, Shannon's Rainbow, Vice, and the upcoming films Eldorado as well as the film Garbage in which they play friends called Daryl and Michael. Hannah took part in the fictional documentary Being Michael Madsen.

Madsen was arrested on March 5, 2012, on a misdemeanor charge and released after paying $5,000 in bail, and again on March 7, 2012, for child endangerment after getting into a fight with his son. Madsen posted $100,000 bail and was released.[18] He also has a line of hot sauces.[19]

Poetry [edit]

Madsen has been writing for over 15 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 compiled all of his poetry and released The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol I: 1995–2005. 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. In 2008, Madsen was invited and appeared in Norway 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 Hague.[20]

Another book of poetry, American Badass was released on September 25, 2009. Madsen dedicated the book to the memory of his friend and Kill Bill co-star David Carradine.

His latest book, Expecting Rain, will be released in December 2012, with an introduction by Jerry Hopkins.

Photography [edit]

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 and Mulholland Falls.

Awards [edit]

  • 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.

TV and film [edit]

Selected filmography [edit]

TV series [edit]

Video games [edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2001 Grand Theft Auto III Antonio "Toni" Cipriani (voice) Voice Over
2003 True Crime: Streets of LA Rafferty (voice) Voice Over
2004 Driv3r Detective John Tanner (voice) Voice Over
2005 NARC Detective Jack Frozenski (voice) Voice Over
2005 Yakuza Futo Shimano (voice) Voice Over
2006 Reservoir Dogs Vic Vega aka Mr. Blonde (voice) Voice Over
2012 Dishonored Daud (voice) Voice Over
2013 Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall Daud (voice) Voice Over
2013 Call of Duty: Black Ops II Michael "Finn" O'Leary "Uprising" DLC, on the zombies map "Mob of the Dead"

References [edit]

  1. ^ Celebrity Big Brother, January 2012
  2. ^ Bell, Mark (2007-02-23). "METHOD FEST TO PRESENT THE 2007 MAVERICK AWARD TO MICHAEL MADSEN". Film Threat. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  3. ^ Kennedy, Lisa (2007-02-21). "A strong role, an equal partner". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  4. ^ Bray, Tony (April, 2004). "Virginia Madsen". TV Now. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  5. ^ Michael Madsen Home Page
  6. ^ Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (2004-04-18). "Mr Blonde's Ambition". Guardian (London). Retrieved 2006-12-27. 
  7. ^ Haddon, Cole (2008-08-07). "Michael Madsen Talks Hell Ride, Inglorious Bastards, and Sin City 2". Film.com. Retrieved 2008-11-18. 
  8. ^ Sciretta, Peter (April 7, 2007). "Quentin Tarantino talks Vega Brothers, the Pulp Fiction & Reservoir Dogs sequel/prequel". Slashfilm. 
  9. ^ "Michael Madsen, George Hamilton and Paul Ben-Victor Star in Coma, an Original Web Series Premiering On Crackle.com". 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2009-03-05. 
  10. ^ Sin City 2 at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2009-04-15.
  11. ^ 24 Season 8 Episode 19 Press Release (10:00AM – 11:00AM)
  12. ^ Let the Game Begin at the Internet Movie Database
  13. ^ "Michael Madsen's Latest Low Brow Horror Gets 'Infected'". BloodyDisgusting. 
  14. ^ IMDB Biography, Michael Madsen. Accessed October 2011.
  15. ^ Biography for DeAnna Madsen at the Internet Movie Database
  16. ^ Vicki Roberts at the Internet Movie Database
  17. ^ HISTORY « Love Ride 26
  18. ^ "Michael Madsen, Kill Bill Star, Arrested for Child Cruelty". 10 March 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012. 
  19. ^ Frauenfelder, Mark (April 12, 2013). "Michael Madsen talks to Boing Boing about his hot sauce". Boing Boing. 
  20. ^ www.crossingborder.nl
  21. ^ Rizzo, Lisa, Producer of new indie film tied to Cal Poly (WebCite archive), CalCoastNews (San Luis Obispo), November 23, 2012.
  22. ^ The Cast (WebCite archive), Metakwon Filmworks website, archived February 2, 2012
  23. ^ Terror Tweets: Frozen Website Update and Rob Zombie's CSI: Miami Cast
  24. ^ Michael Madsen to Guest Star on 24

External links [edit]

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