Celebrity Biographies
Michael Madson
An accomplished poet and skeptic of the tabloids, Michael Madsen has managed to perfectly manage the aroma left behind by the recognition that came from playing one of the best villains of recent decades in Reservoir Dogs . Although his star isn’t as bright now as it used to be, his captivating style continues to guarantee him a steady trickle of work as one of the big screen’s heavyweights.
Michael Soren Madsen, of Danish and Irish ancestry, was born on September 25, 1957 in Chicago (United States). The son of a firefighter and a writer, he is also the brother of actress Virginia Madsen . It was not until he reached adolescence that his hunger for acting emerged. He began studying at the Steppenwolf Theatre, where he worked closely with John Malkovich . In this group he already came to star in different works such as “Of mice and men” or “A streetcar named desire”.
The next step was his participation in television. Small roles in the eighties series Miami Vice or St. Elsewhere gave him the gap he needed to get his head in the industry. And that moment came in 1982 with Against all Hope , a drama about the hardships of an alcoholic on the verge of suicide. His work was receiving increasing praise after first playing the murderer Vince Miller in the thriller Death Strikes Twice (1989), and then Louise’s friend in the legendary road movie Thelma and Louise (1991).
But as with all stardom, Madsen needed a role that would elevate him in his career. Mr. Blonde was that rhythmically sadistic character that he smugly played in Reservoir Dogs (1992), a violent thriller directed by Quentin Tarantino that tells the story of six murderers after a failed attempt to rob a diamond company. Madsen’s performance, apart from assuming his true professional outbreak, helped him to be chosen as the second best villain of all time by Maxim Magazine’s.
Just a year later, he surprised many with his performance as a family man in Free Willy! (1993), which he would repeat in 1995 with the second part of the film. The role of tough guy was not long in appearing again, after playing a bank robber in the remake of La huida (1994) . Later, another of his great performances would come with Donnie Brasco (1997), where he put himself in the shoes of an Italian mobster. In 2003, he was reunited with his inseparable friend Tarantino in the bloody and vengeful Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill Volume 2 (2004), when he returned to being a ruthless killer. In 2004 he made the western Blueberry, a genre that he already addressed ten years earlier in Lawrence Kasdan ‘s classic Wyatt Earp .
His most recent appearances have been as a policeman in Sin City (2005), an ex-boxer who must return to fight to save his son’s life in Strength and Honor (2007), or a lawless, bully biker in Hell Ride (2008). He is now immersed in the filming of A Dame to Kill You (2013), a sequel to Sin City . His are undoubtedly the small roles of character characters, and he does not stop working, sometimes with more than eight films a year, almost record numbers, including television series such as 24 (8th season) (2010).
His work has expanded beyond the so-called seventh art. Madsen has voiced a couple of video games, such as Grand Theft Auto III (2001) or Driv3r (2004), as well as being a poet who has published more than eight books to date. In fact, he has to his credit the “Independent book publisher’s firecracker” award for the best book of poems of the year 2001.
An inveterate maniac during film recordings, he has always had Robert Mitchum as a reference , the classic interpreter of the anti-hero of film noir. Voice and strong build are obvious traits between the two, but Madsen alone accumulates enough baggage to establish his own identity as one of those thugs who, at the right time and movie, show just how tough they can get. To be. Married three times, he has five children.