Early Life
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. 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 distant 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.
Read more about this topic: Michael Madsen
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)