Considered one of the hottest and most talented stars of the mid-1980s, the beautiful actress Virginia Madsen has not disappointed her fans since with the variety of versatile roles she has taken on in television and the big screen throughout her career.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 11, 1961, into an acting family (her brother is Michael Madsen and her mother is Elaine Madsen, and Emmy Award-winning producer and writer), Madsen decided to get training in acting and studied at Chicago’s Ted Liss Acting Studio as well as Wisconsin’s Harand Camp Adult Theater Seminar.
Madsen made her film debut in 1983’s Class, a teen sex comedy that showcased the talents of Jacqueline Bisset, Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, John Cusack, and Alan Ruck, among others. She went on to take roles in Electric Dreams in 1984, and as Princess Irulan in David Lynch’s 1984 epic Dune, in which Kyle MacLachlan—who’s most known for his role as Trey MacDougal in Sex and the City—also appeared.
However, Madsen’s first breakthrough role as a young actress came two years later in the dramatic romance Fire with Fire, in which she starred as a Catholic schoolgirl opposite Craig Sheffer.
In 1990 Madsen starred in the film noir The Hot Spot opposite Don Johnson and Jennifer Connelly, and two years later she took the lead in Candyman, for which she won a Best Actress Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. In the mid-1990s Madsen starred in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) with Alec Baldwin, James Woods, and Whoopi Goldberg, and a year later appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker, which starred Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, and Claire Danes.
In 2004, Madsen wowed audiences as Maya in the romantic comedy Sideways, in which she starred alongside Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, and Sandra Oh. She received a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for her critically acclaimed role. Since Sideways Madsen has starred in 2006's Firewall, opposite Harrison Ford and Paul Bettany; A Prairie Home Companion also in 2006, with Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, and Lindsay Lohan; 2007's horror-thriller The Number 23 opposite Jim Carrey; and with Billy Bob Thornton in The Astronaut Farmer.
Madsen is also a noted television actress, having appeared in a number of major sitcoms and drama series including Frasier, Dawson’s Creek, CSI: Miami, and Justice League.
After a broken engagement with actor Billy Campbell, Madsen married actor Danny Huston for three years (1989 to 1992), after which she had a child with actor Antonio Sabato Jr. Madsen is also known for celebrating her fortieth birthday on the day of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
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