Virginia Madsen

Virginia Madsen was born in Chicago, Illinois,^[3] the daughter of Elaine (née Nelson), who became an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and author, and Calvin Christian Madsen, a firefighter.^[4] After Madsen's parents divorced in the late 1960s, when the children were young, her mother left a career in finance to pursue a career in the arts, encouraged by film critic Roger Ebert.^[5] Madsen's siblings are actor Michael Madsen (1957–2025) and Cheryl Madsen, an entrepreneur. Her paternal grandparents were Danish, and her mother has Irish and Scottish along with distant Native American ancestry.^[6] Madsen and her best friend Rusty Schwimmer are graduates of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.^[7]

Madsen later attended the Ted Liss Acting Studio in Chicago, and Harand Camp Adult Theater Seminar in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Of her experience with Liss, she said: "I had wanted to join his class since I was 12. It was well worth the wait because I don't think I could have got that sort of training anywhere else, especially in the United States ... I always wanted to make a real career out of acting."^[8]

Madsen made her acting debut at age 22, in a bit part where she landed her role as Lisa in the romantic comedy film Class (1983), co-starring Jacqueline Bisset and Rob Lowe. She next appeared in Kenny Loggins' music video for "I'm Free (Heaven Helps the Man)" from the Footloose (1984) soundtrack.

She portrayed a cellist named Madeline in the science fiction comedy Electric Dreams with Lenny Von Dohlen (1984). She was cast as Princess Irulan in David Lynch's science fiction epic Dune (1984).^[9] In 1985, she starred as Boris (Vincent Spano)'s romantic interest Barbara in the film Creator, which also starred Peter O'Toole.

Madsen first became known to audiences in 1986 with her portrayal of a Catholic school girl who fell in love with a boy from a prison camp in Duncan Gibbons' Fire with Fire, though the film drew scathing reviews. As beauty queen Dixie Lee Boxx, she was the love interest of minor league baseball manager Cecil "Stud" Cantrell (William Petersen) in the HBO original film Long Gone (1987). That same year she also appeared in the music video for "I Found Someone" by Cher. She played a secretary named Allison Rowe in the comedy film Hot to Trot (1988).

Madsen also played femme fatales in films such as Slam Dance (1987), Gotham (1988), The Hot Spot (1990), which co-starred Don Johnson and Jennifer Connelly, and Linda (1993).

She also starred as Helen Lyle, an anthropology student, in the horror film Candyman (1992), which drew good reviews and was a box office success.

She appeared in a small role in the Francis Ford Coppola drama The Rainmaker (1997) alongside Matt Damon and Claire Danes. Film critic Roger Ebert said that Madsen had a "strong scene",^[10] while reviewer James Berardinelli noted that "the supporting cast is solid, with turns from . . . Virginia Madsen as a witness for the plaintiff".^[11]

Madsen delivered a critically acclaimed performance in Sideways (2004), directed by Alexander Payne. Her role catapulted her onto the Hollywood A-list.^[12]

Her first major role after Sideways was opposite Harrison Ford and Paul Bettany in Firewall (2006). She later appeared in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, in a key role as the angel. She co-starred alongside Jim Carrey in The Number 23 and Billy Bob Thornton in The Astronaut Farmer; both films were released in North America on February 23, 2007. She voiced Queen Hippolyta, the mother of Wonder Woman, in the animated film Wonder Woman (2009).

In 1988, Madsen appeared as Maddie Hayes' cousin in the fifth and final season of the ABC drama series Moonlighting. She has since made various television appearances, including Star Trek: Voyager, CSI: Miami, Dawson's Creek, The Practice, Frasier, and other television series. She was also co-host of the long-running television series Unsolved Mysteries in 1999, during the show's eleventh season (which was also the second and final season on CBS). She starred alongside Ray Liotta in the short-lived CBS crime drama series Smith. She also had a recurring role in the eighth and final season in the USA Network comedy-drama series Monk.

In 2010, she landed the starring role of Cheryl West in the ABC comedy-drama series Scoundrels. In December 2010, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the NBC science fiction series The Event.^[13] In 2012, she joined the cast of the AMC western drama series Hell on Wheels as Mrs. Hannah Durant, first appearing in episode eight of season 2, "The Lord's Day". In 2013, Madsen began appearing on Lifetime's Witches of East End as Penelope Gardiner, the main villainess of the first season.

She starred as Speaker Kimble Hookstraten in the first season of the ABC political drama series Designated Survivor.^[14]

In 2008, Madsen formed her own film production company called Title IX Productions.^[15] Her first project was a film made with her mother titled I Know a Woman Like That. The film is a documentary about the lives of older women. On the creation of the film, she said her mother's active lifestyle was an inspiration to start filming.

My mother's level of activity, of productivity, was exactly why I thought a project like this would work. Originally, when we put the idea together, she had said, "I'm far too busy. I'm going to Holland, and then I'm going here and there and I'm writing my book." But that's really what it's about.^[16]

Madsen was married to actor and director Danny Huston after meeting on the set of Mr. North (1988). They married in 1989 and divorced in 1992.^[17] From 1993 to 1998, Madsen was in a partnership relationship with Antonio Sabàto Jr., with whom she had one son. ^[18] In 2020, Madsen married 20 year younger actor and editor Nick Holmes after dating for over ten years.^[19]