His paternal grandparents (Soren and Anna Marie Madsen) immigrated from Denmark in the early 1900s.

His father is of Danish descent, his mother is of Irish and American Indian descent

Former brother-in-law of Danny Huston.

Has a Parrot called Marlon (after Marlon Brando).

Uncle of Virginia Madsen's son Jack

Good friends with Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton and Nick Nolte.

Godfather of his sons Hudson and Calvin is Quentin Tarantino

Children with Jeannine Bisignano: Christian (born 1990) and Max (born 1994). Children with De Anna Morgan: Hudson Lee (born 1995), Calvin Michael (born 1997) and Luke Ray (born 2005).

Announced the second greatest movie villain of all time by Maxim Magazine's "Greatest Movie Villains of all Time" for his character in Reservoir Dogs (1992) of "Mr. Blonde".

Was very uncomfortable filming the torture scenes in Reservoir Dogs (1992), especially in the scenes in which he was required to hit Kirk Baltz.

Stepfather of Cody (born 1987), son of De Anna Morgan and Brian Setzer.

He points to Robert Mitchum as his idol and role model. Many similarities are apparent, as both are large, intimidating "tough guys" who are generally underrated and Madsen (as did Mitchum) doesn't always appear in films for their artistic merit. They both also share a love for poetry. He and Mitchum also both appeared in War and Remembrance (1988) (TV), though they never had any scenes together.

For his past, present and ongoing commitment to independent film, was presented with the inaugural Rebel Award by good friend/actor Harvey Keitel at Rebelfest 2005, Toronto.

Was set to play "Sean Harrison" in the TV Series "Hawaii" (2004) but was replaced by Michael Biehn.

He has said in an interview once that his feminine characteristic would be that he has soft feet.

Has lent his voice to several seasons of "Animal Precinct" (2001) on The Animal Planet.

Voiced a central character in two competing video game franchises. He was the voice of Tanner in Driv3r and Toni Cipriani in Grand Theft Auto III.

One of his dogs is "Buftea", a recent addition. He found it emaciated, wild and roaming the forests of Romania while he was filming The Last Drop (2005). Madsen gradually tamed the dog, adopted it, named it after the town in Romania where they were shooting and whisked it back to beach-front Malibu.

Was offered role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994) but turned it down because he couldn't get out of rehearsal for Wyatt Earp (1994).

Lives in Malibu with his family.

Has 2 sons with Jeannine Bisignano: Christian and Max.

His maternal Grandparents are Lance and Lavinia.

He released the only authorized, in-print collection and 10 Year Anniversary Edition of his poetry called "The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol I: 1995-2005/," available at Amazon.com.

Voice can be heard in a Boeing commercial aired on MSNBC.

Burning in Paradise won the Independent Firecracker Award for Poetry in 1998.

In 2002 he was presented an award for his work with the Shriners Hospital For Children.

Owned the yellow Cadillac that his character Mr Blonde drove in Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Former brother-in-law of Cher.

Was offered the role of Seth Gecko in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), but couldn't accept due to scheduling conflicts.

In the early days of his acting career, he considered changing his name to "Michael Hood."

He was originally asked to play "Harland", the man who rapes Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise (1991), but he refused the part and, when director Ridley Scott asked what part he would like instead, Madsen asked if he could play "Jimmy Lennox", the well meaning but short tempered boyfriend of Susan Sarandon's Louise. Scott initially scoffed at the idea, but Madsen got the part of "Jimmy" after having lunch with Susan Sarandon.

Has worked as a car mechanic, a landscaper and a hospital orderly before turning to acting.

Dennis Hopper wrote the introduction to his book of short stories and poems "Burning in Paradise".

Brother of actress Virginia Madsen and son of Cal Madsen, a retired firefighter. He also has another sibling, apart from Virginia.

Married his wife, De Anna Morgan, in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Has worn the same pinky ring in numerous movies.

His character of Mr. Blonde was one of the 200 nominees on the American Film Institute's list of 100 years of the best Heroes and Villains. He was also the only character from Reservoir Dogs (1992) who was nominated. However, he didn't make it into the top 50.

States only five films as ones he's even remotely proud of: _Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)_, Donnie Brasco (1997), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Species (1995), and Free Willy (1993).

Was considered for the role of Sergeant Mike Horvath in Saving Private Ryan (1998). The role eventually went to Madsen's friend, Tom Sizemore.

Wears Ray Ban sunglasses in almost all of his movies.

He painted houses, repaired cars, worked as an orderly in a hospital and pumped gas in his late teens and early twenties before he moved to Los Angeles.

Hobbies include cars and bikes.

The character of Officer Wendell `Bud` White in L.A. Confidential (1997) was written with Madsen in mind, but Russell Crowe got the part.

According to his interview in Maxim magazine, he doesn`t own a cell phone nor does he use the Internet to send e-mails; he still writes letters by hand.

His parents, Cal and Elaine, divorced when Michael was 9.

He has an older sister named Cheri. She`s the owner of a restaurant in Wisconsin.

David Carradine and his present Wife Annie were married at his home by Vicki Roberts who officiated and pronounced them husband and wife.

September 2007 - outstanding achievement award in acting at the 13th annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival.

Good friend Harvey Keitel served as godfather to his son Max.