Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor, producer, director, writer, poet and photographer. His first major film role was in Thelma & Louise (1991), and he is best known for working with director Quentin Tarantino in the iconic role of Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs (1992), as Budd in both segments of Kill Bill (2003 and 2004), and appearing in The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Known for playing "charming, careless, terrifying bastards", Madsen has also starred in many feature films and television series, and has done voice work for video games.
Madsen was born September 25, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Elaine (born 1932), was a filmmaker and author. His father, Calvin Christian Madsen (1927–2015), was a World War II Navy veteran and a firefighter with the Chicago Fire Department. His parents divorced in the 1960s, and his mother left the financial world to pursue a career in the arts, encouraged by film critic Roger Ebert. His siblings are Cheryl Madsen, an entrepreneur, and Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen. Madsen's paternal grandparents were Danish, while his mother is of English, German, Irish, Native American and Scottish ancestry.