Born on September 11, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois, Virginia Madsen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated actress for her work in the award winning film Sideways. She rose to fame in the 1980s after a string of movies that catered to a primarily teenage audience. The daughter of an Emmy-winning poet, producer and playwright and a fireman, Madsen graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. Her mother notably left a corporate career to pursue a writing career. Her brother is also an actor, while her paternal grandparents were originally Danish. She also holds Irish and Native American ancestry.
Madsen rose to mainstream popularity in a small part in the teen sex comedy Class. She went on to play as Princess Irulan in the science fiction epic Dune in 1984. A couple of years later in 1986, she portrayed a Catholic schoolgirl who fell in love with a boy from a prison camp in Fire with Fire. She was the sexy romantic interest of CSI’s William Petersen in the made-for-cable Long Gone in 1987. She co-hosted the series Unsolved Mysteries’ final season in 1999.
Madsen’s additional film credits include Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker, starring alongside Matt Damon, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Hot Spot and the cult classic Candyman. Madsen's versatility was seen in the independent film, Almost Salinas, opposite John Mahoney and in American Gun, opposite James Coburn. Meanwhile, she plays the role of Hope Stevens in the short-lived CBS television series Smith. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Sideways.
Madsen is married to actor Billy Campbell. She was before married to another actor Danny Houston in 1989 whom she divorced in 1992. She was also involved with Antonio Sabato, Jr, with whom she had a son.