Michael Madsen

I worked a lot of non-acting jobs for a really long time. They ranged from auto mechanic to landscaper to manual labor to working in a factory that made airplane parts. I even tried to go to school as a paramedic and ended up being an orderly in a hospital.

Is it really selling out if it feeds your family?

I don't get the IMDb... I've called them several times myself and said, 'Guys, look... ' I've given them specific titles that should not be on there. But they won't take them down.

I probably made a few pictures I shouldn't have done, but I have four sons and I have to pay the rent. If you have a decision to make about whether or not you can buy groceries at the market or whether or not you're going to make a bad movie, you're going to make a bad movie.

I don't love being an actor, but I'm not qualified to be anything else. I was an auto mechanic and drove a tow truck and tried to go to school to be a paramedic.

I've done two motorcycle pictures: I did 'Beyond The Law,' and I did one produced by Tarantino called 'Hell Ride,' with Dennis Hopper and David Carradine and Vinnie Jones. And I just think 'Hell Ride' was a lot more of what a biker movie should be. But the good part of 'Beyond The Law' was that I had a good time with Charlie Sheen.

I'm kind of hard to double, but I did have one guy for a while as my double. I kind of like to do my own stunts, though, because it's just the overall experience. Sometimes you have to step aside when the stuff gets really dangerous, but I feel like sometimes you have to do your own stunts to make the role seem real.

You get these horrifying straight-to-video things for very little money, then you go to the Cannes Film Festival, and they got some poster of you, 40 ft. high, in the worst movie in the world.

I don't walk around the street thinking, 'I'm Michael Madsen,' but then again, I am that guy, and sometimes people do take notice of me. Sometimes it's really not comfortable.

My big ambition was to be Richard Petty.

You know, every movie you make can't be great, no matter who you are.

I do get cast in the same role a lot, but the truth is, I just want longevity. The thing is, I'd rather be stuck in a stereotype than be nowhere. The whole typecasting thing started because of 'Reservoir Dogs.' And I did a bunch of other films like 'Wyatt Earp' and 'Free Willy,' but no one seems to remember those.

I swim a lot, almost every day. I just go out to the beach by my place in Malibu and jump into the ocean.

I used to be one of those guys with a lot of angst, you know? I just don't anymore. I'm not angst-ridden anymore. I've faced reality of what I am and what I have to do in life.

I'm not a publicity hound. I don't care about being on the cover of 'GQ' or 'Vanity Fair.'

I can't surf, so I swim. It's the best workout I've ever known because it works your entire body.

'BloodRayne' was an abomination... It's a horrifying and preposterous movie.

'L.A. Confidential' was written with me in mind, but Russell Crowe got the part. Go figure.

Your children don't have to fear you to respect you.

I don't know if there's anything sadder than an actor who hasn't made a good picture, and at least I got a few good ones that will stand the test of time. I feel very fortunate about that.

Encourage your kids' artistic side. Toughen up everything else.

I wrote a poem on my leg once, on the skin.

I didn't have much ambition, but I always had an idea in the back of my mind that I wanted to act. I would watch actors like Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart, and Kirk Douglas, and I understood them.

I'm glad I wasn't in 'Free Willy 3.' That's all I can say on that.

People have been afraid of me because of the parts I played. Nobody remembers that I was the dad in 'Free Willy.'