Legitimate tough guy Michael Madsen made a name for himself playing gun-toting psychopaths, but the versatile stage-trained actor can slip on the white hat too as he did for the "Free Willy" franchise, playing the good guy foster father. He spent two years apprenticing at Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre under the direction of John Malkovich before getting his first big break, saying a few lines in his feature debut, "WarGames" (1983). Relocated in L.A., he landed small roles in TV (Edward Zwick's Emmy-winning "Special Bulletin", NBC 1983) and films ("Racing With the Moon" and "The Natural"
