Biografia

Both eyes are different. Left eye is part brown and part green and right eye is all green.

Her brother, actor Michael Madsen, refuses to see any of her movies in which she appears naked.

Claims that she was hypnotized for some of the scenes in Candyman - Terrore dietro lo specchio (1992).

Has a child, with Antonio Sabato Jr., named Jack Sabato (b. 6 August 1994).

In an interview, she admitted that she was sobbing so hard at the end of Star Trek II - L'ira di Khan (1982) when Spock died, that she had to go home as soon as the movie was over. She would later star (no pun intended) in Unforgettable (1998)(#4.22).

When you say no a lot as an actor, you're going to go broke, and that's been the hardest thing to go through in the last 10 years. Being a single mother and having financial problems is a nightmare.

I laugh when I hear someone talking about an actress "making such good choices." Yeah, well, she was probably broke! Or she's being supported and doesn't have to worry about it. And I hope that people keep that in mind when an actor suddenly does a movie for the Sci Fi Channel that is maybe not "important." We've got to make a living. People are going to do the "pay the rent" movie once in a while. The important movies don't pay well. They're for scale, or even worse, something they invented called "independent scale," in which case it's like it's costing me money to make the movie. You're getting $500 per week, before taxes and American Express is calling. So it is our job. It's how we make our living, and you don't always have the luxury of making a movie like Sideways - In viaggio con Jack (2004). I even got paid well to do that! Especially for me, at the time. [interviewed by Russ Fischer, CHUD.com, February 2007]

Playing "Lisa" in Tra due fuochi (1986) is a perfect example of how I am, intense, impulsive, full of love and ready to risk it all if I have to. Playing her was incredibly easy, as everything was just so natural.

[growing older] My mother said, When you're in your 40s you're free, but when you're in your 50s, you fly. And she was right. I don't know how I feel about 60. I'm not there yet. But the closer I get to it, I'm like, It's all right. I have some role models I can look at and say, I like the way that looks. I want to emulate that.

[surviving abuse early in her career] The thing is, you just move on. If no one's going to do anything about it and it's over, I'm just going to move on and you're not going to ruin my life. If I was attacked by somebody or if somebody scared me, it was like, you're not going to win. I felt like, You're not damaging my life. You're not damaging me. I think that's how I thought about it: I still win, because I'm still standing.