Amy Marie Madigan[1] (born September 11, 1950)[2] is an American actress. She has acted on stage and screen and has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and an Emmy Award. She has been married to actor Ed Harris since 1983.
Amy Marie Madigan was born September 11, 1950 in Chicago[5] to Dolores (néeHanlon; 1921–1992), an administrative assistant and amateur actress who performed in community theatre,[6][7] and John J. Madigan (1918–2012), a journalist who worked for Newsweek and provided political commentary on programs such as Meet the Press and Face the Nation; he interviewed a range of political figures, from Richard Nixon to Martin Luther King Jr., and hosted his own show with WBBM (AM).[8] Madigan is Catholic[9] and third-generation Irish American.[10] She has two brothers, Jack and Jim.[6]
In 1996, she and Harris produced and starred in the television film Riders of the Purple Sage. She then starred with Tilda Swinton in Female Perversions. In 1997, she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her performance as Brett Armerson in the film Loved. In 2000, she portrayed Peggy Guggenheim in the film Pollock, starring her husband, which he also directed and produced. In 2002 she had a supporting role as Reggie Fluty, the officer who responded to aid the dying Matthew Shepard in the television film The Laramie Project. In 2003–2005, Madigan had the supporting role of Iris Crowe/Irina, sister of villain Justin Crowe, in HBO's series Carnivále. In 2005, she starred as Lori Lansky in Winter Passing, directed by Adam Rapp.[20] The following year, she had a supporting role as Patricia Carver, a CIA headquarters analyst, in the Emmy-winning television film The Path to 9/11. In 2007, she played the sister-in-law of Helene (Amy Ryan), Beatrice "Bea" McCready, in the film Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck. In 2008, Madigan played Dr. Katharine Wyatt on several episodes of ABC's medical drama series Grey's Anatomy.[21] She then guest-starred on TNT's crime drama series Saving Grace as Gretchen Lagardi.[22]
When talking about her career in a 2010 interview with The Los Angeles Times, journalist Susan King described Madigan's career writing, "Like so many actresses older than 50, [she] has had difficulties finding meaningful roles.". Madigan opined about her career and the lack of roles for actresses her age saying, "My husband works a lot more than I do...You know what the situation is. The reality is you have to make your peace with it sometimes even when you have a depressive day, which I still have.”[23]
2010–present: Later projects and Weapons
Madigan in 2018
In 2011, she guest-starred in the final episode of TNT's drama series Memphis Beat.[24] Madigan returned to theater in 2015, directing a stage production of Off the King’s Road at the Odyssey Theater in Los Angeles.[11] In 2016, she starred as Halie in the revival of Sam Shepard's play Buried Child for The New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center. It move to the West End's Trafalgar Studios in November 2016, where Madigan reprised her role.[25][26]
In 2018, she had a supporting role in the independent drama American Woman opposite Sienna Miller,[27] followed by a supporting role in Scott Cooper's horror film Antlers (2021), playing a school principal in a small Oregon town plagued by a supernatural entity.[28] In 2024, Madigan starred as Judge Motley in the independent drama Bull Street, which premiered as the opening night film at the Sarasota Film Festival.[29] In 2025, she had a pivotal role in Zach Cregger's horror mystery film Weapons, playing the eccentric and mysterious great-aunt of a young boy whose classmates go missing in his small community.[30]
In a 2025 interview with The New York Times, Madigan spoke of her career saying, "Opportunities [as an older actress] are less and you just hope that something finds you so you can find it. And I don’t take it for granted, because you can go up and then you can go all the way down, as we know".[31]
Personal life
Madigan has been married to actor Ed Harris since November 21, 1983. They have one daughter.[32] Madigan and Harris have been frequent collaborators during their careers.
Madigan toured the United States performing as a vocalist in several rock bands through the 1970s before relocating to Los Angeles.[33][11] She also performed as a solo singer and pianist in Dallas, Texas in the late 1970s and early 1980. Recounting her career as a singer in a 2015 interview, Madigan said: "I had been working in [music] for a very long time. I am not a writer, so I wasn’t generating my owner personal material. I just felt myself kind of hitting the same brick wall...I miss music every day. It’s very visceral and emotional. You can pack something into three minutes, and you can’t do that in any other medium."[11]
Since 2016, Madigan has served on the board of trustees at Reed College.[12][34]
↑ Kilian, Michael (July 12, 1992). "ONCE IN LOVE WITH ACTING: A passion to perform takes Chicago's Amy Madigan from school plays to club gigs to Hollywood and Broadway". Chicago Tribune Magazine. pp.20, 24. ProQuest1688646168. Born in Chicago, she lived in an apartment at 72nd Street and Yates Avenue until 1953, when her father took a job in Washington. After four years in suburban Chevy Chase, Md., the family moved back to Chicago, taking an apartment at 72nd Street and Louella Avenue. 'I remember it well,' she says. 'The IC tracks ran through 71st Street then.'
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