Ciaran Madden, the English actress, was born on December 27, 1942 to Dr. James George Madden, a physician, and his wife, the former Maria Elizabeth Dawson. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, she made her stage debut as "Shirley Hughes" in "The Man Most Likely To...", at the Alexandria Theatre, Birmingham.She established herself as an actress with memorable television roles during the 1970s, including "Ophelia", opposite of Richard Chamberlain's ITV Saturday Night Theatre: Hamlet (1970), in the 1970 production directed by Peter Wood, "Marianne Dashwood" in the mini-series, Sense and Sensibility (1971), "Gwendoline Churchill" in the mini-series, Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974), "Alison Porter" in John Osborne's BBC Play of the Month: Look Back in Anger (1976), "Alithea" in William Wycherley's BBC Play of the Month: The Country Wife (1977), "Hero" in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1978), and as "Livia Vaynol" in the mini-series, My Son, My Son (1979). In the 1980s and 1990s, she appeared in numerous TV series, TV movies and TV mini-series.