May-chen Ay-mick was born in Reno, Nevada on December 12, 1970 to Bill and Judy. She is half German, a quarter Norwegian, and a quarter Swedish. Mädchen's parents divorced when she was two and a half years old. Her mother, a medical office manager, re-married to a musician and band leader, now deceased, who Mädchen considers her real father. Mädchen has trained in various forms of dance: tap, ballet, jazz, and modern. Mädchen began to study the piano at age three, and continued for twelve years. She also learned to play the bass, violin, and guitar. She is a gifted painter as well, having begun painting in oils while in school, and has sold some of her work.

When she was sixteen years old, Mädchen dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles, where she found work as a model, and soon was appearing as a dancer in pop music videos with such artists as Julio Iglesias, Dweezil Zappa, and Rick Astley. Even at that young age, her outstanding potential was evident to show-business professionals. Mädchen's acting life began quite modestly. First there was a 1988 episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", titled "The Dauphin", in which she played a shape-shifter who at one point turned into a teddy bear. Then, in 1989, she appeared in an episode of "Baywatch" titled "Panic at Malibu Pier". Her first starring role was in the 1990 low-budget TV horror movie" I'm Dangerous Tonight". There were also a couple of small parts in other films.