In the 1960s, Amy attended St. Philip Neri grammar school and Aquinas High School, both in Chicago, where she performed in school plays, and was known as the school tomboy. In the early 1970s, Amy was featured in Playboy Magazine wearing only jelly, to promote her music band, "Jelly". Amy is the daughter of John Madigan, a media personality in Chicago, Illinois, who once hosted a Chicago TV show called "Standpoint", and who last worked as the WBBM radio political editor and signed off with his signature, "News radio ssssssseventy-eight!"
One child: Lily Dolores Harris was born 3 May 1993. Amy, along with husband Ed Harris, were among a strong minority of attendees of the 2000 Acadamy Awards who refused to applaud during director Elia Kazan's acceptance of his honorary Oscar. They were protesting Kazan's contribution to the Hollywood blacklisting during the Cold War. Her father, John Madigan, is a noted Chicago area lawyer who appeared on NBC's Meet the Press. Sang and played piano in a rock band before she started acting. She was, for a time, the lead singer of the group Big Daddy. She won a Drama Logue Award for starring the Los Angeles Theater Center production of "Stevie Wants To Play The Blues". She married Ed Harris after they worked together on the film Places in the Heart in which they played a couple having an affair.