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Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958)[2] is an American actor, producer, and

comedian. As a member of the Baldwin family, he is the oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, 

all well-known actors.

Baldwin first gained recognition appearing on seasons 6 and 7 of the CBS television

drama Knots Landing , in the role of Joshua Rush. He has since played both leading and

supporting roles in films such as the horror comedy fantasy film Beetlejuice (1988), as Jack

Ryan in the action thriller  The Hunt for Red October  (1990), the romantic comedy The

Marrying Man (1991), the superhero film The Shadow  (1994), and two films directed

by Martin Scorsese: the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator  (2004) and the neo-noir crime

drama The Departed  (2006). His performance in the 2003 romantic drama The

Cooler  garnered him a nomination for the  Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . 

From 2006 to 2013, Baldwin starred as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock , winning

two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards forhis work on the show, making him the male performer with the most SAG Awards. Baldwin

co-starred in Mission: Impossible  – Rogue Nation, the fifth installment of the Mission:

Impossible series, released on July 31, 2015.[3] He is also a columnist for  The Huffington

Post . 

Contents

[hide] 

  1Early life 

  2Career  

o  2.1Stage o  2.2Television 

o  2.3Film 

o  2.4Radio 

  3Personal life 

o  3.1Marriages 

o  3.21995 photographer incident 

o  3.3Runway incident 

o  3.4 A Promise to Ourselves 

o  3.5Stalking incident 

  4Political views 

  5Awards 

o  5.1Wins o  5.2Nominations 

  6Filmography 

o  6.1Film 

o  6.2Television 

  7References 

  8Further reading 

  9External links 

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Early life[edit] 

Baldwin was born April 3, 1958, in  Amityville, New York, and raised in the Nassau Shores

neighborhood[4] of nearby Massapequa,[2][5][6] the eldest son of Carol Newcomb (née

Martineau; born 1930) and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr. (October 26, 1927 – April 15,

1983),[7] a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach.[5] He has three

younger brothers, Daniel, William, and Stephen, who also became actors. He also has two

sisters, Beth and Jane.[8]  Alec and his siblings were raised as Roman Catholics.[9] They are

of  English, Irish, Scottish, French, and German ancestry.[10][11] Through his father, Alec

Baldwin is descended from Mayflower passenger  John Howland and through this line is the

13th generation of his family born in North America and the 14th generation to live in North

 America.[12] 

Baldwin attended  Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa[11] and played football there

under Coach Bob Reifsnyder . In New York City, Baldwin worked as a busboy atthe disco Studio 54. From 1976 to 1979, he attended George Washington University, 

afterward transferring to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. There he studied

with, among others, Geoffrey Horne and Mira Rostova at the Lee Strasberg Theatre

Institute,[6] Later, he was accepted as a member of the  Actors Studio.[13] Baldwin eventually

returned to NYU in 1994, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree that year.[citation needed ] 

Career[edit] Stage[edit] 

Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986 in a revival of  Joe Orton's Loot  alongside Zoë

Wanamaker , Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher  and Charles Keating.[14] This production closed

after three months. His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious

Money  with Kate Nelligan and a revival of  Tennessee Williams'  A Streetcar Named Desire, 

for which his performance as Stanley Kowalski garnered a Tony Awardnomination for Best

 Actor. Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the

production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John

Goodman and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at The Public

Theater  alongside  Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber  in a production directed by George C.

Wolfe. In 2004, Baldwin starred in a revival of Twentieth Century  with  Anne Heche. 

On June 9, 2005, he appeared in a concert version of the Rodgers and

Hammerstein musical South Pacific  at Carnegie Hall. He starred as Luther Billis,

alongside Reba McEntire as Nellie and Brian Stokes Mitchellas Emile. The production was

taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006. In 2006, Baldwin made theater news

in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of  Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr.

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Sloane. In 2010, Baldwin starred opposite Sam Underwood in a critically acclaimed revival

of  Peter Shaffer 's Equus, directed by Tony Walton at Guild Hall in East Hampton, New

York.[citation needed ] 

Baldwin has returned to Broadway as Harold in Orphans. The show, which opened April 18,

2013, was also to have starred Shia LaBeouf  as Treat,[15] but LaBoeuf left the production in

rehearsals and was replaced by Ben Foster .[16][17] 

Television[edit] 

Baldwin's first acting role was as Billy Aldrich in the NBC daytime soap opera The

Doctors from 1980 to 1982. In fall 1983, he starred in the short-lived television series Cutter

to Houston. He went on to appear as the brother of  Valene Ewing and son of  Lilimae

Clements (played by Joan Van Ark and Julie Harris, respectively) in Knots Landing  from

1984 –85. In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray , a four-hour made-for-television miniseries,

as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered gayclassmate.[18] In 1998, he became the third narrator and George Carlin's replacement for

the fifth and sixth seasons of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. He left the series in 2002

on winning the role of Lawrence Quinn in The Cat in the Hat  and was replaced by Michael

Brandon. 

In 2002, Baldwin appeared in two episodes of  Friends as Phoebe Buffay's overly

enthusiastic love interest, Parker. He also portrayed a recurring character in a number of

episodes in seasons 7 and 8 of  Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm, a "top secret

agent" and the lover of  Karen Walker  (Megan Mullally). He also guest-starred in the first live

episode of the series. Baldwin wrote an episode of  Law & Order  entitled "Tabloid", which

aired in 1998. He played Dr. Barrett Moore, a retired plastic surgeon, in the series Nip/Tuck . 

He starred as Jack Donaghy on NBC's 30 Rock , which first aired October 2006. He met his

future co-star sTina Fey and Tracy Morgan while appearing on Saturday Night Live, and is

one of only two actors to whom Lorne Michaels has extended a standing offer to host the

show should their schedules permit (the other being Christopher Walken). Since season 3,

Baldwin was credited as producer  of the show.

Baldwin has won two Emmy Awards,[19] two Golden Globe awards and seven Screen Actors

Guild Awards for his role. He received his second Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a

Television Comedy or Musical as Jack Donaghy in 2008, marking his seventh Primetime

Emmy nomination and first win. He won again in 2009.[citation needed ] 

Baldwin joined TCM's The Essentials Robert Osborne as co-host beginning in March

2009.[20][21] In 2009, he appeared in a series of commercials for  Hulu that premiered during

the Super Bowlbroadcast.[citation needed ] In 2010, he made a five-second cameo appearance with

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comedian  Andy Samberg in a musical video titled "Great Day" featured on the bonus DVD as

part of  Lonely Island's album Turtleneck & Chain.[citation needed ] 

Baldwin co-hosted the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin in 2010.[22] He has

hosted Saturday Night Live 16 times through the season-37 premiere on September 24,

2011, and holds the record for most times hosting the show.[23] Since 2010, he has appeared

in a television campaign for  Capital One Bank, the proceeds of which ($10.5 million) he has

donated to various charities, mostly in the arts.[citation needed ] On February 4, 2012, he hosted

the 2011 NFL Honors awards show.[24] He also hosted the second show on February 2,

2013.[25] 

In August 2013, it was announced that Baldwin was getting his own weekly show

in MSNBC's primetime line-up. It was set to run on Friday at 10 p.m. ET.[26] On September 5,

2013, MSNBC officially announced Baldwin's show would be called Up Late with Alec

Baldwin.[27] On November 26, 2013, the program was cancelled after only five

episodes,[28] due in part to a street tirade captured on video. TMZ claimed Baldwin's

unintelligible insult toward the videographer was "cocksucking fag".[29]  Although the video

clearly shows Baldwin mumbling "cocksucking f....", the second word in his insult is unclear.

He was fired for this incident regardless.[30][31] Baldwin, who denied that he used the word

"fag", later cited this incident as a major turning point in his public life.[32] 

Film[edit] 

Baldwin made his film debut with a minor role in the 1987 film Forever, Lulu. In 1988, he

appeared in Beetlejuice and Working Girl . He gained further recognition as a leading man

with his role as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October  (1990).

Baldwin met his future wife Kim Basinger  when they played lovers in the 1991 film The

Marrying Man. Next, Baldwin played a ferocious sales executive in Glengarry Glen

Ross (1992), a part added to the film version of  David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage

play (including the monologue "Coffee's for closers"). Later that year, he starred in Prelude to

a Kiss with Meg Ryan, which was based on the Broadway play. The film received a

lukewarm reception by critics and grossed only $22 million worldwide.[33] He appeared with

Basinger again in The Getaway , a 1994 remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the

same name. 

 Also in 1994, Baldwin made a foray into pulp fiction-based movies with the role of the title

character  in The Shadow . The film made $48 million. In 1996 and 1997, he continued to

work in several thrillers, includingThe Edge, The Juror  and Heaven's Prisoners. 

Baldwin shifted towards character acting, beginning with Pearl Harbor  in 2001. He played Lt.

Col. James Doolittle in the film. With a worldwide box office of $449,220,945, this film

remains the highest-grossing film Baldwin has appeared in during his acting

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career .[34] Baldwin was nominated for an  Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen

 Actors Guild Award for his performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler .[6] He

appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator  (2004) and The Departed  (2006).[6] In 2006, he

starred in the film Mini's First Time. He performed opposite Sarah Michelle

Gellar  in Suburban Girl  (2007). Two years later, he co-starred in the hit romantic comedy It'sComplicated  with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin. 

Baldwin directed and starred in The Devil and Daniel Webster  with  Anthony

Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001.[35] The then-unreleased film became

an asset in a federal bank fraud trial, when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud

while the movie was in production. The film was eventually acquired by The Yari

Group without Baldwin's involvement.[36] 

In 2007, the Yari Film Group announced that it would give the film, now titled Shortcut to

Happiness, a theatrical release in the spring, and cable film network Starz! announced that it

had acquired pay TV rights for the film. Shortcut to Happiness was finally released in 2008.

Baldwin, displeased with the way the film had been cut in post-production, demanded that

his directorial credit be changed to the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick".[37] 

Baldwin co-starred in Mission: Impossible  – Rogue Nation, the fifth installment of

the Mission: Impossible series, released on July 31, 2015.[3] 

Radio[edit] 

On January 12, 2009, Baldwin became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week ,

the nationally broadcast radio series of the New York Philharmonic.[38] He has recorded two

nationally-distributed public service radio announcements on behalf of the Save the Manatee

Club.[39] 

On October 24, 2011, WNYC public radio released the first episode of Baldwin's new

podcast Here's the Thing , a series of interviews with public figures including artists, policy-

makers and performers. The first two episodes featured actor  Michael Douglas and political

consultant Ed Rollins.[40] Here's the Thing  was developed for Alec Baldwin by Lu Olkowski,

Trey Kay, Kathy Russo and Emily Botein.[41] 

Personal life[edit] Marriages[edit] 

In 1990, Baldwin met his future wife, actress Kim Basinger , when they played lovers in the

film The Marrying Man.[42] They married in 1993[43] and had a daughter, Ireland, in 1995.[44] On

January 12, 2001, Basinger filed for a divorce,[45] which was finalized in 2002.[46] 

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By August 2011,[47] Baldwin began dating Hilaria Thomas, a yoga instructor with Yoga Vida

in Manhattan.[48][49] Baldwin and Thomas moved from the Upper West Side to Greenwich

Village that August.[50][51][52] The couple became engaged in April 2012[48] and married on June

30, 2012, at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York City.[53] They have two children together,

daughter Carmen (born on August 23, 2013)[54]

 and son Rafael Thomas (born on June 17,2015).[55] 

1995 photographer incident[edit] 

In October 1995, Baldwin allegedly assaulted a photographer for videotaping his wife, Kim

Basinger , and their 3-day-old daughter. The couple was returning from the hospital and were

confronted by the photographer outside their Los Angeles home. Whoopi Goldberg praised

Baldwin for his actions during her opening monologue while hosting the 68th Academy

 Awards.[56][57] 

Runway incident[edit] In December 2011, Baldwin was on an  American Airlines flight at Los Angeles International

 Airport, playing Words with Friends on his phone while waiting for takeoff. When instructed to

put away the "electronic device" by the flight attendant, he reportedly became belligerent and

was eventually removed from the plane. He later publicly apologized to the passengers who

were delayed, but not to the airline or federal regulators.[58] 

 A 2012 commercial for  Capital One credit cards, for which Baldwin is a spokesperson, made

a humorous reference to the event: a Viking character from the ad series asks about the

phone Baldwin is using, to which Baldwin facetiously replies that it is not to be used on the

runway, ending with a chiding "No!" A commercial for  Best Buy also humorously referenced

the event: Words With Friends co-creators Paul Bettner and David Bettner are on a plane

and are interrupted by a flight attendant looking down at them, clearing her throat and

signaling them to put their phones away.[59] 

Baldwin also made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update segment,

posing as the captain of the plane from which he was removed.[60] 

A Prom ise to Ourselves [edit] 

In 2008, Baldwin and Mark Tabb published their book A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey

Through Fatherhood and Divorce, which chronicles Baldwin's seven-year battle to remain a

part of his daughter's life.[61][62] 

Baldwin contends that after their separation in December 2000, his former wife, Kim

Basinger , endeavored to deny him access to his daughter by refusing to discuss

parenting,[63] blocking visitation,[64] not providing telephone access,[65] not following court

orders,[66] not dropping their daughter off for reasons of convenience,[67] and directly lobbying

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the child.[68] He contends that she spent over $1.5 million in the effort.[69]Baldwin called

this parental alienation syndrome.[70] 

Baldwin has called the attorneys in the case "opportunists", and has characterized

Basinger's psychologists as part of the "divorce industry". He has faulted them more than

Basinger, and writes, "In fact, I blame my ex-wife least of all for what has transpired. She is a

person, like many of us, doing the best she can with what she has. She is a litigant, and

therefore, one who walks into a courtroom and is never offered anything other than what is

served there. Nothing off the menu, ever."[71] 

Baldwin wrote that he has spent over a million dollars,[72] has had to put time aside from his

career ,[73] has had to travel extensively,[74] and needed to find a house in California (he lived in

New York),[75] so that he could stay in his daughter's life.[61] 

Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and on

 April 11, 2007, left an angry voicemail message in response to another unansweredarranged call, in which Baldwin called his daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig".[76] He

contends that the tape was sold to TMZ which released the recording, despite laws against

publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents.[77] Baldwin

admitted that he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad

moment.[78] He later admitted to Playboy  in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the

voicemail that leaked to the public. Of the incident he said, "I spoke to a lot of professionals,

who helped me. If I committed suicide, [ex-wife Kim Basinger's side] would have considered

that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."[79] 

During the autumn of 2008, Baldwin toured in support of the book, speaking about his

experiences related in it.[80][81][82][83] 

On May 12, 2010, he gave a commencement address at New York University and was

awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.[84] 

Stalking incident[edit] 

On April 8, 2012, a 40-year-old French-Canadian actress, Genevieve Sabourin, was arrested

outside Baldwin and his wife's Greenwich Village apartment house and charged with

aggravated harassment and stalking. She was released without bail and told not to contact

Baldwin. Prosecutors said she and Baldwin had met on a film set more than 10 years earlier,and that beginning in 2011 she began sending him multiple unwanted emails and texts.[85] 

In 2013, Manhattan prosecutors filed nearly two dozen harassment and stalking charges

against her, saying she had continued her unwanted advances. On April 8, she rejected

a plea bargain, and a trial date was set for May 13.[86] On November 8, at the end of a non-

 jury trial, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum found Sabourin, by then 41,

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guilty on all counts and sentenced her to 180 days in jail for stalking, attempted aggravated

harassment, and harassment, plus 30 days for attempted contempt of court.[87][88] She was

released from New York City's Rikers Island  jail on March 28, 2014.[89] 

Political views[edit] Baldwin is a Democrat and endorsed Barack Obama in his two successful presidential

campaigns.[90][91] He serves on the board of  People for the American Way. He is an animal

rights activist and a strong supporter of  PETA,[92][93] for which he has done work that includes

narrating the video entitled Meet Your Meat .[94] His wife has joined the cause, fronting for

PETA's Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide.[95] Baldwin also lent his support to the Save the

Manatee Club by donating his time to record several public service announcements for the

group, which had contacted him following his role in "Bonfire of the Manatees", an episode

of  The Simpsons in which he was the voice of a biologist working to save the endangered

mammals.[96] 

During his appearance on the comedy late night show Late Night with Conan O'Brien on

December 11, 1998, eight days before President Bill Clinton was to be impeached, Baldwin

said, "If we were in another country ... we would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go

to their homes and kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families, for what

they're doing to this country."[97] Baldwin later apologized for the remarks, and the network

explained that it was meant as a joke and promised not to re-run it.[98] 

Baldwin said in a 2006 interview with The New York Times that if he did become involved in

electoral politics, he would prefer to run for  Governor of New York. When asked if he wasqualified for the office, Baldwin responded that he considered himself more qualified than

California Governor   Arnold Schwarzenegger .[99] In June 2011, The Daily  reported that

Baldwin was mulling over a 2013 run for  Mayor of New York City in the wake of a potential

early race shake-up after candidate Congressman  Anthony

Weiner 's sexting scandal.[100] However, on December 21, 2011, Baldwin said he was

abandoning plans to run for the office and would instead continue in his role on 30 Rock .[101] 

In February 2009, Baldwin spoke out to encourage state leaders to renew New York's tax

break for the film and television industry, stating that if the "tax breaks are not reinstated into

the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse and television production is goingto collapse and it's all going to go to California".[102] 

During the 2011 Emmy Awards, Baldwin was slated to appear in a taped skit. However, the

producers of the show cut a portion of the skit containing a reference to Rupert Murdoch and

the News International phone hacking scandal. Baldwin subsequently boycotted the Emmy

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 Awards and requested that his entire appearance be removed from the broadcast. Producers

complied and he was replaced with Leonard Nimoy.[103] 

Despite demonstrating strong political beliefs throughout his career, in October 2013,

Baldwin announced that he would not donate money to political candidates while hosting his

talk show Up Late with Alec Baldwinon MSNBC, in accordance with the company's

policy.[104] On November 26, 2013, Baldwin's talk show was cancelled due to his alleged use

of an offensive anti-gay epithet to describe a reporter, and for his alleged abuse of

colleagues at NBC's headquarters.[28] 

 Awards[edit] Wins[edit] 

  TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (30 Rock ) (2007)

  National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor  (The Cooler ) (2003)

  Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (30 Rock ) (2010)

  Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (30 Rock )

(2008 –2009)

  Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (30 Rock )

(2006, 2008 –2009)

  Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy

Series (30 Rock ) (2006 –2012)

Nominations[edit] 

   Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor  (The Cooler ) (2003)

  Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play ( A Streetcar Named Desire) (1992)

  Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (The Cooler ) (2003)

  Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film ( A Streetcar Named

Desire) (1996)

  Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie ( A

Streetcar Named Desire) (1996)

  Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in aSupporting Role (The Cooler ) (2003)

  Outstanding Special Class Program (82nd Academy Awards) (2010)

  Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor  (The Cat in the Hat ) (2004)

Filmography [edit]