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 fourBaldwin 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 for
his 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 3.4A 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

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 (ne
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 at
the 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 Zo
Wanamaker, eljko 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 ofTwentieth 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.

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
198485. 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 gay
classmate.[18] In 1998, he became the third narrator and George Carlin's replacement for
the fifth and sixth seasons ofThomas 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-starsTina 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

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

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's
Complicated 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, policymakers 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]

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 Promise 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

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 unanswered
arranged 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 nonjury trial, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum found Sabourin, by then 41,

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 was
qualified 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 going
to 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

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)
(20082009)

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor Television Series Musical or Comedy (30 Rock)
(2006, 20082009)

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy
Series (30 Rock) (20062012)

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 a

Supporting 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]