Background

Ethnicity: Baldwin is of English, Irish, Scottish, 1/16th French-Canadian, and 1/16 German descent.

Alec Baldwin was born on April 3, 1958, in Amityville, New York, the United States, to Carol Newcomb (nee Martineau) Baldwin and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high school teacher and football coach at Massapequa High School. Alec Baldwin is the oldest, and best-known, of the four Baldwin brothers in the acting business (the others are Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin, and Daniel Baldwin). He also has two sisters, Elizabeth "Beth" Baldwin Keuchler and Jane Ann Baldwin Sasso.

Education

Baldwin attended Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa 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. In 1979, he lost the election for student body president and received a personal letter from former U.S. president Richard Nixon (with whom he had a common friend) encouraging him to use the loss as a learning experience.

Afterward, he transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he studied with, among others, Geoffrey Horne and Mira Rostova at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Later, he was accepted as a member of the Actors Studio. In 1994, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at NYU.

Career

Baldwin began his acting career on television when he landed a role playing Billy Aldrich on the NBC soap opera The Doctors (1980-82). He soon moved to primetime TV as a co-star in the series Cutter to Houston, and as Joshua Rush in the nighttime soap opera Knots Landing (1984-85). In 1988, he replaced George Carlin as the narrator of the popular animated children's show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

He also pursued a stage career, making his Broadway debut in Joe Orton's black comedy Loot (1986), which won him a Theatre World Award. His next stage role was in Caryl Churchill's hit comedy Serious Money (1987). He also starred off-Broadway in a sold-out engagement of Prelude to a Kiss, receiving an Obie Award as Best Actor in 1991. He would reprise this role on screen in 1992.

Baldwin then appeared as Stanley Kowalski in a revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (1992), earning a Tony nomination for Best Actor. He later appeared in the 1995 version of the play on CBS, which co-starred Jessica Lange, John Goodman, and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin went back to the stage, appearing in Shakespeare's Hamlet with co-star Angela Bassett, at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York City.

Baldwin made his film debut in the quirky Forever Lulu (1987) with Deborah Harry and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Subsequent film highlights include Tim Burton's offbeat comedy Beetlejuice (1988), Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob (1988) with Michelle Pfeiffer, Oliver Stone's Talk Radio (1988), Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988), playing Jimmy Swaggart in Great Balls of Fire (1989), and starring in Miami Blues (1990) and The Hunt For Red October (1990). He was also part of the all-star ensemble cast in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and starred in the film adaptation of Prelude to a Kiss (1992) and The Shadow (1994).

Continuing his film work, Baldwin appeared in the 1998 thriller Mercury Rising and the 1999 comedy Outside Providence, before making an unbilled cameo in 1999's Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2003 for his role in the romantic drama The Cooler. In 2004, he appeared in The Aviator, Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and the quirky Along Came Polly with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. He worked with Scorsese again on The Departed in 2005.

In 2006 Baldwin landed a starring role as TV executive Jack Donaghy in the popular NBC television sitcom 30 Rock, co-starring Tina Fey. He received numerous awards for his work in the sitcom, including three Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards. Baldwin also worked behind the cameras as a producer on 30 Rock.

Back on the big screen, Baldwin appeared in the romantic comedy It's Complicated with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin in 2009 and Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2012. He then co-starred in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation in 2015, reprising his role three years later for Mission Impossible — Fallout (2018).

With his distinctive, deep voice, Baldwin has also done voice work for documentaries and animated films, including Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Rise of the Guardians (2009). In 2017, he voiced the character of a baby businessman in the animated movie Boss Baby. He then had a prominent role in the ensemble drama The Public, which earned its widespread release in 2019.

Baldwin tried his hand at being a talk show host in the fall of 2013, but it proved to be a short-lived venture. Up Late with Alec Baldwin aired only a few times before its host landed in hot water. The show was suspended after Baldwin made homophobic remarks to a New York photographer, and he soon parted ways with MSNBC. He later returned to hosting in 2018 with The Alec Baldwin Show.

A fan of classical music, Baldwin serves as host of the New York Philharmonic's radio show. He also has hosted Saturday Night Live a record 17 times and performed a popular impersonation of President Donald Trump on the show, for which he earned another Emmy in 2017.

Achievements

• 

  Baldwin has received a number of awards and nominations throughout his career for stage, television and film roles. 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.
  
  He has received worldwide attention and acclaim for his portrayal of Donald Trump on the long-running sketch series Saturday Night Live, both during the latter part of the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign and following the inauguration, a role that won him his third Primetime Emmy in 2017. He was nominated again in 2018.
  
  Baldwin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 15, 2011, outside Eva Longoria's restaurant, Beso, on Hollywood Boulevard, seven blocks away from ex-wife Kim Basinger's star.
  
  He received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree (Litt.D) from Montclair State University at their 2004 graduation ceremony.
  
  On May 12, 2010, Baldwin gave a commencement address at New York University and was awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Hick

    (Equal measures of David Lynch and Terrence Malick, with n...)

    2011
  • Mission: Impossible V - Rogue Nation

    (With the IMF disbanded, Ethan and his team join forces wi...)

    2015
  • Forever Lulu

    (Hanna Schygulla stars as Elaine Hines, a toilet seat comp...)

    1987
  • Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

    (An Animated, Sci-Fi film starring Alec Baldwin, Steve Bus...)

    2001
  • Married to the Mob

    (An undercover FBI agent falls in love with a recently wid...)

    1988
  • My Best Friend's Girl

    (Tank (Cook) faces the ultimate test of friendship when hi...)

    2008
  • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

    (Your favorite castaways are back - still together and sti...)

    2008
  • Working Girl

    (Street-smart Staten Island secretary Tess McGill is deter...)

    1988
  • Talk Radio

    (Oliver Stone brings the world of shock radio to life in t...)

    1988
  • Mercury Rising

    (Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis), a renegade FBI agent, combat...)

    1998
  • The Getaway

    (Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger star in updated 1972 film a...)

    1994
  • My Sister's Keeper

    (Sara and Brian are living an idyllic life with their chil...)

    2009
  • Rock of Ages

    (In 1987 Los Angeles, an infamous rock star and a legendar...)

    2012
  • Thomas And The Magic Railroad

    (Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda and Mara Wilson (Matilda) star ...)

    2000
  • The Shadow

    (Alec Baldwin stars as the crime-fighting superhero who ba...)

    1994
  • The Departed

    (Martin Scorsese's crime drama "The Departed" is set in So...)

    2006
  • The Public

    (On the coldest night of the year, a Cincinnati librarian ...)

    2018
  • Suburban Girl

    (Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge, Cruel Intentions) star...)

    2007
  • Lymelife

    (Based on the true childhood experiences of director Deric...)

    2008
  • Running With Scissors

    (Bizarre behavior goes with the territory when a teenage b...)

    2006
  • Andron

    (A group of strangers are plunged into a dark, claustropho...)

    2016
  • Rules Don't Apply

    (In 1958 Hollywood, two would-be lovers grapple with their...)

    2016
  • Aloha

    (A military contractor (Bradley Cooper) goes to Hawaii and...)

    2015
  • Drunk Parents

    (Two drunk parents attempt to hide their financial difficu...)

    2019
  • Beetlejuice

    (Emmy and Golden Globe-nominee Michael Keaton brings the t...)

    1988
  • The Aviator

    (An epic biopic depicting the early years of legendary dir...)

    2004
  • Still Alice

    (Alice Howland, a linguistics professor, receives a diagno...)

    2014
  • To Rome With Love

    (Woody Allen plays a father meting his daughter's Italian ...)

    2012
  • Cats & Dogs

    (A look at the top-secret, high-tech espionage war going o...)

    2001
  • Mission: Impossible - Fallout

    (Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) chooses to save his team over com...)

    2018
  • Dress Gray

    (Dress Gray stars Alec Baldwin, Hal Holbrook, Eddie Albert...)

    1986
  • The Marrying Man

    (Millionaire playboy Charley Pearl has got it all, and he'...)

    1991
  • Miami Blues

    (An ex-con (Alec Baldwin) tiptoes on the borderline of psy...)

    1990
  • Blue Jasmine

    (Cate Blanchett stars as a former New York socialite teete...)

    2013
  • Paris Can Wait

    (Follow Diane Lane's journey of discovery involving fine f...)

    2016
  • Alice

    (A mousy, pampered woman who married well tries to find he...)

    1990
  • Prelude to a Kiss

    (Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan star in this romantic comedy-dr...)

    1992
  • It's Complicated

    (Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin star in this ...)

    2009
  • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

    (SpongeBob SquarePants takes leave from the town of Bikini...)

    2004
  • Ghosts of Mississippi

    (Alec Baldwin stars as an assistant DA seeking justice for...)

    1996
  • State and Main

    (A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all...)

    2000
  • The Royal Tenenbaums

    (An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites wh...)

    2001
  • Fun With Dick And Jane

    (An out-of-work couple become upscale suburban Robin Hoods...)

    2005
  • Path To War

    (A powerful look inside Lyndon Johnson's White House in th...)

    2002
  • The Edge

    (A billionaire and two other men are stranded, unequipped,...)

    1997
  • The Good Shepherd

    (Edward Wilson (Damon) believes in America, and will sacri...)

    2006
  • Glengarry Glen Ross

    (A riveting tale of desperation and betrayal based on Davi...)

    1992
  • Elizabethtown

    (Drew Baylor, a hot-shot designer whose life becomes compl...)

    2005
  • The Juror

    (A struggling single mother's (Demi Moore) search for the ...)

    1996
  • A Star Is Born

    (Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers-and falls in lo...)

    2018
  • Malice

    (College Dean Andy Safian and his beautiful wife Tracy liv...)

    1993
  • Shortcut to Happiness

    (A down-and-out writer sells his soul to the devil in exch...)

    2003
  • Outside Providence

    (Timothy Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy, Alpha Dog) has a full-blown...)

    1999
  • Alamo: 13 Days To Glory

    (In 1836, at the Alamo 181 Texas Rebels led by Jim Bowie, ...)

    1987
  • Blackkklansman

    (From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible t...)

    2018
  • The Hunt for Red October

    (A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub is head...)

    1990
  • The Last Shot

    (A down on his luck director finds someone shady to produc...)

    2004
  • Rise Of the Guardians

    (An epic adventure of a group of heroes with extraordinary...)

    2012
  • Along Came Polly

    (Reuben (Ben Stiller) is a guy who's been content to play ...)

    2004
  • Blind

    (Bill Oakland loses his wife and his sight in a vicious ca...)

    2016
  • Pearl Harbor

    (Recreation of Pearl Harbor and the harrowing wartime afte...)

    2001
  • Framing John DeLorean

    (Money, power, politics, drugs, scandal, and fast cars. Di...)

    2019
  • The Cooler

    (Bernie Lootz (Macy) is the unluckiest man in Vegas. In fa...)

    2003
  • She's Having a Baby

    (Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they a...)

    1988
  • The Cat In The Hat

    (Get ready for the fur to fly as Dr. Seuss' beloved tale c...)

    2003
  • Great Balls of Fire!

    (They called it "the devil's music." To this, Jerry Lee Le...)

    1989
  • Concussion

    (The true David vs. Goliath story of Dr. Omalu and his que...)

    2015

• TV series

  • The Looming Tower

    (The Looming Tower traces the rising threat of Osama Bin L...)

    2018
  • Frozen Planet

    (Narrated by David Attenborough and from the award-winning...)

    2011
  • Thomas & Friends Classic

    (All aboard the original Railway Series! Enjoy grand tales...)

    1984
  • 30 Rock

    (From the creator and stars of SNL comes this workplace co...)

    2006

• TV show

  • The Alec Baldwin Show

    (Interviews with American pop culture icons.)

    2018

Religion

Alec and his siblings were raised as Roman Catholics. When asked what God is to him, he said: "It’s the voice inside me that controls my instincts, the instincts that got me very very far."

But Baldwin’s strong personality and anger issues don’t always endear him to the Catholic church. He angered Catholics when he said to a photographer who was annoying him, "I know you got raped by a priest or something." And then when he was kicked off an airplane for refusing to turn off his phone, he called the flight attendants "retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950′s."

Some of his fellow congregants at the church where he spends so much of his money don’t appreciate his antics either. While he was reading from the pulpit one Sunday, some members stood up and turned their backs to the actor.

Politics

Baldwin is a Democrat and endorsed Barack Obama in his two presidential campaigns. During Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 he sent out tweets calling Republicans "lying thieves" and claiming that if "Obama was white, he’d be up by 17 points."

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.

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 Baldwin on MSNBC, in accordance with the company's policy.

He has voiced his opposition to the Iraq War. He stated in a column for the Huffington Post (for which he is a regular contributor), that Republicans were only opposing the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare) because it would cut down on campaign contributions from insurance companies: "Health care reform means less money for insurance companies. Thus less money for the GOP. We should pass this bill for that reason alone."

Views

Baldwin has voiced his support for gay marriage and stricter gun control measures. He is also a strong advocate for animal rights, working with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to further the cause. They even named a rescued animal after him and his bride as a wedding present in 2012.

Baldwin 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 "The Bonfire of the Manatees", an episode of The Simpsons in which he was the voice of a biologist working to save the endangered mammals. Baldwin also gave his support for Farm Sanctuary's Adopt A Turkey Project and stated, "At least 46 million turkeys suffer heartbreaking fear and pain before being killed each and every Thanksgiving..."

Quotations: "I was not willing to do things to make more money. But I am taken more seriously as an actor as a result of the things I did and the choices I made. I make less, but I can't complain. I am happy. If I did better, maybe I would be happier."

"Am I ever going to give up acting? Yes. I almost can't wait to give up acting, in one sense. I'm never going to get it right. I've resolved this with myself. I've made tons of money and seen the world and worked with all these great people, and still feel like a failure out there."

"Remember, sex is like a Chinese dinner. It ain't over 'til you both get your cookie."

"Men are literally lying in bed with their wives when the marriage is essentially over thinking, "I've got to get the hell out of here", and have a fantasy woman in mind. Then you get divorced, meet a woman, marry her and, by the time all that goes by, you've aged a few years and are ready to go back to your ex-wife. You want a woman who is sane and normal. A woman who is more like you. You've gotten older."

Personality

Baldwin bends his work to fit his family-not the other way around. He once told a movie producer that he would take a job, but he had to be finished by August 1 because his wife Hilaria was about to give birth. The producer insisted he could not be done before August 10. Alec turned down the job.

He wasn’t naming names, but he has observed that actors and writers who “selfishly indulge in their art” to the exclusion of their family often achieve ultimate success in their field, but end up with damaged marriages and children.

In 2005, Alec Baldwin diagnosed himself with obsessive-compulsive disorder. He noticed how his passion for order became a debilitating hindrance in his life and claimed that he often missed flights in order to neatly align objects in his apartment.

Baldwin is a huge fan of the mystery novelist James Lee Burke, best known for his series centering around a troubled police detective by the name of Dave Robicheaux. Baldwin is such a fan that he owns the rights to several of Burke’s books. One of these novels, Heaven’s Prisoners, was released as a movie in 1996, with Baldwin starring as Robicheaux.

Baldwin is a big patron of classical music. He discovered the genre in the 1980s while driving his car through Los Angeles. Much later on in life, The New York Philharmonic asked Baldwin to host their radio broadcasts. He wrote on his website that “it’s my favorite job that I’ve ever had.”

Baldwin is effectively banned from the Philippines. It began when he made a “joke” that he’d like to buy a Filipina wife. As a result, the Philippine senator and actor Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. personally swore to Baldwin that he would beat up him if he ever set foot in the country.

On April 8, 2012, a 40-year-old 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 ten years earlier, and that, beginning in 2011, she began sending him multiple unwanted emails and texts.

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. On November 8, at the end of a non-jury 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. Sabourin was released from New York City's Rikers Island jail on March 28, 2014.

In 2014, Baldwin was arrested for disorderly conduct after riding his bike the wrong way down a one-way street.

On November 26, 2018, Baldwin appeared in a New York court to face a misdemeanor charge of third-degree attempted assault and second-degree harassment violation after a parking dispute in Manhattan's West Village on November 2. The prosecutor said Baldwin told the responding officer, "He's an ass. He stole my spot. I did push him." On January 23, 2019, Baldwin pleaded guilty to harassment and agreed to attend a one-day anger management class.

Physical Characteristics: Baldwin has an average build, a height of 6 ft or 183 cm, and a weight of 90 kg or 198.5 lbs. He has gray hair and grayish-blue eyes.

In 1995, by his good looks, Baldwin was listed among one of the “100 Sexiest Stars” by, Empire Magazine.

Interests

• history, reading

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Writers

  James Lee Burke

• Artists

  Ross Bleckner, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Auguste Rodin, Monet, Pat Steir

• Sport & Clubs

  baseball, football, boxing, New York Yankees, Chicago Bears

• Athletes

  Muhammad Ali

• Music & Bands

  Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder The Beatles, Sondheim, Mahler, The Who, Eric Clapton, U2, Elton John, Tony Bennett, Adele

Connections

Baldwin married actress Kim Basinger in 1993 and the couple has one daughter, Ireland Eliesse. In January 2001, after seven years of marriage, Basinger filed for divorce. Following their split, there were allegations of abuse and alcoholism, and a vicious custody battle over the couple's daughter.

In their 2004 divorce trial, Baldwin was awarded joint legal custody of his daughter. In May 2007, however, the courts briefly revoked his visitation rights when his 11-year-old daughter publicized an expletive-strewn phone message he left her in April of that year.

Baldwin began a relationship with yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas in August 2011. The couple got engaged the following April and were married on July 1, 2012, at New York City's St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. Their guests included Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey, and Woody Allen. The couple had their first child together, daughter Carmen, in August 2013. They went on to have three sons: Rafael (b. June 2015), Leonardo (b. September 2016) and Romeo (b. May 2018).

In April 2019, Thomas announced that she was pregnant with the couple's fifth child; later that month she confirmed a miscarriage, saying she wanted to be part of normalizing and removing the stigma of miscarriage.

Father:

Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr.

Mother:

Carol Baoldwin

Spouse:

Hilaria Baldwin

colleague:

Bradley Cooper

colleague:

Emma Roberts

colleague:

Lady Gaga

Brother:

Daniel Baldwin

Brother:

William Baldwin

Brother:

Stephen Baldwin

ex-wife:

Kim Basinger

Daughter:

Ireland Baldwin

Daughter:

Carmen Baldwin

Son:

Rafael Baldwin

Son:

Leonardo Angel Charles Baldwin

Son:

Romeo Alejandro David Baldwin

colleague:

Kevin Bacon

colleague:

Harrison Ford

colleague:

Winona Ryder

colleague:

Demi Moore

colleague:

Danny Glover

colleague:

Felicity Huffman

colleague:

Leonardo DiCaprio

colleague:

Cate Blanchett

colleague:

Orlando Bloom

colleague:

Vera Farmiga

colleague:

Angelina Jolie

colleague:

Jesse Eisenberg

colleague:

Emma Stone

colleague:

Will Smith

References

• Nevertheless: A Memoir
  2017