Alec Baldwin Biography
Raven haired, suavely handsome and prolific New York-born actor Alec Baldwin is easily the best known of the four Baldwin brothers appearing in the cinema (for the record, the others are
Stephen Baldwin,
William Baldwin and
Daniel Baldwin).
Alec burst onto the TV scene in the early 1980s with appearances in several series, including
The Doctors and
Knots Landing, before scoring several decent feature film roles in
Forever, Lulu,
Beetle Juice,
Married to the Mob and
Talk Radio. In 1990 Baldwin appeared in the first on-screen adaption of the Jack Ryan character created by mega-selling espionage author
Tom Clancy. The film,
The Hunt for Red October, was a tremendous success, with Baldwin appearing alongside icy
Sean Connery (the world's first Russian sub commander with a thick Scots accent!), Unfortunately, Baldwin fell out with Paramount Studios over future scripts for Jack Ryan, and subsequent Ryan roles went to
Harrison Ford. It was a minor blip on Baldwin's horizon, and he then contributed interesting performances as a lowlife thief pursued by dogged cop
Fred Ward in
Miami Blues, in the
Neil Simon comedy
The Marrying Man and an absolutely dynamite ten-minute cameo as a hard-nosed real estate executive laying down the law to
Ed Harris,
Jack Lemmon and
Alan Arkin in the punishing
Glengarry Glen Ross.
Further demand for Baldwin's talents saw more strong scripts swiftly come his way, and he starred alongside his then wife
Kim Basinger in a remake of the
Steve McQueen action flick
The Getaway, brought to life the famous comic strip character
The Shadow and was superb as an assistant district attorney in the civil rights drama
Ghosts of Mississippi. Baldwin's distinctive vocal talents then saw him voice US-aired episodes of the highly popular UK children's show plus later voice-only contributions to other animated/children's shows including
Clerks,
Cats & Dogs,
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The versatile and enigmatic Baldwin has remained consistently busy over the past decade with appearances in a mixed bag of movies: as Capt. Jimmy Doolittle in the mammoth love story of
Pearl Harbor and a violent casino boss intimidating luckless
William H. Macy in
The Cooler. He picked up scathing reviews (as did the entire cast) for the box-office disaster
The Cat in the Hat and he starred in the quirky
Along Came Polly alongside
Ben Stiller and
Jennifer Aniston. With audience demand for his talents, and his now recognized box office clout, it remains obvious to all the Alec Baldwin will keep very busy in front of the camera for any years to come.
Salary
The Marrying Man (1991): $1,500,000
Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#80). [1995]

Daughter, Ireland Eliesse (aka Addie Baldwin), born on October 23, 1995.

He and his wife
Kim Basinger owned a total of eleven dogs, seven cats and a wolf.

Education: George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (majored in political science), New York University, New York, New York (majored in drama; BA, 1993).

As part of his preparation for
The Hunt for Red October, he was trained to drive a Los Angeles-class attack submarine at the New London Submarine Base in Connecticut.

Brother of
William Baldwin,
Stephen Baldwin,
Daniel Baldwin,
Jane Sasso, and
Elizabeth Keuchler.

Cousin of Charles H. Baldwin

Dated
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Janine Turner and
Ally Sheedy.

Brother-in-law of singer
Chynna Phillips.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. [1990]

Cousin of actor
Joseph Baldwin.

Originally wanted to be a lawyer.

His father was not only a social studies teacher in Massapequa, but also the football coach. It was his father who coined the nickname for Massapequa: Matzoh-Pizza.

Alec's daughter is often called "Addie" by family members.

During the
Bill Clinton impeachment trial went on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien and said to a cheering audience that the head of the trial,
Henry Hyde and his family, should be stoned to death. He later apologized and said it was just a joke.

A fan of novelist
James Lee Burke, he owns the rights to a number of books featuring his character Dave Robiceaux. One of these,
Heaven's Prisoners, was released in 1996.

Wrote "Tabloid," an episode of
Law & Order, based on his own experiences with tabloid reporters.

Turned down the chance to reprise the role of Jack Ryan in
Patriot Games in order to play Stanley Kowalski in a revival of
Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Broadway.

Told brother
Stephen Baldwin that doing
Bio-Dome could be the single most career ending decision he could possibly make.

Loves Cuban cigars.

At George Washington University, Baldwin ran for president but lost by two votes.

Taught "Master Theater Workshop" in summer 2002 at Southampton College, New York where friend
James LaRocca is Dean.

Is only the third person in history to be nominated for both Best Supporting Actor from the Oscars, for
The Cooler, and Worst Supporting Actor from the Razzies, for
The Cat in the Hat, in the same year.

Jokes that he "stole" his performance in
The Cooler from
Ben Kingsley's in
Sexy Beast.

Replaced
Alan Rickman as the voice of Leonardo Leonardo in the 2000 cartoon based on
Kevin Smith's film
Clerks..

Received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Montclair State University at their 2004 Graduation.

Like ex-wife
Kim Basinger, he is also a vegetarian.

In 1995, he played the role of Stanley Kowalski in
A Streetcar Named Desire, a role originated by
Marlon Brando, who went on to play Vito Corleone. On
SNL 25, he has played
Robert De Niro, who played the young Vito Corleone to Brando's older Don Corleone, in
The Godfather: Part II.

His
A Streetcar Named Desire castmate,
John Goodman, played
Marlon Brando on
SNL 25.

Has done voice-over work in television ads for both General Electric and Subaru.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1992 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for playing Stanley Kowalski in a revival of
Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire," a performance he recreated in a television version of the same title,
A Streetcar Named Desire.

Is of Irish descent.

Is one of only two people with a standing invitation to host
SNL 25 every year (schedules allowing). The other is
Christopher Walken.

Has impersonated
Robert De Niro on
SNL 25 a few times, and now he will be in
The Good Shepherd, which is directed by De Niro.

He was willing to voice his own puppet in
Team America: World Police (despite the movie's unflattering portrait of him and other film stars, but was turned down by producers
Matt Stone and
Trey Parker, because all of the other celebrities were voiced by impressionists in the film. The role went to impressionist
Maurice LaMarche.

In 1979, he auditioned for the New York University Undergraduate Drama Program on a dare (and was accepted).

No relation to actor
Adam Baldwin.

Son of
Carol M. Baldwin.

Was considered for the role of Dr. Curtis McCabe in
Vanilla Sky.

Has declined two roles that later went to
Harrison Ford. First, he declined to reprise the role of Jack Ryan in
Patriot Games, then he turned down the lead role in
The Fugitive.

Was considered for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in
Batman.

Did a skit on "Saturday Night Live" in December of 2005 in which he spoofed himself delivering the same speech he did in
Glengarry Glen Ross to a couple of Santa's elves. Only some of the words were changed to imply to the elves rather than salesmen. He slipped though when saying the line, "Always Be Cobbling" instead he said the original line, "Always Be Closing". This made the other cast members break out in laughter on the live show.

He is frequently referred to as Irish-American and, although both of his parents have Irish heritage, he is not entirely Irish. His father was half-English and his mother's side is primarily French (only one-quarter Irish).
Source provided by imdb (Copyright) - The Internet Movie Database.