Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama, and has received numerous accolades including three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and Tony Award.
For people with a similar name, see Alex Baldwin (disambiguation).
Alec Baldwin
Baldwin first gained recognition by appearing on the sixth and seventh seasons of primetime soap opera Knots Landing (1984–1985). In the early part of his film career he played both leading and supporting roles in Beetlejuice (1988), Working Girl (1988), Married to the Mob (1988) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). He played Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990). He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cooler (2003) and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for It's Complicated (2010). He has acted in the films The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Along Came Polly (2004), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), To Rome with Love (2012), Blue Jasmine (2013), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018).[1] He voiced the titular role in The Boss Baby film franchise.
From 2006 to 2013, Baldwin received critical acclaim starring alongside Tina Fey as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor in a comedy series, making him the male performer with the most SAG Awards in history. Baldwin has received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Donald Trump on the NBC sketch series Saturday Night Live, a role that won him his third Primetime Emmy in 2017.[2] He was nominated again in 2018 and 2021.[3][4]
Baldwin made his Broadway debut in Loot (1986). He portrayed Stanley Kowalski in the 1992 production of A Streetcar Named Desire for which he earned a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. He returned to Broadway in Twentieth Century (2004) and Orphans (2013). He hosted the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010. He is also a columnist for The Huffington Post. He was the host of Match Game from 2016 until 2021.
In 2021, while on the Rust film set, Baldwin discharged a revolver used as a prop, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.[5] Baldwin was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Santa Fe County, New Mexico in January 2023, but the charges were dropped in April 2023 pending further investigation.[6][7][8][9] He was indicted again for the charge on January 19, 2024.[10]
Early life and education
Alexander Rae Baldwin III[11] was born on April 3, 1958,[12] in Amityville, New York,[11] and raised in the Nassau Shores neighborhood[13] of nearby Massapequa,[14][15] the eldest son of Carol Newcomb (née Martineau; December 15, 1929 – May 26, 2022)[16] from Syracuse, New York[17] and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr. (October 26, 1927 – April 15, 1983),[18] a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach from Brooklyn.[14] He has three younger brothers, Daniel (b. 1960), William (b. 1963), and Stephen (b. 1966), who also became actors. He also has two sisters, Elizabeth "Beth" Baldwin Keuchler (b. 1955)[19] and Jane Ann Baldwin Sasso (b. 1965).[19][20]
Alec and his siblings were raised as Roman Catholics.[21] They are of Irish, French, and English ancestry.[22][23] Through his father, 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.[24]
Baldwin attended Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa[23] and played football there under Coach Bob Reifsnyder. In New York City, Baldwin worked as a busboy at the famed discotheque, 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.[25]
Afterward, he transferred to the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University (NYU) where he studied with, among others, Geoffrey Horne and Mira Rostova at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.[15] Later, he was accepted as a member of the Actors Studio.[26] In 1994, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at NYU.[27]
Philanthropy
Baldwin, along with his mother Carol, created the Carol M. Baldwin Cancer Research Fund in 1996, and dedicated the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center at the Stony Brook University Hospital in her honor.[92][93] During his 2010–2013 stint as a spokesperson for Capital One, Baldwin's contract was written to fund Baldwin's charity foundation. He was paid $15 million over nearly five years. After taxes and accounting fees, the remainder, $14.125 million, was given to charity.[70]
In March 2011, Baldwin donated $1 million to the New York Philharmonic (on whose board he served), and $500,000 to the Roundabout Theatre Company, where he has performed plays in New York.[94] In recent years, his foundation has donated bookstore gift certificates to Long Island libraries to support literacy programs.[95]
Political views
Baldwin is a Democrat and endorsed Barack Obama in his two presidential campaigns.[147][148] He serves on the board of People for the American Way. He is an animal rights activist and a staunch supporter of PETA,[149] for which he has done work that includes narrating the video entitled Meet Your Meat.[150] 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.[151] 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..."[152]
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."[153] Baldwin later apologized for the remarks, and the network explained that it was meant as a joke and promised not to re-run it.[154]
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.[155] On December 21, 2011, Baldwin, addressing speculation, said he was abandoning plans to run for mayor of New York City and would instead continue in his role on 30 Rock.[156] That April, he suggested he might change his mind, saying, "Let's see what things are like in 2014. I would love to do it."[157][158]
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".[159]
During the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2011, televised by Fox, 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.[160]
