Alec Baldwin

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BIRTHDAY

April 03, 1958

Massapequa, NY

PROFESSIONS

Actor

SOMETIMES CREDITED AS

BIOGRAPHY

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Formerly the best looking — and still the most successful — of the acting Baldwin brothers, this talented player is known for his fiery persona both on and off screen. At the outset of his career in the early '80s, the trim, blue-eyed charmer played romantic parts in a number of small-screen series (the daytime soap The Doctors, the prime-time sudser Knots Landing), but by the end of the decade he was a hot big-screen up-and-comer, thanks to a string of supporting turns that showcased his range. In 1988 alone he essayed a quintet of diverse roles: a cheating boyfriend in Working Girl, an intense radio producer in Talk Radio, a commitment-phobic bachelor in She's Having a Baby, a mobster in Married to the Mob and a mild-mannered dead man in Beetlejuice. He graduated to leading man as a CIA analyst in the Cold War actioner The Hunt for Red October, a blockbuster that spawned two popular sequels. But the rebellious player didn't appear in either of them (Harrison Ford took over the role). Instead, Baldwin opted to star in the 1992 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, the first in a series of unconventional decisions that prevented him from becoming a true Hollywood A-lister. In the '90s, he headlined a string of flop films (Mercury Rising, The Juror, Heaven's Prisoners), one of which, The Marrying Man, introduced him to wife Kim Basinger. Unfortunately, their cinematic failure proved to be prophetic. During their tempestuous union, they produced a daughter and another flop film (The Getaway), before engaging in an acrimonious divorce and child-custody battle, which was tabloid fodder for years. Even as recently as April 2007, a recording of an angry, abusive voice mail he left his daughter was leaked to the media, which prompted a judge to temporarily revoke his visitation rights and Baldwin to have a mini-breakdown as he went on various talk shows to apologize. Although he claimed Basinger was responsible for making the tape public, she vehemently denied it. Basinger wasn't the only one accusing him of bad behavior, and Baldwin's reputation worsened, with tales of his on-set tantrums and erratic behavior, not to mention his bad box-office grosses. In the '00s, Baldwin — whose dashing good looks were now partially eclipsed by a rapidly expanding waistline — turned to character roles, deservedly earning his first Oscar nod as a menacing gangster in 2003's The Cooler. He also returned to the small screen, earning a number of Emmy nominations for his work, as well as 2007 Golden Globe and SAG Awards for his riotous turn as a TV exec in the sitcom 30 Rock. In a way, his career — if not his personal life — was healthier than ever, as busy Baldwin effortlessly segued from stage to TV to films. A longtime outspoken liberal, he also found time to champion various progressive political causes.

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