Biography of Alec Baldwin
One of the most beautiful actors in modern cinema, Alec Baldwin is the owner of prestigious awards and an unbearable character. He has many roles to his credit, but for most fans, he will forever remain the romantic hero from The Marriage Habit and the charming psychopath from the thriller The Jury.
Pictured: Alec Baldwin
Childhood
The full name of the actor is Alexander Ray Baldwin III, he was born on April 3, 1958 on the coast of Long Island, in the village of Amityville. This happened 15 years before the tragic episode of Ronald Defeo, a local resident who brutally murdered his entire family, thus giving rise to the legend of the “Amityville Horror”. In Alec’s childhood, it was a small provincial town, the population of which did not exceed 6 thousand inhabitants.
Baldwin has Irish and French roots. The actor got his name in honor of his father, Alexander Ray Baldwin II, who was a history teacher. Alec’s mother, Caroline, is also a teacher by profession, but was forced to leave her job in order to devote more time to her children.
Alec Baldwin as a child
Alec grew up with two sisters and three younger brothers. Despite the fact that Alec was the most handsome guy in school and was well aware of this, he did not aspire to the acting profession. The young man saw his future in politics.
In 1976, Alec enrolled in a political science course at the University of Washington. Studying was easy for Alec, but life in the capital attracted many temptations, and in order to have money for entertainment, Alec took on any part-time job. He was a bartender, a driver in a warehouse for industrial goods, and a salesman in the menswear department.
Alec Baldwin in his youth
Having once responded to an advertisement for the recruitment of extras, he came to a television studio, where for very little money he was supposed to appear in the crowd. Seeing a tall young man with piercing blue eyes in the frame, the producers advised the young man to take up acting.
In 1979, Alec moved to New York, where he began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, and a year later he got a role in the television series Doctors, in which he starred for two seasons.
Actor career
For the first time on the big screen, the actor appeared as a tough police detective in the 1987 crime comedy Lulu Forever. His partners were German beauty Hanna Schigulla and punk rock icon Debbie Harry, who played the enigmatic Lulu.
Alec Baldwin in the movie Lulu Forever
The next picture, in which Alec took part, immediately put him on a par with the most famous actors of that time. So, in Tim Burton’s black comedy Beetlejuice, he made a duet with Geena Davis, with whom he played a married couple who became ghosts.
Alec Baldwin in the movie Beetlejuice
In the crime comedy Married to the Mob, Alec played the hapless gangster Frank Cucumber, joining Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine.
In the thriller Miami Blues, the actor played the role of Fred Frenger, who leaned back after another term and arrived in Miami in style to rob and kill during the day, and spend the nights in the arms of a dim-witted prostitute who did not understand who she had contacted. For obvious reasons, there was no happy ending in the picture, but despite the abundance of blood and violence, the picture was wildly popular. Chief Hollywood critic Leonard Maltin noted the skill of the young actor, who starred with Fred Ward, Charles Napier and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Alec Baldwin in Miami Blues
In 1990, Alec starred in the Woody Allen drama Alice, in which Mia Farrow was his partner, and in the action movie The Hunt for Red October, where he played a talented CIA agent.
Best Roles
The 1991 comedy The Marriage Habit, in which Alec Baldwin’s hero meets the beautiful Vicki and leaves a rich bride for her, is considered one of the actor’s most striking roles. An amazing fact, but the picture was coldly received by film critics, some of whom went through a trivial plot, others – through an abundance of flat jokes, but everyone agreed on one thing: the duet of Baldwin and Kim Basinger is beautiful.
Alec also appeared in the role of a romantic hero in his next film, Prelude to a Kiss, in which Meg Ryan paired up.
The thriller Ready for Anything became the highest-grossing film of 1993. Alec played the role of Dr. Jedd Hill, and he, like the hero of Bill Pullman, was not lucky enough to meet the sweet Tracy, played by Nicole Kidman.
Alec Baldwin in Ready for Anything
The role in the detective fantasy “Shadow” was another success for Alec Baldwin, the actor had already entered adulthood, his skill was striking in its depth, as was his attractive appearance. John Lone, Ian McKellen and Penelope Ann Miller played in the picture, which was loved by many millions of viewers.
Alec Baldwin in The Shadow
In the thriller with elements of psychodrama The Jury, Alec played the role of a psychopathic henchman who was assigned to influence the decision of the jury. The devilish charm of Alec Baldwin’s character contrasted sharply with his appearance and therefore produced an even more creepy effect. The role of the jury was played by Demi Moore, and James Gandolfini and Anne Heche also took part in the film.
The classic detective psychodrama Prisoners of Heaven brought the actor even greater popularity and fame as a master of disguise. Detective Robichaux, a life-weary, dead-eyed alcoholic trying to start a new sober life, was nothing like Alec’s previous glossy characters.
Alec Baldwin in the movie Prisoners of Heaven
In the drama on the difficult topic of racism for Americans, Ghosts of Mississippi, the actor played an assistant prosecutor who unravels a long-standing murder. Critics called Alec Baldwin the very embodiment of American justice, but James Woods, who played the racist killer, received an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination.
Alec Baldwin in the movie “Ghosts of the Mississippi”
The excellent drama of 1997, filmed in the golden traditions of real Hollywood cinema, “On the Edge”, in which Alec played with Anthony Hopkins, is considered one of the best works of the actor. Baldwin skillfully portrayed the image of a photographer who is envious and jealous of the billionaire Charles Morse, with whom he is forced to fight for a life away from civilization.
The year 2000 gave the world the picture “Nuremberg”, in which Alec Baldwin not only played the prosecutor appointed by the prosecutor at the main trial of the 20th century, but also acted as a producer. For this role, the actor was awarded the Golden Globe Award. The controversial image of Hermann Goering was embodied by Brian Cox, who also received the Golden Globe, the rest of the roles in the film were played by Christopher Plummer, Max von Sydow, Colm Fiori and Christopher Heyerdahl.
From 2000 to 2010, the actor played in more than twenty films! His most significant roles of this period are the role of Juan Trippe in Martin Scorsese’s biographical drama The Aviator, Captain Ellerbee in the police drama The Departed, which was also filmed by the great Scorsese, and the role of Mickey Bartlett in Woody Allen’s drama Luxurious Life. The actor’s partners in these films were Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Rory Culkin, Matt Damon, Jill Hennessy and Vera Farmina.
Alec Baldwin in the movie Luxurious Life
In 2012, Alec Baldwin again took part in the film by Woody Allen, with whom he has long been associated with friendly relations. Roberto Benigni and the Master himself, Woody Allen, also played in the drama Roman Adventures.
Alec Baldwin in the movie Roman Adventures
In Still Alice, a touching drama about a woman struggling to cope with the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Alec played the role of Alice’s husband, played by Julianne Moore, who won an Oscar for her.
Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore in Still Alice
In the 2015 film Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation, Alec Baldwin played the role of the director of the CIA. Tom Cruise traditionally played the main role in the film, Rebecca Ferguson and Jeremy Renner were involved in the rest of the roles.
In the same year, the actor starred in the drama The Protector, playing the role of Dr. Julian Bales. The film belongs to the category of films with an unpredictable ending, and the main role in it was played by Will Smith.
Alec Baldwin and Will Smith in The Protector
Of the actor’s works for the period 2015-2017, his role in the melodramatic film “The Blind Man” should be noted, where he plays a writer who became blind as a result of a car accident in which he lost his wife. A chance meeting with a woman brought the blind writer back to life and gave both of them a chance for later happiness. Alec’s partner in this touching and life-affirming picture was Demi Moore.
The theme of late love is continued by the late 2017 film Paris Can Wait, in which Baldwin starred with Diane Lane.
Alec Baldwin’s personal life
The actor’s early novels ended as soon as they began. In 1991, while filming The Marrying Habit, Alec met Kim Basinger, who became his first wife. Their romance was considered one of the most beautiful love stories in Hollywood, but the marriage lasted only 8 years. The actors have a common child, daughter Ireland, who, having become an adult, does not hide her unconventional orientation.
Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger
Alec’s second chosen one was yoga instructor Hilary Thomas. In 2012, a woman, 25 years younger than the actor, became his wife. The couple have four children, the youngest of which was born in the spring of 2018.
Alec Baldwin and Hilary Thomas
In his youth, Alec had a big problem with alcohol, but in 1984 he sought help and has been sober ever since. In an interview, Alec Baldwin calls Hilary his guardian angel and says that he has become softer with her and rarely visits a psychoanalyst about uncontrollable outbursts of aggression, which he has been subject to since his youth.
Alec Baldwin Receives a Star on the Walk of Fame
However, in November 2018, the actor was arrested for fighting in a parking lot. As a result of a conflict over a parking space, Alec attacked a man who refused to give up his seat to a famous actor. Alec punched him in the jaw, and the man was hospitalized, and the Hollywood star was taken to the police station.
Alec Baldwin now
Since 2017, the actor has been participating in the Phantom Tower project, which tells about the events that led to the September 11, 2001 tragedy. The actor is accompanied by Jeff Daniels, Peter Sarsgaard and Bill Camp.
Alec Baldwin in the television series The Haunted Tower
In 2018, the actor starred in Spike Lee’s comedy Black Klansman, which also starred Adam Driver and Topher Grace.
In the same year, the next part of the Mission Impossible series was released, in which Alec again played the role of the director of the CIA.
In December 2018, the actor wrote in The Huffington Post, a column in which he has been writing for many years, that he plans to stop making parodies of Donald Trump and seriously enter politics, which he dreamed of since childhood.
In October 2024, an unpleasant incident occurred with the actor: during the filming of the film Rust, which took place near Santa Fe, New Mexico, Baldwin shot the cameraman and wounded the director of the picture. It all happened through the fault of the props – either the pistol fired combat instead of blanks, or the blanks turned out to be faulty. As a result, 42-year-old cameraman Galina Hutchins died on the way to the hospital, and 48-year-old director Joel Souza was hospitalized in critical condition. At first, Alec Baldwin was detained, but after a conversation they were released without charge.