Alec Baldwin

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Alec Baldwin, in full Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958, Massapequa, New York, U.S.), American actor of great versatility who was especially known for his portrayal of roguish characters.

Baldwin was the second of six children, and his three brothers—Stephen, William, and Daniel—also pursued acting careers. Initially interested in law, he enrolled at George Washington University in 1976, but he later transferred to New York University (B.F.A., 1994) to study drama. While in college, he landed a role (1980–82) on the daytime soap opera The Doctors. Baldwin later appeared in several other television projects before joining (1984–85) the cast of Knots Landing, a popular nighttime drama. During this time he also acted on the stage, making his Broadway debut in the 1986 production of Loot.

In 1987 Baldwin appeared in his first feature film, Forever, Lulu. The following year he starred as a ghost in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, a comedy that was a critical and commercial success. After notable supporting roles in Working Girl (1988) andMarried to the Mob (1988), Baldwin was cast as CIA agent Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990), an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s popular thriller. The film was a box-office hit, and it established Baldwin as a major star. In 1990 he also made the first of his numerous hosting appearances on the TV sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. The following year he appeared opposite Kim Basinger in The Marrying Man; the couple married in 1993.

Baldwin continued to perform on the stage, and in 1991 he received an Obie Award for his performance in Prelude to a Kiss; he later starred in the film version (1992). He controversially opted not to reprise the role of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and instead appeared onstage as Stanley Kowalski in a 1992 revival of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire; he received a Tony Award nomination for the performance. In 1992 Baldwin portrayed a heartless sales motivator in the film adaptation of David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross. After a turn as a vain surgeon who might be a murderer in Malice (1993), Baldwin appeared in a series of little-seen films, including the civil rights drama Ghosts of Mississippi (1996); The Edge (1997), an adventure thriller written by Mamet; andMercury Rising (1998), in which he starred opposite Bruce Willis. In 2004 Baldwin received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as a casino owner in the dark comedy The Cooler (2003). Later that year he had a supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, a biopic about Howard Hughes.

Baldwin experienced something of a career resurgence when he began appearing as the arrogant but charismatic television executive Jack Donaghy in the TV sitcom 30 Rock (2006–13). The critically acclaimed series, which was created and written by Tina Fey, showcased Baldwin’s comedic skills, and he won Emmy Awards in 2008 and 2009. His subsequent film credits include Scorsese’s The Departed (2006); It’s Complicated (2009), a comedy in which he starred as a man having an affair with his ex-wife (played by Meryl Streep); and Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love (2012) and Blue Jasmine (2013). In Still Alice (2014) he portrayed the husband of a woman (Julianne Moore) who is succumbing to early-onset Alzheimer disease. Baldwin cohosted (with Steve Martin) the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony. He returned to Broadway in 2013 in the psychological dramaOrphans.

While Baldwin received much attention for his acting, his personal life was often fodder for the tabloids. In 2002 his tumultuous marriage to Basinger ended in divorce, and the two engaged in a bitter and highly public custody battle over their daughter. In addition, the outspoken and sometimes combatant Baldwin was involved in a number of confrontations with paparazzi and others. He also garnered press for his involvement in various liberal causes and philanthropies. Passionate about classical music, he was active in the New York Philharmonic, and in 2009 he became the official announcer of its weekly radio broadcasts. Beginning in 2011, he hosted a podcast, Here’s the Thing, on which he interviewed artists, entertainers, and other notable figures. In October 2013 the weekly talk show Up Late with Alec Baldwin debuted on the cable television channel MSNBC. After just five episodes, however, Baldwin was suspended for calling a paparazzo a homophobic slur. Shortly thereafter the show ended.

Written by Amy Tikkanen and Ed. at Britannica