Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor in film and television born in Amityville, New York.
He is the eldest and arguably the best-known of the Baldwin brothers (the other three, in descending order of age, are Daniel Baldwin, William Baldwin, and Stephen Baldwin). In 2011, he passed Steve Martin as the new record holder for most episodes of Saturday Night Live hosted and became famous (or notorious, depending on your political views) from 2016 to 2020 for appearing on SNL as then-President Donald Trump.
He has seven children; a daughter, Ireland Baldwin, with ex-wife Kim Basinger, and six kids with second wife Hilaria Baldwin.
Baldwin is also active in politics. Outspoken about his liberal views, he has hosted a short-lived talk show on MSNBC, mulled a run for New York City mayor, and written columns for The Huffington Post.
On October 21, 2021, while filming the Western film Rust, an incident occurred where Baldwin discharged a prop firearm that (apparently unbeknownst to him) proved to be loaded with live rounds, critically injuring director of photography Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. While Souza survived and was discharged from hospital the next day, Hutchins died from her injuries. Production on the film was immediately halted while a full investigation into the incident was launched. On January 19, 2023, it was announced that Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on Rust, would face involuntary manslaughter charges in relation to the shooting; three months later, the charges against Baldwin were dropped, but new charges would be filed on January 19, 2024 after further analysis of the firearm involved in the shooting. Gutierrez-Reed was convicted on March 6, 2024, while Baldwin’s trial is scheduled for July 2024.
No relation to and not to be confused with Adam Baldwin nor with Greg Baldwin.
Selected filmography:
- Knots Landing (1984—1986) as Joshua Rush
- Beetlejuice (1988) as Adam Maitland
- Married to the Mob (1988) as Frank de Marco
- Working Girl (1988) as Mick Dugan
- Great Balls of Fire! (1989) as Jimmy Swaggart
- The Hunt for Red October (1990) as Jack Ryan
- Miami Blues (1990) as Frederick “Junior” Frenger Jr.
- Alice (1990) as Ed
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) as Blake
- Prelude to a Kiss (1992) as Peter Hoskins
- Malice (1993) as Dr. Jed Hill
- The Shadow (1994) as Lamont Cranston/The Shadow
- The Juror (1996) as Mark Cordell/The Teacher
- Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) as Bobby DeLaughter
- The Edge (1997) as Robert Green
- Mercury Rising (1998) as Lt. Col. Nicholas Kudrow
- Thomas & Friends (1998—2003) as the Narrator (U.S. version)
- Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000) as Mr. Conductor
- Notting Hill (1999) as Jeff King
- Nuremberg (2000) as Justice Robert H. Jackson
- Clerks: The Animated Series (2000—2001) as Leonardo Leonardo (voice)
- Pearl Harbor (2001) as Lt. Col. James Doolittle
- Cats & Dogs (2001) as Butch (voice)
- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) as Capt. Gray Edwards (voice)
- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) as the Narrator
- Friends (2001) as Parker
- Path to War (2002) as Robert McNamara
- The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) as Michael Zoroaster Marucci (uncredited)
- The Cooler (2003) as Sheldon "Shelly" Kaplow
- The Cat in the Hat (2003) as Lawrence "Larry" Quinn
- Along Came Polly (2004) as Stan Indursky
- Channel Chasers (2004) as Future Timmy (voice)
- The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) as Dennis the Hitman (voice)
- The Aviator (2004) as Juan Trippe
- Elizabethtown (2005) as Phil DeVoss
- Will & Grace (2005, 2018-19) as Malcolm Widmark
- Fun with Dick and Jane (2006) as Jack McCallister
- 30 Rock (2006—2013) as Jack Donaghy
- The Departed (2006) as Capt. George Ellerby
- The Good Shepherd (2006) as Sam Murach
- Brooklyn Rules (2007) as Caesar Manganaro
- Shortcut to Happiness (2007) as Jabez Stone (also directed and produced)
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) as Makunga the Lion (voice)
- It's Complicated (2009) as Jacob Adler
- Hick (2011) as Beau
- Rock of Ages (2012) as Dennis Dupree
- To Rome with Love (2012) as John
- Rise of the Guardians (2012) as Nicholas Saint North (voice)
- Blue Jasmine (2013) as Harold "Hal" Francis
- Still Alice (2014) as Dr. John Howland
- Mission: Impossible Film Series as Alan Hunley
- Concussion (2015) as Dr. Julian Balies
- Match Game (2016—2021) as the host
- Saturday Night Live (2016—2020) as Donald Trump
- The Boss Baby (2017) as Ted Templeton/Boss Baby (voice)
- Blackk Klansman (2018) as Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard
- The Looming Tower (2018) as George Tenet
- Motherless Brooklyn (2019) as Moses Randolph
- Arctic Dogs (2019) as PB (voice)
- Dr. Death (2021) as Robert Henderson
- Tár (2022) As Himself (cameo)
Always Be Troping:
- Career Resurrection: While hardly stagnant at the time, the Donald Trump role in SNL caused his name to blow up all over the place.
- Creator Backlash: He’s made no secret that he despises playing Donald Trump, and only took the gig because he never dreamed it would actually last beyond the 2016 election. One sketch even has him break character to mention “my personal nightmare of playing the President.”
- Leslie Nielsen Syndrome: He has seldom been seen near dramatic works as of late, thanks to 30 Rock and his frequent hosting gigs on Saturday Night Live (hosting so many times that he dethroned Steve Martin as the show's most frequent host, and essentially becoming a Fake Guest Star in Season 42 when Donald Trump, whom he'd been portraying in skits surrounding the presidential election, actually won). Heck, he's even doing comedy commercials.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: He's a gifted impressionist and is one of the few non-cast members to regularly do celebrity impersonations on SNL.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Alec's late night show on MSNBC was canceled after he allegedly called a reporter a "cocksucking faggot" off air. He had been suspended by the network for at least two weeks until it was decided to have the plug pulled permanently.
- Star-Making Role: Alec's popularity skyrocketed when he portrayed Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October.
- What Could Have Been:
- He had originally signed on to play Thomas Wayne in Joker (2019) but had to back out because of scheduling conflicts.
- He auditioned for the role of Henry Hill in GoodFellas.
