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Alec Baldwin is an American actor, producer, and comedian, who gained popularity through his role of Joshua Rush in the CBS television drama “Knots Landing.” Here are 50 interesting facts about the Academy Award nominee -
- Baldwin is the third person in the history to have received nominations for Academy Award’s Best Supporting Actor as well as Razzies’ Worst Supporting Actor in the same year, for his performances in the movies “The Cooler,” and “Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat” of 2003.
- He is one among the only two personalities with a standing invitation to host “Saturday Night Live” every year, with the other being Christopher Walken.
- He was voted as on one of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” and was also named as one among the “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History,” by Empire Magazine and People Magazine respectively.
- Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III was born on April 3, 1958 in Amityville, New York.
- He was born to Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., a high school teacher and football coach and Carol Newcomb.
- He is the oldest of Baldwin brothers, elder to Stephen Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, and William Baldwin, all famous actors. He has two sisters – Beth and Jane.
- He has English, Irish, Scottish, French and German ancestry, and is the 13th generation of his family born in North America.
- He went to Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa. He attended George Washington University and was later transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He ran for President at the George Washington University, and lost only by a difference of two votes.
- He became a member of Actors Studio, even before his graduation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the New York University in 1994.
- He was trained in football in his school under the coach Bob Reifsnyder.
- His first job was as a busboy at disco Studio 54. However, he initially wanted to be a lawyer.
- “How the West Was Won” was the first movie Baldwin ever saw.
- He started his career in acting with appearances in several TV series including NBC daytime soap opera “The Doctors” as Billy Aldrich and as the son of Lilimae Clements in the series “Knots Landing.”
- His Broadway debut was in the year 1986, in the revival of Joe Orton's “Loot.”
- His film debut was with a minor role in the movie “Forever, Lulu,” as Buck, in the year 1987. Following this movie, he made appearances in “Beetlejuice” “She’s Having a Baby,” “Talk Radio,” “Married to the Mob,” and “Working Girl.”
- He was one of the initial choices for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in the 1989 movie “Batman,” which was bagged by Michael Keaton.
- His first lead role was as Jack Ryan in the movie “The Hunt for Red October,” in 1990, which garnered him great recognition.
- For his role, he underwent training to drive a Los Angeles-class attack submarine at the New London Submarine Base in Connecticut.
- He met Kim Basinger in the sets of the 1991 movie “The Marrying Man,” in which they played the role of lovers.
- He was offered the chance to reprise his role of Jack Ryan from “The Hunt for Red October,” in the movie “Patriot Games” (1992). But he had to turn down the offer in order to play Stanley Kowalski in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Broadway.
- He was nominated for Broadway's 1992 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for his performance in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
- He recreated the play into a television version of the same name in the year 1995.
- He started dating Basinger and married her in the year 1993. The duo has daughter – Ireland Baldwin, born in 1995.
- Just three days after the birth of Ireland, Baldwin is alleged to have assaulted a photographer for videotaping Basinger and Ireland, while returning from the hospital. The incident is said to have happened just outside his Los Angeles home.
- He was praised for his actions during the incident by Whoopi Goldberg, during her opening monologue while hosting the 68th Academy Awards.
- In his appearance on “Late Night with Conan O'Brien” he revealed that he suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD.
- He starred in his first pulp fiction-based movie “The Shadow,” in the role of the title character, in the year 1994. Following this movie, he acted in several thrillers such as “The Edge,” “The Juror” and “Heaven's Prisoners.”
- His relationship with Basinger lasted for more than 10 years and the couple filed for divorce in 2001, which was finalized the next year.
- He shifted his focus in his acting career towards character acting, with his role as Lt. Col. James Doolittle in the movie “Pearl Harbor,” in 2001.
- This movie, with worldwide box office of $449,220,945, remains to be the highest-grossing film in his entire career.
- He starred as Sheldon "Shelly" Kaplow in the 2003 gambling drama “The Cooler.” His performance in the movie earned him nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award.
- He often jokes that he stole his performance in the movie from Ben Kingsley in “Sexy Beast” of 2000.
- He received an honorary Litt.D degree from Montclair State University at their 2004 graduation.
- In the year 2006, he starred as Jack Donaghy on NBC's 30 Rock, for which he was named as one of the "Eight Actors Who Turn Television into Art," by The New York Times Magazine in a cover story.
- His role earned him two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe awards and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards.
- He became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week, on January 12, 2009.
- He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 15, 2011, outside Eva Longoria's restaurant, Beso, on Hollywood Boulevard.
- His star is just seven blocks away from his ex-wife Basinger's star.
- He met a yoga instructor - Hilaria Thomas, by August 2011 and started dating her. The couple moved together from Upper West Side to Greenwich Village.
- On October 24, 2011, the first episode of Baldwin's new podcast “Here's the Thing” was released by WNYC public radio.
- In December 2011, he was removed from an American Airlines flight at Los Angeles International Airport, reportedly for not turning off his cellphone, as he was playing Words with Friends, while waiting for takeoff. He later publicly apologized to the passengers who were delayed, but not to the airline or federal regulators.
- A 40-year-old French-Canadian actress, Genevieve Sabourin, was charged with aggravated harassment and stalking, after being arrested outside Baldwin’s Greenwich Village apartment house, on April 8, 2012.
- It is reported that the actress has met Baldwin on a film set more than 10 years ago and since 2011, she had been sending multiple unwanted emails and texts to him.
- She was released without bail and was warned not to contact Baldwin again. However, she is said to have continued her unwanted emails. In the year 2013, she was sentenced to 180 days in jail for stalking, attempted aggravated harassment, and harassment, along with an extra 30 days for attempted contempt of court.
- He announced his engagement to Thomas in April 2012 and married her at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York City on June 30, 2012.
- The duo welcomed their daughter Carmen Gabriela Baldwin on August 23, 2013 and their son Rafael Thomas Baldwin on June 17, 2015.
- In an interview in the year 2013, he claimed that he donates all the money he makes from his Capital One commercials to charity and that he is even addicted to giving the money away.
- MSNBC officially announced Baldwin’s own talk show "Up Late With Alec Baldwin" that was aired on Fridays at 10pm from October 2013. Just after 5 episodes, the show was cancelled as it is said that Baldwin angrily uttered a "gay slur" during his latest confrontation with photographers staked outside his Manhattan apartment building.
- He played the role of CIA Director Alan Hunley, in the fifth installment of the “Mission: Impossible” series, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” released on July 31, 2015.
- He has a number of movies in the pipeline including “Concussion,” “Boss Baby” and an untitled Warren Beatty project.
