Why He's No. 73

After repeatedly threatening to quit acting, Baldwin suddenly found himself with a Golden Globe award and watched as his former leading man image – with the help of many classic hosting appearances on “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 1975- ) – morphed him into that of a peerless comic actor. For years, he had shown hints of comic timing few non-comic actors possessed, but between his fearless “SNL" appearances and the revered role of network exec, Jack Donaghy, on “30 Rock,” even established comics were reluctant to get in the ring with Baldwin who could more than hold his own with stand-ups or sitcom stars.

Back Stage

Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an Emmy- and Academy Award-nominated, and Golden Globe Award-winning, American actor. He is the eldest of the Baldwin brothers, and has starred in many movies and TV shows such as "30 Rock". He is also noted for having hosted "Saturday Night Live" thirteen times. Baldwin was born in Amityville, New York, the son of Carol Newcomb (née Martineau) and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., a high school history/social studies teacher and American football coach. Baldwin was raised in a Catholic family of Irish and French descent. He attended Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa, Long Island, and played football there under Coach Bob Reifsnyder, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Baldwin used to work as a busboy at the famous New York City disco Studio 54. He attended George Washington University from 1976 to 1979, where he was known as "Alex." After losing a student body president election, he transferred to New York University to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute under Elaine Aiken and Geoffrey Horne. He then returned to NYU in 1994 and graduated with a BFA that year. He is also a voice actor, working in the films Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Baldwin has hosted Saturday Night Live 13 times as of November 11, 2006. He is reportedly one of only two people (the other being Christopher Walken) who have standing invitations to host the show whenever they want. He also performed as the narrator in the hit RTS video game World in Conflict.



Baldwin has been nominated for an Emmy Award six times (see below):

- 1996: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special, for Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire

- 2001: Outstanding Miniseries, for Nuremberg (as producer)

- 2002: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special, for Path to War

- 2005: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for Will & Grace

- 2006: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for Will & Grace

- 2007: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, for 30 Rock



Baldwin stars in the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. Baldwin had personally met the series creator Tina Fey and one of his co-stars Tracy Morgan during several tapings of Saturday Night Live. Baldwin was reported to be one of the first cast and was very excited to be working on the series. He plays the role Jack Donaghy in which he has received numerous award and honors including a Golden Globe & Screen Actors Guild Award. Baldwin, a political liberal, has always had an active interest in politics. He recently revealed in a British magazine interview that he plans to leave acting in a few years to pursue a career in politics. He has recently called Vice President Dick Cheney a terrorist, and claimed that "he terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately.". He later recanted this statement, saying that Cheney was not a terrorist but rather "a lying, thieving oil whore and a murderer of the U.S. Constitution". He was criticized by Jack Valenti, Rush Limbaugh, and Brit Hume for his appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on December 11, 1998, eight days before President Bill Clinton was to be impeached. In an outburst that Baldwin later referred to as a "parody," a claim supported by the supplemental oxygen prop that Conan administers at the end of the clip, Baldwin said that "if we were in another country... we would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families". Baldwin later apologized to Hyde for his remarks and NBC has promised never to re-air the show. Baldwin's politics are parodied in the film Team America: World Police, wherein he is portrayed as the head of the "Film Actors' Guild" (F. A. G.), an organisation which co-ordinates the political activity of American actors. In the film, North Korean president Kim Jong-il is portrayed as the chief villain, with a plan to simultaneously detonate Weapons of Mass Destruction worldwide; Baldwin is seen as the Korean leader's principal Western appeaser. Kim's plan is thwarted, however, and the closing credits are accompanied by Kim Jong-il singing his own composition "You are worthress, Arec Barrwin". On April 11, 2007, Ireland failed to answer a pre-arranged phone call from her father. Calling her a "thoughtless little pig", the frustrated Baldwin left an angry voicemail message for her. The child's private message was then leaked to the celebrity website TMZ.com on April 19, 2007 by persons unknown. Baldwin's lawyers filed court papers accusing Basinger and her lawyer Neal Hersh of giving the tape to the website TMZ.com, run by Harvey Levin, in violation of a court order protecting the child's privacy. Basinger, who has violated court orders in the past, denied that she leaked the tape to the press. The matter is sub judice. Baldwin subsequently apologized for losing his temper, stating, "I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years." Baldwin discussed his outburst in the media, including an appearance on The View. Baldwin stated that he is writing a book about the issue of messy divorce. He said that once his book is published, "I'm sure more people will understand the incredible strains created by parental alienation". Baldwin was, in fact, so upset about how the couple’s problems had played out in the press, that he publicly asked NBC to let them out of his contract so he could heal things with this daughter. NBC, knowing they had too good a thing in Jack Donaghy, did not seriously consider his plea – much to the relief of “30 Rock” fans. In fact, as ugly as the voicemail was, by the time season two premiere rolled around in late 2007, all seemed to be forgiven by the press and fans – such was the good will that Baldwin had amassed throughout his career as a truly original talent. The actor even scooped up an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in late 2008, calling his "30 Rock" gig, "the best job I've ever had." Baldwin’s hot streak continued when he was nominated for his seventh Golden Globe – this time receiving his award for Best Actor in the television comedy category – which he won in early 2009. Hot on the heels of his Globe win, Baldwin received a Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by an actor in a comedy.

Forcaste

Once his profile lowered in Hollywood, Baldwin divided his time between character film roles of varying size, New York stage productions, and political activism until – years past his “Red October” prime – the sitcom “30 Rock” (NBC, 2006-) offered him an ideal outlet for his cocky, breezy charm and also enabled him to poke fun at the entertainment business as well.