The second of six children born to a homemaker and a high school teacher, Baldwin was born in 1958, raised on Long Island and attended George Washington University, planning to pursue a career in law before catching the acting bug. Subsequent training at NYU and the Lee Strasberg Theatre led to off-Broadway productions, a role on the soap "The Doctors" and later, an eye-catching turn on "Knots Landing". In 1988 Baldwin hit the big time, appearing in supporting roles in no less than five successful films: Beetlejuice, She's Having a Baby, Talk Radio, Married to the Mob, and Working Girl. His dark and handsome leading man looks were put to good use in the first of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan films The Hunt for Red October (1990). Baldwin shocked Hollywood when he turned down the subsequent sequel Patriot Games to play Stanley Kowalski in a much lauded Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," (a role he later recreated for television.) In 1991 during the filming of Neil Simon's The Marrying Man, Baldwin met and fell in love with co-star Kim Basinger. The tempestuous marriage fell apart in 2001 while Baldwin's career was enjoying a resurgence, thanks to well received performances in State and Main (2000) and the television productions "Path to War" and "Nuremberg." His other films include Miami Blues (1990), The Shadow, Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Prelude to Kiss (1992, reprising the role he created on stage), Malice (1993), The Juror (1996), Outside Providence (1999), and Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), a children's film he made for his daughter Ireland "Addie" Baldwin.