Alec Baldwin

Born: 3rd April 1958
Where: Long Island, New York

The versatile Oscar-nominated actor is adept in roles from comedy to drama with appearances in such high profile movies as Working Girl, Pearl Harbor and The Cooler.

The son of a social studies teacher, he studied political science at Washington University in Washington DC.

The brother of actors William, Stephen and Daniel, he was the member of the family not expecting to enter the profession and at one stage considered law.

However, he opted for the stage and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York.

Early in his career, Baldwin simultaneously starred in the TV daytime drama The Doctors and performed in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream on stage in the evenings.

A few years after making his 1980 Broadway debut, he moved to Los Angeles, where he landed a role in the TV series Knots Landing.

He made his film debut in 1986 with a starring role in Forever Lulu, which led to work in a number of major films.

From 1988 to 1989 alone, Baldwin appeared in no less than seven films, including Tim Burton's black comedy Beetlejuice, Mike Nichols' Working Girl, Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob, and Oliver Stone's Talk Radio.

In 1989, Baldwin achieved big-budget success playing ace CIA agent Jack Ryan in the undersea thriller The Hunt for Red October.

As part of his preparation, he was trained to drive a Los Angeles-class attack submarine at the New London Submarine Base in Connecticut.

Baldwin surprised many by foregoing the opportunity to reprise his role in the sequel Patriot Games (he was replaced by Harrison Ford) because he didn't like the script.

Instead, he returned to Broadway to star as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Although his decision paid off and he received a Tony nomination it would mark a downturn in his career until The Cooler.

At the same time, he attracted controversy during the Clinton impeachment trial when he told a TV audience that judge Henry Hyde and his family should be stoned to death. He later apologised.

His 1991 film, The Marrying Man proved to be an all-out flop (although it did provide him an introduction to co-star Kim Basinger, whom he would marry in 1993).

The critical success of his next two films, Prelude to a Kiss and Glengarry Glen Ross was overshadowed by a subsequent string of flops, including Malice, The Getaway and The Juror.

Further poor decisions followed, most notabely in the Bruce Willis embarrassment Mercury Rising.

Things picked up with the coming-of-age comedy Outside Providence as well as in the crime drama Thick as Thieves and the ethical drama The Confession, appearing alongside Amy Irving and Ben Kingsley.

In addition, the actor made an uncredited appearance in Notting Hill, sending up his macho Hollywood persona as Julia Roberts' yobbish actor boyfriend.

Subsequent appearances included the blockbuster Pearl Harbor - a box office smash but a critical flop - and he also provided voiceover work for Cats & Dogs, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and The Royal Tenenbaums.

An embittered divorce to Kim Basinger and a subsequent custody battle began in 2002.

In 2003, he put his career firmly back on track with the Las Vegas-set comedy drama The Cooler with William H Macy.

Baldwin was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for the role, which he claims he based on Ben Kingsley's psycho in Sexy Beast.

He went on to play supporting roles in the comedy Along Came Polly alongside Ben Stiller and the Dr Seuss adaptation Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers.

Recent work includes lending his vocal talents to kids favourite The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.