Alexander Rae Baldwin III was born in Massapequa, New York on April 3, 1958. Baldwin is the second of six children. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters. He became the first of his clan to enter the acting profession. His brothers, Daniel, William, and Stephen, have since joined the fold.

Some years after his third-grade teacher wrote on his report card that he would "become famous or the president of the U.S. -- one or the other," Baldwin enrolled as a political-science major at George Washington University with the future plan of going to law school. However, he decided to return to his childhood dream of acting.

Having starred in his own homemade movie of "Frankenstein" at the age of seven, Baldwin by 12 was a compulsive film-goer. Haunting local movie houses, he saw everything from Hitchcock to Capra to Truffaut.

Disillusioned with politics and hungry for the theatre, Baldwin moved to Manhattan, after three years studying at George Washington University, enrolled in New York University's drama department, and studied under Lee Strasberg.(Baldwin subsequently studied acting under Mira Rostova, Elaine Aiken and Milton Kastelas among others)

While continuing to polish his craft with the Moscow Art Theatre's Mira Rostova, Baldwin landed a recurring role on the popular NBC daytime soap opera "The Doctors," which led to assignments on the primetime series "Cutter to Houston" and the long-running CBS drama "Knots Landing," which Baldwin appreciated for its "opportunity to work with such gifted actors as Julie Harris."
Despite these successes, his goal remained to return to New York and work in theatre. His broadway debut, in Joe Orton's black comedy "Loot," brought him the prestigious Theatre World Award in 1986. He has since appeared on stage in a variety of productions such as David Mamet's A Life In The Theatre at the Hartman in Stamford and also at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
On Broadway, he followed with the production of in Caryl Churchill's hit comedy "Serious Money" before making his screen bow in "Forever Lulu." He continued working on stage in between his various movie assignments. When 'Prelude to a Kiss' was mounted in its New York debut at Circle Rep, Baldwin starred as Peter in the show's sold-out six week run before it moved to Broadway and he received an Obie Award as Best Actor in 1991. He has appeared in the 1992 revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he received a Best Actor Tony nomination.

On film, Baldwin has appeared in She's Having a Baby, Beetlejuice, Married to the Mob, Talk Radio, Working Girl, Miami Blues, Great Balls of Fire, The Hunt For Red October, Alice, Glengarry Glen Ross, Malice, The Getaway, The Shadow and the upcoming Heaven's Prisoners.

He appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire, co-starring Jessica Lange, John Goodman and Diane Lane, on CBS.

Alec Baldwin is a benefactor of the Bay Street Theatre Festival in Sag Harbor and the Circle Rep Theatre in New York. He is on the board of directors of The Creative Coalition (A New York based public information group), People for the American Way, City Centre of New York and The Drama League of New York. He is a supporter of the Hudson Riverkeeper of Garrison, New York and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

In 1993, he returned to New York University to complete his undergraduate studies, receiving a BFA degree in Drama.

He was married to actress Kim Basinger, and on Oct. 23, 1995, their first child, Ireland Eliesse (8 lbs., 3 ozs.), was born in Los Angeles. In Feb. 2002, Alec and Kim officially got divorced.