Simon Baker Biography

Simon Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor and director. In his television acting career, he is best known for his lead role in the CBS television series The Mentalist as Patrick Jane and as Nicholas Fallin in The Guardian.

In his film acting career, he is best known for the lead role of Riley Denbo in Land of the Dead and Christian Thompson in the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, based on the 2003 novel of the same name.

Early life

Simon Baker was born to a high-school English teacher, Elizabeth Labberton, and a groundskeeper/mechanic, Barry Baker, on 30 July 1969, in Launceston, Tasmania. He was raised as a Roman Catholic. His parents divorced while he was still young. His mother later married Tom Denny, a butcher. Simon Baker also has a sister, currently a doctor in Australia, and three younger half brothers. By 1972, they had moved from Launceston to Ballina, New South Wales, hoping to secure better paying jobs. In 1986, he graduated from Ballina High School as Simon Baker-Denny, after completing his primary school education at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School, also in Ballina.

Acting career

Baker began acting on Australian television during the late 1980s using the name "Simon Denny". He first appeared in music video clips for Melissa Tkautz ("Read My Lips") and Australian dance outfit Euphoria ("Love You Right") in 1991 before appearing in the successful series E Street, Home and Away and Heartbreak High. As "Simon Baker Denny" he was a co-star of the David Croft/Jeremy Lloyd sitcom pilot, Which Way to the War, which was not developed into a series.

In 1995, he was in an episode of the Australian television (ABC TV) series Naked (episode title: Blindside Breakaway) in the role of a rugby player. His character was an easy going mummy's boy until he met a girl who challenged his safe existence. He called the role "physically demanding" due to the fact most of the extras were actual rugby players. At the time he referred to this role as an important opportunity as well as being "the best job I've had in my life". He went on to say it was going to be hard afterwards to want to do anything offered.

He relocated to the United States, where he was cast in a small part in L.A. Confidential, which led to further opportunities in supporting roles in films. In 1998 he starred in a small, independent film by filmmaker Stephen Grynberg titled "Love from Ground Zero", and in 1999 appeared in Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil. In 2000, he played Michael Scott in Adam Collis's Sunset Strip. He also played an astronaut in Red Planet with Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss and Benjamin Bratt. He played the male lead in the television series The Guardian for three seasons beginning in 2001, and also appeared in The Affair of the Necklace. He played a distressed husband in 2004's Book of Love. In 2005, he starred as an altruistic hero in George A. Romero's Land of the Dead.

In 2006, he played Brian Kelly in the film Something New, writer Christian Thompson in The Devil Wears Prada, and had a leading role as Jeff in the short-lived television series Smith. In 2007, he was cast as Roderick Blank in Sex and Death 101. In 2008, Baker received the lead role of Patrick Jane, a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in CBS's The Mentalist. In 2009, Baker was nominated for an Emmy Award for The Mentalist. In late 2009, Baker was also nominated for his second Golden Globe Award (for The Mentalist) and his first SAG Award for his work. He played Howard Hendricks in The Killer Inside Me, which starred Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba and Bill Pullman. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals.

Other activities

On 6 June 2010, he played in a charity soccer match for The Rest of The World team versus England on ITV's Soccer Aid 2010, coming on as a substitute in the second half. The match went to a penalty shootout; Baker took a penalty which was saved by England celebrity goalkeeper, Jamie Theakston. The Rest of the World went on to win the shoot out and the match for the first time since the tournament started. On 13 June 2012, Swiss watchmaker Longines introduced Simon Baker as its new Ambassador of Elegance.

Personal life

In 1998, Baker married Australian actress Rebecca Rigg after five years of living together. They have three children: Stella Breeze (born 8 August 1993), Claude Blue (born 1999), and Harry Friday (born 19 September 2001). Fellow Australian, actress Nicole Kidman, is godmother to Harry while actress Naomi Watts is godmother to Claude. Baker and his family resided in Malibu, California, before moving back to Sydney; they then returned to Los Angeles so Simon could appear on Smith, and later on The Mentalist. He also owns property in Australia, near Byron Bay.

In January 2009, Baker told Parade Magazine that he and his wife were interested in becoming American citizens. Baker has been a dual U.S./Australian citizen since 2010.

Baker and his sons are fans of the Parramatta Eels in the Australian NRL. His name first appeared in Who's Who in Australia in 2011.

Honors

On 14 February 2013, Baker was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the entertainment industry. Baker's star can be found at 6352 Hollywood Blvd.

Commercials

Simon Baker was selected by the French perfume house Givenchy to be the face of the Fragrance "Gentlemen Only". In it Baker walks down a pavement in pouring rain, whilst carrying an umbrella. He doesn't use his umbrella .... but when he sees a beautiful woman in red waiting for a taxi, he opens the umbrella and hands it over. The spot released 11 March 2013 also exists in a 33 sec version and reached a strong YouTube audience.

Baker also featured in an 18-month ad campaign for ANZ in Australia and New Zealand starting in 2012.

Filmography

List of film credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	L.A. Confidential	Matt Reynolds	credited as Simon Baker Denny
	Most Wanted	Stephen Barnes	credited as Simon Baker Denny
1998	Restaurant	Kenny
	Judas Kiss	Junior Armstrong	credited as Simon Baker-Denny
	Love from Ground Zero	Eric
1999	Ride with the Devil	George Clyde
2000	Sunset Strip	Michael Scott
	Red Planet	Chip Pettengill
2001	'	Rétaux de Villette
2004	Book of Love	David Walker
2005	'	Max Rourke
	Land of the Dead	Riley Denbo
2006	Something New	Brian Kelly
	'	Christian Thompson
2007	Sex and Death 101	Roderick Blank
	'	Roger Thornberry	Short film
2009	'	Malcolm Slaight
	Not Forgotten	Jack Bishop
	Women in Trouble	Travis McPherson
2010	'	Howard Hendricks
2011	Margin Call	Jared Cohen
2013	I Give It a Year	Guy

List of television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Shades of Love: Midnight Magic		CHCH-TV Television film
1989	Tales from the Crypt	Uncredited extra	Episode: "Only Skin Deep"
1992"93	E Street	Constable Sam Farrell	Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent
1993	GP	Ben Miller	Episode- "A Family Affair"
1994	Which Way to the War	Pvt Stan Hawke	Episode: "Pilot"
	Home and Away	James Healy
1995	Naked
1995"96	Heartbreak High	Mr. Thomas 'Tom' Summers	Season 3: Episodes 80"89
1996	Naked: Stories of Men	Gabriel	Episode: "Blind-Side Breakaway"
	Sweat	Paul Steadman	Season 1: Episode 3
1999	Secret Men's Business	Andy Greville
2001"2004	'	Nick Fallin
2006"2007	Smith	Jeff Breen	Main Role
2008"present	'	Patrick Jane

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
2000	Secret Men's Business	Australian Film Institute Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Telefeature or Mini-Series
2009	The Mentalist	People's Choice Award	Best new series (season 1: with cast)
2009	The Mentalist	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (season 1)
2002	The Guardian	Family Television Awards	Best Actor
2002	The Guardian	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Television Series
2009	The Mentalist	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Television Series (season 2)
2010	The Mentalist	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (season 2)
1993	E Street	Logie Awards	Most Popular New Talent
2004	E Street	Logie Awards	Most Popular Overseas Star
2005	The Guardian	Prism Awards	Best Performance in a Drama Series Storyline