William Baldwin Biography

William Joseph Baldwin (born February 21, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, brother of Alec Baldwin, known for his starring roles in such films as Flatliners (1990), Backdraft (1991), Sliver (1993), Fair Game (1995), Virus (1999), Double Bang (2001), as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom (2004"2007), Art Heist (2004), The Squid and the Whale (2005), as himself in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, as Senator Patrick Darling in the TV drama Dirty Sexy Money (2007"2009) on ABC, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010), and now Baldwin was a regular guest on Gossip Girl as William van der Woodsen until December 2012, and Parenthood as Gordon Flint. Baldwin appeared as lead detective Brian Albert in the Lifetime Original Movie The Craigslist Killer. In 2011, Baldwin was cast in a recurring role on Hawaii Five-0 as a dirty cop, former homicide detective Frank Delano, appearing over the show's second season as well as the season premiere episode of the third season.

Early life

Baldwin was born in Massapequa, New York, the son of Carol Newcomb (née Martineau) and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr. His father was a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach. He is the brother of actors Alec, Daniel, and Stephen, sometimes collectively known as the Baldwin brothers, and of sisters Beth and Jane, all together known as the Baldwin family. Baldwin was raised in a Catholic family, and has English, Irish, Scottish, French, and German ancestry. A graduate of Berner High School and Binghamton University, where he was a varsity wrestler, he has a degree in political science.

Career

1980s

Before starting his acting career, Baldwin was a fashion model for Calvin Klein. His first starring role was in a TV movie as Robert Chambers, alongside Lara Flynn Boyle in The Preppie Murder, which aired on ABC in 1989. Baldwin was also cast in the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July starring Tom Cruise, and brothers Stephen and Daniel where he played in a minor role as a U.S Marine during the Vietnam War.

1990s

Baldwin then starred in hit movies like Flatliners with Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon. He portrayed Chicago firefighter Brian McCaffrey in Backdraft. Baldwin starred alongside Cindy Crawford in the 1995 film Fair Game, then in 1996 starred in a low-budget film by Miramax Films titled Curdled, and was paid US$150,000 for his performance compared to the $1.7 million he received for his role in Sliver with Sharon Stone in 1993. In 1999, Baldwin teamed up with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland for the science fiction thriller Virus, and alongside Peter Gallagher in the Showtime original movie, Brotherhood of Murder.

2000s

In 2001, Baldwin played a leading role in the television film Double Bang which aired on HBO. Since then, Baldwin has played in other projects such as Red Rover in 2003, Art Heist in 2004, "Park", Feel and Lenexa, 1 Mile in 2006, Adrift in Manhattan, A Plumm Summer, Noise, and Humble Pie in 2007. Baldwin has continued to act in films and on television, but has not taken many leading roles. He was well received in a supporting role in the 2005 film The Squid and the Whale. He also co-starred in ABC's Dirty Sexy Money as Donald Sutherland's oldest son, Patrick Darling IV, for the duration of the show until April 2009. Among other diverse characters he has played in his career, Baldwin was on Joel Schumacher's shortlist for Batman Forever to play the caped crusader. His four diverse choices were Daniel Day-Lewis, Ralph Fiennes, Val Kilmer and Baldwin. Audiences got to hear his first time playing Batman in February 2010 in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, a loose adaptation of Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth 2 story.

2010s

In 2010, Baldwin portrayed Dr. Willam van der Woodsen, father of Serena and Eric van der Woodsen, on the third and fourth seasons of Gossip Girl. Baldwin was also featured with his brother Daniel in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docu-drama, 1 a Minute. The documentary was made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and will feature breast cancer survivors Olivia Newton-John, Diahann Carroll, Melissa Etheridge, Namrata Singh Gujral, Mumtaz and Jaclyn Smith as well as Daniel Baldwin and Priya Dutt. Baldwin was cast in the second season of Parenthood to play a boss and love interest for several episodes. Baldwin joined Parenthood for a multi-episode arc that aired in fall 2010 as Gordon Flint, the "wealthy, charismatic" boss of Adam (Peter Krause), a bachelor who also has eyes for Adam's sister Sarah (Lauren Graham). In 2011, Baldwin starred in the Lifetime Original Movie, The Craigslist Killer which aired January 3, 2011. He plays the lead detective on the case of the killer, Philip Markoff, who connected with victims through Craigslist ads placed in Boston, Massachusetts. On June 1, 2011, Baldwin joined Sobini Films' indie film Sexy Evil Genius along with Seth Green, Harold Perrineau Jr., Katee Sackhoff, and Michelle Trachtenberg. The film is to be directed by Shawn Piller. In July 2011, Baldwin joined the CBS drama Hawaii Five-0 for a multi-episode arc. On March 22, 2012, Baldwin guest starred on the NBC show 30 Rock. Baldwin plays Lance Drake Mandrell, an actor who plays Jack Donaghy " the role played in the series by Baldwin's real-life brother Alec " in a made-for-TV movie within the show. Baldwin is currently a model for Sacoor Brothers.

Personal life

In 1995, Baldwin married singer Chynna Phillips of the music group Wilson Phillips. Together, they have three children: daughter Jameson (born 2000), son Vance (born 2002), and daughter Brooke (born 2004). Baldwin has two estates, one in Santa Barbara, California and another in Bedford Corners, New York, just 30 minutes away from his brother Stephen's estate in Nyack, New York.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	The Preppie Murder	Robert Chambers	TV movie
	Born on the Fourth of July	U.S. Marine - Vietnam
1990	Internal Affairs	Van Stretch
	Flatliners	Joe Hurley
1991	Backdraft	Brian McCaffrey
1993	Three of Hearts	Joe
	Sliver	Zeke Hawkins
1995	A Pyromaniac's Love Story	Garet
	Fair Game	Det. Max Kirkpatrick
1996	Curdled	Paul Guell
1998	Bulworth	Constance Bulworth's Lover
	Shattered Image	Brian
1999	Virus	Steve Baker
	Brotherhood of Murder	Tom Martinez	TV movie
2000	Primary Suspect	Christian Box
	Relative Values	Don Lucas
2001	Double Bang	Billy Brennan
	One Eyed King	Frank
	Say Nothing	Julian Grant	TV movie
2002	R.U.S./H.		TV movie
	You Stupid Man	Brady
2003	Red Rover	Will Taylor
	E.D.N.Y.	Mike 'Mad Dog' Kelly	TV movie
2004	Art Heist	Bruce Walker
2005	The Squid and the Whale	Ivan
2006	Full Count	Dan Cooney Jr
	Park	Dennis
	Feel	Nathan
2007	Humble Pie	Truman Hope	Also known as American Fork
	Adrift in Manhattan	Mark Phipps
	A Plumm Summer	Mick Plumm
	Noise	Mayor's Chief of Staff
2008	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Himself/"Detective Hunter Rush"
	Lymelife	co-producer
2010	Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths	Batman
	1 a Minute	Himself
2011	The Craigslist Killer	Detective Brian Albert	TV movie
	Garbage	Billy
	Remnants	Roy
	Jock of the Bushveld	Boatman
2012	High Midnight	Sheriff Holt Mosely
	Sexy Evil Genius
2014	Popeye	J. Wellington Wimpy	Voice role in production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004"2007	Danny Phantom	Johnny 13	3 episodes
2006	Waterfront	Paul Brennan	5 episodes
2007"2009	Dirty Sexy Money	Patrick Darling	23 episodes
2010"2012	Gossip Girl	Dr. William van der Woodsen	11 episodes
2010	Parenthood	Gordon Flint	8 episodes
2011"2012	Hawaii Five-0	Frank Delano	5 episodes
2012	30 Rock	Lance Drake Mandrell	1 episode
	Men at Work	Shepard Peters	season 1, episode 9