Alec Baldwin was born on April 3, 1958 in Massapequa, New York. He is the eldest of the popular "Baldwin brothers".
Previously, Baldwin worked as a busboy at the New York City disco Studio 54. He studied at George Washington University and transferred to the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute to study acting.
Baldwin burst into the entertainment business with a major role, as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap The Doctors in 1980 up until it was canceled in 1982. Yet his shot to stardom and mainstream popularity was via the long-running primetime soap Knots Landing from 1984. Knots Landing lasted for 14 seasons overall.
Baldwin made his film debut with a minor role in She's Having a Baby in 1986. The following year, he appeared in more box office hits Beetlejuice and Working Girl. In 1990, it was said that The Hunt for Red October made Baldwin a household name among moviegoers. His subsequent movie credits include The Getaway, Glengarry Glen Ross, Prelude to a Kiss, Patriot Games, and The Marrying Man, which, despite being a critical flop, allowed him to meet his future wife actress Kim Basinger.
In 1994, Baldwin bagged the title role in The Shadow. This was followed by a string of moderately successful films, sch as The Edge, The Juror, and Heaven's Prisoners. By the late 1990s, he has worked with most of Hollywood's so-called A-listers. After focusing more on being a character actor, he received an Oscar nomination for the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler. He was also in the critically acclaimed The Aviator and The Departed.
As for television, Baldwin has been nominated for an Emmy six times, for the lead on A Streetcar Named Desire, guest star on Will and Grace, and, in 2007, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom 30 rock. He plays the role of Jack Donaghy in the series, the vice president of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming at the network. He is most of the time arrogant and frequently gets into conflict with Liz (Fey).