Baldwin has received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Donald Trump on the NBC sketch series Saturday Night Live, a role that won him his third Primetime Emmy in 2017.

[3][4] In 2024, he starred in the Western film Rust, which gained notoriety for a shooting incident in 2021, wherein cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally killed when a live round was discharged from a prop revolver that Baldwin was using.

Alexander Rae Baldwin III[11] was born on April 3, 1958,[12] in Amityville, New York,[11] and raised in the Nassau Shores neighborhood[13] of nearby Massapequa,[14][15] the eldest son of Carol Newcomb (née Martineau; December 15, 1929 – May 26, 2022)[16] from Syracuse, New York[17] and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr. (October 26, 1927 – April 15, 1983),[18] a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach from Brooklyn.

[26] Afterward, he transferred to the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University (NYU) where he studied with, among others, Geoffrey Horne and Mira Rostova at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

He went on to appear as the brother of Valene Ewing and son of Lilimae Clements (played by Joan Van Ark and Julie Harris, respectively) in Knots Landing from 1984 to 1985.

In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray, a four-hour made-for-television miniseries, as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered gay classmate.

[29] Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986 in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot alongside Zoë Wanamaker, Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher, and Charles Keating.

That same year, he also starred in the black comedy crime film Miami Blues alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh and Fred Ward.

His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious Money with Kate Nelligan and a revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, for which his performance as Stanley Kowalski garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor.

Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John Goodman and Diane Lane.

In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at The Public Theater alongside Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in a production directed by George C. Wolfe.

He also portrayed a recurring character in several seasons 7 and 8 episodes of Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm, a "top secret agent" and the lover of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally).

[34] Baldwin directed and starred in The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001.

In 2010, Baldwin starred opposite Sam Underwood in a critically acclaimed revival of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Tony Walton at Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York.

[49] In 2010, he made a five-second cameo appearance with comedian Andy Samberg in a musical video titled "Great Day" featured on the bonus DVD as part of Lonely Island's album Turtleneck & Chain.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Baldwin does with Jake, who, with his shark smiles and thrusting gut, beautifully conveys male vanity in its twilight".

[53] The Boston Globe television critic Matthew Gilbert lauded the hosts performance saying that "The delivery was expert and warmly conversational, like one of those old-school comedy teams.

[65] On November 26, 2013, the program was cancelled after only five episodes, due in part to a street tirade captured on video, in which he allegedly called the videographer a "cocksucking fag".

[90] In 2024, he returned to Saturday Night Live playing Brett Baier opposite Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris spoofing a Fox News interview in the cold open sketch.

On May 12, 2010, Baldwin gave a commencement address at New York University and was awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.

[97] In recent years, his foundation has donated bookstore gift certificates to Long Island libraries to support literacy programs.

Baldwin wrote that he had to spend over a million dollars,[106] put time aside from his career,[107] travel extensively,[108] and find a house in California, having previously lived in New York,[109] in order to stay in his daughter's life.

[127] In 2019, he authored an article for CNN supporting the EAT-Lancet report and recommended a plant-based diet due to global environmental issues.

[130] On January 19, 2023, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced that Baldwin would be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter by the end of the month.

The indictment provides prosecutors with two options for pursuing this charge: one based on negligent use of a firearm, and the other for felony misconduct "with the total disregard or indifference for the safety of others.

[150][151] On October 25, 2024, Judge Sommer upheld her dismissal of the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, ruling that the prosecution failed to raise any factual or legal arguments which would've justified reversing her decision.

He is an animal rights activist and a staunch supporter of PETA,[155] for which he has done work that includes narrating the video entitled Meet Your Meat.

[157] Baldwin also gave his support for Farm Sanctuary's Adopt A Turkey Project and stated, "At least 46 million turkeys suffer heartbreaking fear and pain before being killed each and every Thanksgiving..."[158] In a couple of letters to The East Hampton Star in 1998, he called New York Governor George Pataki either a liar or incredibly stupid and asked whether Kenneth Star was a psychopath.

[165] On December 21, 2011, Baldwin, addressing speculation, said he was abandoning plans to run for mayor of New York City and would instead continue in his role on 30 Rock.

However, the producers of the show cut a portion of the skit containing a reference to Rupert Murdoch and the News International phone hacking scandal.