[citation needed] Among Baker's first professional jobs was assisting prosthetic makeup effects veteran Dick Smith on the 1973 film The Exorcist.

[2] Baker also created the werecat creature Michael Jackson transforms into in the music video Thriller (1983).

[9] Baker claims that his work on Harry and the Hendersons (1987) is one of his proudest achievements, for which he won his second Oscar.

"[13][14][15] In 2018, Baker was approached by DC Comics, due to his daughter Veronica working for them at the time, if he would be interested in creating a collectible display bust for them.

Baker, with the aide of his long-time mold maker Rob Freitas, created a bust of The Joker.

He had initially only been hired to create an ape suit that would fill in for scenes where it was not practical to use a life-sized mechanical version of Kong that had been designed by Carlo Rambaldi, but problems with Rambaldi's creation resulted in Baker playing Kong on-screen for almost all of the film.

He has also made cameo appearances in: Michael Jackson's music video Thriller (1983) as "Zombie Opening the Crypt"; Into the Night (1985) as a drug dealer with a business card; Men in Black II (2002) as "MIB Passport Control Agent", an MIB agent helping provide aliens with disguises; Men in Black 3 (2012) as "Brain Alien"; The Wolfman (2010) as "Gypsy Man / First Killed"; The Strain as a convenience store customer (2014, Episode 8, uncredited) and Rings (2017) as a flea market vendor.