thumb|Baldwin in ''
The Aviator'', 2004|right
'''Alexander Rae Baldwin III''' (born April 3 1958 in Massapequa, New York) is an Oscar-nominated American actor. He is the oldest and best known of the "Baldwin brothers".
Biography
Early life
Baldwin was born in Massapequa, Long Island, New York to Catholic parents Alexander Rae Baldwin II, a high school history teacher, drama club director and football coach, and Carol Newcomb Martineau. His brothers are Daniel, Stephen and William Baldwin, all of whom are actors; he also has two sisters, Jane and Elizabeth. All attended Alfred G. Berner High School, in Nassau County. Alexander (Class of 1976) and Daniel (Class of 1979) played football there under Coach Bob Reifsnyder, a former All-American player for Navy who is in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Baldwin is frequently noted as being Irish American, though his background includes English and Irish ancestry on his father's side, and distant French and Canadian ancestry on his mother's. His maternal grandmother was born in Nova Scotia and his Irish ancestry comes from his paternal great-grandmother, Helen Irene McNamara.http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tdowling&id=I36475
When Baldwin was young, he worked as a busboy at famous New York City disco ''Studio 54''. Baldwin attended George Washington University (1976- 19790 but transferred to New York University to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute under Elaine Aiken and Geoffrey Horne. Baldwin returned to NYU in 1994 and graduated with a BFA that year.
Film & TV Career
right|thumb|Main title caption for ''Knots Landing'', in which Baldwin played Joshua Rush.
Baldwin's first major role was as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap ''The Doctors'' from 1980 to its cancellation in 1982. In the fall of 1983, he starred in the short lived series ''Cutter to Houston.'' He shot to stardom co-starring on ''Knots Landing'', and spent most of the 1980s appearing in television series, before turning to film in 1986, making his film debut with a minor role in ''
She's Having a Baby''. In 1987, he had a role in ''
Beetlejuice'' and, in 1988, ''
Working Girl'', both of which were box office successes and raised his profile.
After appearing in several other supporting roles, he starred as lead character Jack Ryan in ''
The Hunt for Red October'', which grossed over $100m after its release in March of 1990. He subsequently had several notable roles in early 1990s films, including opposite future wife Kim Basinger in 1991's ''
The Marrying Man'' (he and Basinger have since divorced (in 2002), but they had a daughter, Ireland, born in 1995); and stole the opening scene as one of an
