Biography of Simon Baker
Simon Baker is a Hollywood actor of Australian descent, as well as a director and producer. He is best known for his roles as Nick Fallin in the drama series "The Guardian" and as the adventurous Patrick Jane in the mystery detective series "The Mentalist," in which he starred for over seven years. He received two Golden Globe nominations for these roles.He also played Christian Thompson in the film "The Devil Wears Prada" and adapted Tim Winton's novel "Breath." For this film, he won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Childhood, Youth, Family
Simon Lucas Baker was born in the summer of 1969 in the Australian city of Launceston.Baker has an interesting family tree, each branch with its own amazing stories. One ancestor, a friend of Oscar Wilde, was an orphan who opened the first eye and ear hospital in Melbourne. Other ancestors walked from the Adelaide Hills to the suburbs of Ballarat (over 600 kilometers) with their six children in search of gold.
Simon’s paternal grandmother, a resilient and cheerful woman, lifted herself out of poverty after World War II and raised her children on her own.
Soon after Simon’s birth, his parents moved with their two children to a remote area in the highlands of New Guinea in search of work and decided to divorce. His mother remarried Tom Denny. Baker kept in touch with his father but didn’t know he was his biological father, thinking of him as Uncle Barry until he was about 18.
The family later moved to the beach town of Lennox Head in northern New South Wales, where Simon, like many Australians, became an avid surfer. Reflecting on his youth, Baker said:
Simon struggled to understand the relationships between his mother, father, and stepfather. This was another psychological reason why he became an actor. He wanted to meet different people, hear their stories, and find someone he could identify with to help him understand his own feelings, which he didn’t know how to express.I was terrible! I was born and raised by the ocean. I had a typical Australian youth: surfing, rugby, noisy parties, dancing. I was one of those guys who really liked girls. All kinds of girls. I... I still love them. I think women are amazing! I had my fun in my youth. Parties, new girlfriends—that’s how you spend time in your 20s, right? But I didn't have fun for long; by 22, my adult life had begun.
Acting Career
Simon Baker's earliest acting job happened by chance rather than design: he was waiting for a friend to audition for a commercial, and they asked him to try out as well. Later, he appeared in music videos as a backup dancer.In 1992, he landed a full-fledged role as Constable Sam Farrell in the Australian soap opera "E Street." A year later, this role earned him a Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent.
In 2001, Baker landed the lead role in the CBS legal drama "The Guardian," playing troubled attorney Nick Fallin for three seasons. He directed one of the episodes himself.
In 2008, he took on the role of Patrick Jane, a keenly observant former con artist turned police consultant, in the series "The Mentalist," which made Baker a television star. At the height of the show's popularity, each new episode in the US drew 17 million viewers. "I spend nineteen hours a day with Simon on set and another three hours talking about him," said his "The Mentalist" co-star Robin Tunney. "People stop me in the grocery store, and I have a list of answers ready: 'Yes, he looks like that in real life; yes, he's happily married; yes, he's straight.'"
In 2010, Baker signed a contract for the final seasons of "The Mentalist" worth thirty million dollars, making him one of Hollywood's highest-paid TV stars. Speaking about the show, the actor said:
Despite having no formal acting training, Baker brought his character to life on screen – in every tense silence, every indirect glance, and every tiny glimpse of suppressed emotion.I am proud of these seven years and 152 episodes, which were leading among viewers. Sometimes I think we could have continued, as this format of small, independent stories can go on indefinitely. But that's not my style. I need to keep creating, exploring new genres, and taking on challenging projects.
In 2017, Baker directed a coming-of-age story inspired by his childhood in Australia, titled "Breath." It was an adaptation of the novel by Australian author Tim Winton, which Baker first read while living in Los Angeles. Inspired by the book, he co-wrote the screenplay with producer Mark Johnson, directed the film, and played the lead role.
Following the film's premiere, Simon's acting activity slowed down. In 2018, he starred with Sarah Jessica Parker in the musical drama "Here and Now," followed by leading roles in the Australian films "High Ground" and "Blaze." In 2023, he appeared as the main character, Detective Travis Hurley, in Ivan Sen's thriller "Limbo."
Simon Baker's Personal Life
The actor's wife, actress Rebecca Rigg, was more famous than Simon when they met—she had been acting in films since she was ten. Their first blind date took place at the Royal Pub in Paddington, Australia. Later, they met again on the set of "E Street," where their characters had a romantic relationship.
In 2001, Rigg and Baker welcomed their third child, Harry Friday.
Despite their efforts, Simon and Rebecca divorced in 2021 after 30 years together. Both noted that they remain close in spirit and will continue to jointly care for their children.Simon Baker on Family...The interesting thing about fatherhood is that you become a key figure in another person's life, even if you don't need it. It happens on its own. The relationship with your wife is a different kind of love. You have to work on it every day. You need to stay true to the compromises you made with your partner and be aware of their needs. You constantly practice giving and receiving. It's not a formula for a perfect marriage, but it works.
Simon Baker Now
At the beginning of 2024, Netflix premiered an eight-episode crime drama "Boy Swallows Universe." In this Australian series, Simon Baker played Robert Bell, the main character's father, an intellectual who loves his sons but is a binge-drinking alcoholic.Interesting Facts
- Simon Baker possesses a rare trait among men (and women, for that matter) — innate elegance. Because of this, luxury brands, including Givenchy, have often offered him collaborations. He has also advertised luxurious Swiss watches and banking products.
- Australian actors in Hollywood try to stick together. For example, Nicole Kidman, who calls Baker a "hippie boy," became the godmother of his eldest son Claude, and Naomi Watts christened his younger son, Harry. Despite all his children being baptized in Catholicism and his own upbringing in the same faith, since 2009, Baker has been an agnostic.
- In one interview, Baker said that in life, he is a very ordinary person but understands that popularity comes at a price:
I don't need people to 'gaze' at me. It seems... absurd to me. There are funny situations. I can understand when people stop me on the street, ask for an autograph, and want to take a selfie with me. It's all a kind of unspoken agreement you sign when you decide to dedicate yourself to a public profession. You always have to make small sacrifices. But these people are drawn not to me, but to who they think I am. The worst part of fame is seeing how people change when they are with me. I'm very observant and see when someone is in my sight and behaves completely differently. It happens that you distance yourself from people, which I don't like at all.
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