Dylan Baker

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**Dylan Baker** (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the film *Happiness* and on the television series *The Good Wife*, the latter of which earned him three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

In 1991, Baker was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in the original production of *La Bête*. In 2013, he made his directorial debut with the film *23 Blast*.

## Early life and education

Baker was born in Syracuse, New York, but was raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. He began his acting career as a teenager in regional theater productions. He attended Holy Cross Regional Catholic School and then went on to attend Darlington School and finally graduated from the Georgetown Preparatory School in 1976.

Baker attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia and later graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1980. Baker then received a Master's in Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama, where he studied alongside Chris Noth and Patricia Clarkson.

## Career

Baker's Broadway theatre credits include *Eastern Standard*, *La Bête* (for which he received a Tony Award nomination), *Mauritius*, and *God of Carnage*. He won an Obie Award in 1986 for his performance in the off-Broadway play *Not About Heroes*.

The next year, he made his motion picture debut in the 1987 film *Planes, Trains and Automobiles*.

Baker's first recurring TV role was on Steven Bochco's highly acclaimed *Murder One*. Since then, he has appeared in such TV series as *Northern Exposure*, *Law & Order*, *Law & Order: Criminal Intent*, *Without a Trace*, *CSI: Crime Scene Investigation*, *The West Wing*, and the short-lived sitcom *The Pitts*.

He garnered major critical attention in 1998 with his performance as a tormented pedophile in Todd Solondz's *Happiness*. He also gained notice for his portrayal of Dr. Curt Connors in *Spider-Man 2* and *Spider-Man 3*.

In 2000, he portrayed Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in *Thirteen Days*, a historical drama about the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also held a small role in *Requiem for a Dream*, where he played a doctor who sees Jared Leto's character with a severely infected, rotting arm. In 2002 he portrayed Alexander Rance, an accountant for the Chicago Outfit, in *Road to Perdition*.

During the short-lived 2007 series *Drive*, Baker played the role of John Trimble, a father suffering from a terminal illness.

In 2009, Baker played William Cross in NBC's *Kings*, in which his wife Becky Ann Baker played Jessie Shepherd, the mother of protagonist David Shepherd. Baker also guest starred in an episode of *Monk*, playing a theater critic in "Mr. Monk and the Critic".

Baker guest starred in the November 2010 *House* episode "A Pox on Our House".

Baker guest starred in the season four finale of *Burn Notice* as Raines, an old spy friend of Michael's. He reprised the role in the season five premiere, and also permitted his likeness to be used in the *Burn Notice* graphic novel "A New Day". In 2010, Baker played Hollis B. Chenery in **Secretariat*.*

Baker played Pashto-speaking CIA agent Jerry Boorman in season 4 of *Damages*.

In 2012, Baker guest-starred in "Upper West Side Story", an episode of the TV series *White Collar*; he also has a recurring role as the father of Katharine McPhee's character Karen Cartwright on the NBC TV series *Smash*. He appeared in the USA Network miniseries *Political Animals* which aired in summer 2012. For his performance as Colin Sweeney on *The Good Wife*, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014.

In November 2014 it was announced that Baker would join Helen Mirren on Broadway in *The Audience*. The play depicts meetings between Queen Elizabeth II and important historical figures. Baker played former Prime Minister John Major. The play opened on March 8, 2015.

In 2016, Baker had a memorable recurring role as deep-cover KGB agent William Crandall, a morally conflicted biological weapons expert, on Season 4 of FX series *The Americans*.

In September 2017, it was announced that Baker would be joining the cast of the Showtime drama Homeland for the show's 7th season, as Sen. Sam Paley, a 'maverick' that is leading an excessive investigation of the administration of new President Elizabeth Keane.

He starred in the 2020 series *Hunters*, in which his wife had a supporting role.

### Audiobooks

Baker is a prolific narrator of audiobooks, having narrated a wide range of books, from fiction (*The Grapes of Wrath*, *The Corrections*) to biographies (*Steve Jobs*) to *Argo*, the true story of how six Americans were rescued from Iran by the CIA and Hollywood.

He garnered the 2002 Audie Award for Abridged Fiction for his reading of *The Corrections* by Jonathan Franzen. Baker has also recorded Franzen's 2015 novel, *Purity*.

## Personal life

In 1990, he married actress Becky Gelke, now known professionally as Becky Ann Baker. They have a daughter and reside in New York City.

On September 1, 2015, Dylan Baker tried to save the life of his neighbor, Broadway and movie actress and dancer Vivien Eng, in the high-rise where he lives in New York City when her apartment caught fire, but was driven back by smoke and fire. Firefighters eventually got the seriously injured woman out of the apartment and rushed her to the hospital. However, her injuries were too severe and she succumbed to them two days later.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Dylan Baker Biography". http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/dylan-baker/bio/148246. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
2. ↑ "2012 Emmy Nominations". http://www.emmys.com/nominations/2012/Outstanding%20Guest%20Actor%20In%20A%20Drama%20Series. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
3. ↑ "Dylan Baker and Judith Levy Will Join Helen Mirren on Broadway in The Audience". http://www.playbill.com/news/article/dylan-baker-and-judith-ivey-will-join-helen-mirren-on-broadway-in-the-audience-336038. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
4. ↑ Jackson McHenry (June 8, 2016). "Dylan Baker on His Americans Character’s Tragic Backstory". *Vulture*. https://www.vulture.com/2016/06/dylan-baker-americans-william-crandall-backstory.html. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
5. ↑ Bryn Elise Sandberg (September 28, 2017). "'Homeland' Adds Dylan Baker to Season 7". *Hollywood Reporter*. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/homeland-adds-dylan-baker-season-7-1044132. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
6. ↑ "Narrator Profile – Dylan Baker". *AudioFile Magazine*. http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/a1268.shtml. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
7. ↑ "Argo:How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History". http://www.randomhouse.com/audio/catalog/author.php?&authorid=44574&quantity=32&audioformat=&sort=0&view=gallery. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
8. ↑ "AudioFile Magazine Spotlight on Narrator Dylan Baker". http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/narrators/dylan-baker/. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
9. ↑ Khatchatourian, Maane (2015-09-04). "Broadway Actress Dies in Apartment Fire After 'Good Wife' Star's Attempted Rescue" (in en-US), *Variety*.

## External links

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