Stephen Baldwin: The Jesus Freak of Hollywood < Guest Profiles and Interviews on The 700 Club | CBN.com Actor; Has appeared in over 60 films, including Usual Suspects, Biodome, Posse Featured on TV shows such as Fear Factor, Celebrity Mole Host, Livin It, 30-minute evangelistic extreme sports film (Palau Fest Productions, 2004) Married to Kennya; 2 daughters Youngest of 4 acting brothers (Alec, Daniel, and Billy) INTERVIEW Stephen Baldwin: The Jesus Freak of Hollywood By Shannon Woodland and Scott Ross The 700 Club CBN.com  Scott Ross [reporting]: Stephen Baldwin had some pretty big shoes to fill following in the steps of brothers Alec, Daniel and Billy Baldwin, but he’s done it his way. And his way makes for an entertaining interview. Ross: Did you buy into the lifestyle too? Stephen Baldwin: Oh yeah. Of course, you can’t be 21, 22, 23 living in New York City, Alec Baldwin’s little brother, making a couple 100,000 a year, and not get sucked into the fast lane.

Ross [reporting]: It took a woman on a bus to slow this fast-moving guy down -- at least a little bit. Baldwin: One day, I saw this chick. She was an absolute delight. We have been together ever since that day. Ross [reporting]: Stephen and Kenya settled into married life, and soon they were expecting their first child. Kenya explained to Stephen that it’s customary in Brazil to hire a nanny when a baby is on the way. Since Kenya is Brazilian, that’s the way it played out. Baldwin: So, we hired this lady from Brazil named Augusta, and the whole first week she’s working for us she’s singing in Portuguese, which she only spoke that language with my wife. She’s singing about Jesus, and my wife comes to me in a few days and asks me, “Do you hear what she’s singing about? She’s singing about Jesus.” My wife, after a few more days, approaches her. “I noticed your singing, and I’m wondering why every song is about Jesus?” Augusta had this very interesting reaction. She burst out laughing.

My wife said, “What’s so funny?” She said, “Quite frankly, I think it’s a little bit funny that you think I’m here to clean your house.” Ross: Isn’t this why you hired her? Baldwin: She goes on to tell my wife that, before she had accepted the job, she prayed with her pastor and some church members in Brazil. She was told through a prophetic word that, if she went to live with the Baldwins, then one day Kenya and Stephen would come to faith in Jesus Christ and be involved in ministry. Ross: She told all this to your wife? Baldwin: I haven’t told this part of the story a lot. She had a dream and saw me, saw my wife and saw my first daughter Aliya. Ross: Now, how did you guys handle hearing this little bit of information? Baldwin: Didn’t faze me for a second. Ross: Why didn’t it faze you? Did you have any spiritual background at all? Baldwin: Sure. Raised Roman Catholic up until 11 or 12, didn’t stick. Went out into the world and did my own thing.

But you have to understand at the time, I was functioning in Hollywood. All kinds of different things, perspectives, lifestyles, perceptions, [and] to me this was just okay. This is the new kooky housekeeper. OK, what’s next? What do we do now? How about a reality show? Ross [reporting]: Reality show? Life at the Baldwins’ was better than that! Kenya was the first to dive into the Bible. She spent many hours with Augusta talking about Jesus. One night, Kenya went with Augusta to a Brazilian church in New York City. Baldwin: She says, “Honey, sit down. I’ve got to talk to you. I’ve accepted Jesus Christ tonight as my Lord and Savior. I’ve been baptized in water. I need you to know that, from now on, what I need to do each day to the best of my ability is to become the most obedient servant to Jesus Christ that I can. Now, I need that to be clear, and I need you to understand. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but that’s what I’m going to do.” Then I watched her go through this radically beautiful metamorphosis. It was amazing.

Ross: Did she start jamming Jesus down your throat? Baldwin: No. No. Not at all. She went into a prayer and Bible study regiment unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Up in the morning, on her knees face on the ground for an hour, without flinching, up off her knees into the bed with the Bible at least 30 to 45 minutes, every morning, every night, for one year. Ross [reporting]: While Kenya was seeking God and learning more about Him, Stephen was beginning to ask questions, especially after September 11th. Baldwin: September 11th kind of freaked me out. I said, “Hey, what’s this all about? My wife’s a Jesus freak. Maybe it’s time I begin thinking about this faith thing.” Pursued it, became born again, accepted the Lord, baptized in water. Ross: You? Baldwin: Within one month after 9/11. Ross: [It] affected you that way and her prayers? Baldwin: All of it, all of it, but here’s the thing… After all that, she’s come to faith, and I’ve come to faith.

I don’t realize that this has completed the first half of the prophecy. I don’t even thing about that. I’m too busy running around doing my thing. Ross [reporting]: Skateboarding was his thing. So, Stephen got involved with these extreme athletes and started sharing the gospel to young people across the country. “Livin’ It” was born. But, call it a ministry? Stephen didn’t think so. Baldwin: Praise the Lord, but do me a favor, don’t ever say Stephen Baldwin and ministry in the same sentence. I make movies, and in Hollywood, that’s career suicide. Ross [reporting]: That’s what he thought then, but a chance acquaintance was there to correct Stephen’s thinking. Baldwin: I’ll never forget this. He said, “You better think about what’s going on, because if you go down this road, then what is going on is you are involved in a ministry.” I’ll never forget that moment. What just came out of that guy’s mouth -- and he was relatively a stranger in my life -- completes the second half of a prophecy.

Ross [reporting]: The best script writer in Hollywood couldn’t have written a story as masterful as the one God wrote for Stephen Baldwin. As for Stephen, the youngest of the Baldwin brood, is keeping everyone on their toes. Baldwin: Stephen Baldwin believes that now we’re in a particular time in the world’s history where it is time that people stand up for Jesus. That people get more aggressive and radical how they communicate with our culture about Jesus. My point is simply this: I believe I have a calling. Do you know what that calling is? To stand up in a new and hard core, radical way for the Lord. In the process, if I insult a couple of people, if I offend a couple of people, and if I got to shake it up a little bit, as long as it is led by the Holy Spirit, amen. The Secrets of Hollywood’s Power Siblings | Vanity Fair Twitter Clockwise from top left: from © Warner Bros.

Television/Everett Collection, from © 20th Century Fox Film Corp/Everett Collection, By Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic, By Gregg DeGuire/WireImage, by Scott Garfield/© Fox /Everett Collection, from Everett Collection, By Frank Stewart/Courtesy of Jazz at Lincoln Center, By Kevin Winter/Getty Images, From ©Walt Disney Television/Everett Collection. The Baldwins of Massapequa Nothing in the background of the Baldwin brothers foretold their individual achievements. Their father was a schoolteacher and football coach. Their mother was a housewife. There were no signs, as the four boys were growing up in New York, that Alec would become one of Hollywood’s leading men, that Daniel would become a successful actor, or that William and Stephen would both become movie stars in their own rights. “We’re still kind of pinching ourselves,” Stephen Baldwin says. “Now that me and the boys are all Hollywood and fancy-pants, they don’t like how I describe it, but from my perspective, we’re just four dumb jocks from Long Island.” If their respective silver-screen futures were impossible to predict, though, there were clear auguries of a larger shared destiny.

Even then, without knowing it, the Baldwin boys were rehearsing the greatest role of their lives—their ongoing ensemble performance as the Baldwin Brothers. “The funny thing is,” Stephen explains, “we were all pretty famous locally before we were famous, ’cause my friends had my dad as a teacher. So in the six degrees of Massapequa separation, we knew a lot of people. And Alec was student president and the quarterback. And we were just a popular family. And I think that kind of prepared us—like, if we can conquer Massapequa, the planet seems doable.” Frat Packs History is rife with famous clans, successful siblings who intrigue us because they stand out from the pack and embody age-old questions of nature versus nurture. But some capture the imagination more than others. There’s a clear hierarchy of impressiveness—a brood pyramid, if you will. At its base are families like the Von Trapps or the Jackson 5, esteemed as a collective rather than through aggregated individual successes. One level up, you find families with multiple achievers in a single field. In literature there are the Brontes and Mitfords, in politics the Kennedys, in theater the Barrymores and Booths.

(John Wilkes was once famous for something other than killing the president.) The names resonate, down the ages, because of the strength in their numbers. They walk among us, too. The Foer brothers are precocious belletrists, with a novelist (Jonathan Safran), a New Republic editor (Franklin), and a nonfiction author (Joshua). More interesting still are siblings who succeed in different fields; a family such as the Emanuels—with a politician (Rahm), a Hollywood agent (Ari), and a bioethicist (Zeke)—hints at something deeper in the gene pool. And at the apex of the brood pyramid is a brother-sister pair such as Steve Jobs and Mona Simpson—tech genius and celebrated novelist—who proved the point, because they were separated at birth. Most often, such families are intellectual curiosities. We read about them in a magazine article and then forget about them until the next article comes along. But in the entertainment industry, a fishbowl with little continuity, the through line of kinship takes on greater significance. Even when one sibling is out of work, another can tend the flame, keeping the family name burning in pop consciousness.

The power siblings of Hollywood—families like the Baldwins, the Arquettes, the Cusacks, and the Wayanses, not to mention the Culkins, Gyllenhaals, Fannings, and many more—occupy their own niche in American culture. They make their way into crossword puzzles and quiz-show questions and stand-up jokes and band names (a Chicago electronica duo performs as the Baldwin Brothers). They have a kind of second celebrity, an epiphenomenon of fame. They impress and amuse, these star tribes, but they also vex. They challenge our notions of fairness and cosmic equilibrium. How, they force us to ask, was so much of the universe’s finite stardust sprinkled on so few? We soothe our unease by minimizing their talent and exaggerating their connections. We vent our resentment with jokes about their sheer number and ubiquity. And sometimes we lash out: one particularly exuberant fantasy, from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, featured bunker-busting Canadian aerial bombardments that wiped out both the Baldwin- and Arquette-family compounds. The Fame Code The Baldwins, born to be Baldwins as much as to be actors, are a special case.

Their rise is explained by a serendipitous math: genetics (good—and trademark-similar—looks) + bombast + success of firstborn. They could easily have ended up as the lawyers and doctors and businessmen their father once hoped they would be. For other families, show business is simply the family business. The Arquette quintet—Richmond, Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis, and David—are fourth-generation actors. Their great-grandfather was in vaudeville. Their grandfather appeared on Hollywood Squares. Their father was an actor who sat on the board of the Chicago improv group Second City. Their mother was an actress who later became a therapist. “From birth we were playacting,” Patricia says. “We were taught to look at the world in an empathetic way.” As children the Arquettes played theater games with Paul Sills, the renowned improv teacher. Even when their parents were poor and living on a commune in Virginia, they managed to pull together enough money to take the kids to see Fiddler on the Roof. “So for weeks we played the village of Anatevka all the time,” Patricia remembers.

The Cusacks—John, Joan, and Ann—are another family who grew up around the Chicago theater scene and had activist parents. Their father was a conflicted Mad Men–era ad man who once wrote a play about Dante’s Inferno and roomed with Philip Berrigan in college. (Later, when the Berrigan brothers were on the lam, they visited the Cusack house, followed shortly by the F.B.I.) Dick Cusack was a man of letters, a classicist by training. For the father of a bunch of kids who’d make the family name famous via John Hughes movies, he had high standards. “I felt like I was selling out the first time I did a sitcom,” says Ann. “Our father was very tough on scripts,” John says. “He would say, ‘This is garbage.’ He was telling me to turn down things. I was like, ‘Jesus Christ, I don’t know.’ He said, ‘If an artist can’t risk something at 17, 18, he should pack it up.’” The Cusacks benefited from geographic happenstance also. “We were in Chicago when they started to make movies in the 80s about teenagers,” John says.

“It was right place, right time, kind of random, the fact that I was able to audition for a movie in Chicago.” Sisters Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen grew up in a home where the arts were venerated. Their mother, Vivian Ayers Allen, was a Pulitzer-nominated poet and concert-level pianist, who removed the tube from the family TV set. “It was the golden age of television,” Rashad says, “but my mother was determined that we would be practitioners of art, not spectators.” Mrs. Allen divided candy Easter eggs into 32 parts to teach musical-note value. She removed a banister from the staircase and reattached it to the living room wall as a barre for Debbie to practice dance. At a time when Houston was segregated and certain arts schools off-limits, Mrs. Allen hired private teachers to come to the home: a ballet teacher for Debbie, a piano teacher for Phylicia, and a trumpet teacher for their brother, Andrew, who is a professional jazz musician.

“My mama’s point of view was that human potential is limitless,” Rashad says, “and she was determined that we have limitless exposure, or what she could provide.” Sometimes, the parents are not only enablers but also role models. Ellis Marsalis, father of the Marsalis brothers—Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo, and Jason—was a jazz musician, but there was no pressure on his sons to follow his path, Wynton says. The only thing the Marsalis parents did to guide their children was to make sure—wisely—that each played a different instrument. “My father didn’t expect us to become musical professionals,” Wynton says. “I didn’t start practicing till I was 12.” Mr. Miyagi Even families destined for stardom need a prime mover. Often, by accident of birth order, the oldest sibling is the trailblazer who shows it can be done, who acts as an example, or who helps in more concrete ways. Some families that might not otherwise end up in show business do so only because of one pioneering older sibling. Alec Baldwin was a dashing N.Y.U.

drama student (and Studio 54 waiter) whose friend recommended him to a casting director, who put him on the soap opera The Doctors. The Wayanses had Keenen, who dropped out of Tuskegee University to be a comedian, and went on to create the Fox sketch-comedy show In Living Color. Damon followed, and then sister Kim. By the time the two youngest Wayanses were born, it was a given that they’d follow suit. When Shawn and Marlon were eight years old, they’d get on the train to Boston to watch Damon perform stand-up. “We’d sit there and give him notes,” Shawn says. “We’d say, ‘What about if you did that or you do that?’” The Huvanes, an off-screen star-sibling tribe—Kevin heads C.A.A., Stephen is one of Hollywood’s biggest publicists, Chris is an up-and-coming manager—all grew up in the Bronx catering to the needs of the famous in Manhattan, with summer jobs as bellhops and elevator operators at the Wyndham Hotel on 58th Street, then popular with celebrities.

John Cassavetes would stay there, and when Kevin was 16, Cassavetes said, ‘Do you want to see what a movie is like?’ Kevin went to the set of Gloria and got to watch. Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn would give him $100 at the end of the summer when he was going back to college. Kevin led the way to Hollywood, after the novelist Cynthia Freeman observed how deftly he handled an unhappy celebrity guest, told him he should be an agent, and got him a job in the William Morris mailroom. How the prime-mover sibling becomes merely the first of two or more in the business is another matter. Kevin Huvane, who started as a theater agent in New York, wanted to share his enthusiasm with his jock little brother Chris, and took him to several plays. “Kevin paved the way,” says brother Stephen. “We saw how happy and driven he is. That was a beacon for us, that it could be interesting.” John Cusack tells a similar story about his sister Joan, the first Cusack to get a movie role.

“After seeing she got a part, it was, ‘Oh, wow, you can go to those offices and they actually put you in a movie.’” Keenen Ivory Wayans acted as a teacher and mentor to Shawn and Marlon. More than 15 years his junior, as teenagers in New York they would visit him in Los Angeles, where he’d show them movies like Airplane!, Kentucky Fried Movie, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, then quiz them on what was funny and how they’d make it funnier. “It was like Luke Skywalker being trained by Yoda,” Shawn says. “Like Mr. Miyagi,” Marlon says. “Me and Shawn were like Ralph Macchio.” “We had the comedy bug anyway,” Marlon adds, “but Keenen showed us what to do with that bug. ’Cause we could have been funny dentists.” “In our neighborhood,” Shawn says, “we could have been funny crackheads.” Once one sibling is famous, though, all the others have to overcome the born-on-third-base-but-thinks-he-hit-a-triple problem—real or perceived. “If you’re serious about it,” Marlon Wayans says, “the last name works for you.

If not, it won’t.” “There’s nothing like blowing an opportunity,” Shawn adds. “The name comes with a lot of pressure.” The entertainment business is fickle, and one sibling may have greater success than another. Even when siblings enjoy comparable success in the long view, one, by necessity, always achieves success first. The Baldwins, in particular, have had to shoulder the inequities of fame. The Urban Dictionary defines “Late Night Baldwin” as a lesser-known Baldwin brother that one encounters in movies that run after midnight. The reality is that while being a famous sibling can get you started, it can’t do much more than that. “I introduced her to a manager when she was a kid,” Rosanna Arquette says of her sister Patricia, “and he was great for her, it got her on her path. But I mean, there were maybe doors that were a little bit more open to go into those rooms, but she definitely had to have the goods to stay in them.

They might say, ‘This is Rosanna’s little sister,’ but she was a powerhouse on her own.” During the five years when Chris Huvane was trying to make it as an actor, he knew that a lot of people assumed he had a leg up because of his brother Kevin. But the fact was, Kevin never got him a role. “He said, ‘Figure it out,’” Chris says. “I wish I could go out and say, ‘I told you so,’ because my acting career failed, and my brother was one of the biggest agents in town.” The indignities of sibling confusion are another byproduct of the multiplier effect—and one not confined to South Park gags. When the Wayans brothers run into it, Marlon says, “It’s easier to say thank-you than to say, ‘That’s my brother.’ Or people will go, ‘No, it wasn’t. That was you,’ and you’ve got to argue for five minutes.

Then they get mad at you for not being him.” At a party in Washington celebrating the inauguration of President Obama, a red-carpet TV reporter ended an interview with Billy Baldwin by saying, “Thank you very much, Stephen, and have a great night.” Billy, who had started to walk away, did a double-take, stopped, put his hand on the hapless interviewer’s shoulder in a way that seemed at once forgiving and menacing, and stared at him. Then he put his hand at chest height and said, speaking in slow, measured tones, “Stephen’s about that tall. Let me give you a refresher course. There’s Alec. There’s Daniel. There’s Stephen. And there’s William. That’s me.” “I’m sorry,” the interviewer said sheepishly, as Baldwin walked away. “That Person’s a Cokehead” For the Huvane brothers, the presumption of back-scratching is not merely an issue of self-esteem or reputation but of livelihood. Although there is some overlap among the brothers’ clients—Kevin and Stephen both represent Jennifer Aniston, Julianne Moore, and Uma Thurman, and Stephen and Chris both represent Elisabeth Shue and Frank Grillo—they have taken pains to function as unrelated business entities.

“From the very beginning, Kevin said, ‘Listen, you have to be aware that your business is going to depend on relationships with all the agencies,’” Stephen says. “He was extraordinarily conscious of it, more so than me. I didn’t understand the politics. He said, ‘So we have to have a very defined separation of our business lives.’ I’ve had clients go to C.A.A. and leave C.A.A.” “I hope that people would never think that there’s some sort of collusion,” adds Chris. “Kevin and Stephen have never discussed my business with me ever.” At the same time, there are intangible career synergies, a tribal wisdom that accumulates and gets passed along. “It’s like soldiers on point,” Chris Huvane says, “when you’re on a mission and that guy up front is going to take the hit. Kevin was that person. He knows who’s good, who’s helpful, who’s not. That road’s been navigated.” “We’ve warned each other,” Patricia Arquette echoes.

“‘Oh shit, don’t take that, that person’s a dick, that person’s a cokehead.” When Patricia had a nightmarish first movie experience, Rosanna could reassure her that it wasn’t typical, and years ago, Patricia was able to advise Rosanna on changing managers. When Shawn and Marlon Wayans wrote the script for the parody film Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, they did around 20 drafts under Keenen’s supervision. “He was relentless,” Marlon says. “He kept saying, ‘It’s not good enough.’ It was tiring, the harder and harder he made us work, it developed a skill set. Now we hear those voices in our head.” Brand of Brothers “I don’t start the day without Googling myself,” David Arquette says. “It always brings up the family and my sordid past.” Those associations aren’t always a bad thing. Collective brand equity can rub off on the individual sub-brands. There’s a discernible pivot, a kind of Lacanian mirror stage, when a sibling star first apprehends his special status.

There was the epiphanic moment, for instance, when Stephen Baldwin realized that he was not merely Stephen Baldwin, actor, but was also a Baldwin brother, one of the Baldwins, a Baldwin qua Baldwin. “Couple of my boys from Massapequa called me,” he remembers. “‘Bro bro bro, you’re famous. You’re huge.’ This guy in Clueless said, ‘You’re a Baldwin.’” (In Clueless, the character Cher says of the character Josh, “O.K., O.K., so he is kind of a Baldwin,” to indicate that he’s good-looking.) Then there was a Baldwin reference in the New York Times crossword puzzle. And the Baldwin brothers were the basis of a question on Jeopardy! or Wheel of Fortune, he doesn’t remember which. None of which is to say that the star siblings complain about their luck. As in any line of work, benevolent nepotism can provide a timely assist. Debbie Allen gave her big sister, Phylicia, her first movie role, when she cast her in Polly, which Debbie directed and choreographed.

Later, when Richard Pryor cast Phylicia as his wife in Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling Phylicia was able to return the favor. At the time, she was playing Bill Cosby’s wife on The Cosby Show. “Richard was in love with Phylicia and wanted her to play his wife,” Debbie explains. “We were so excited. But “the schedule was a conflict.” Eventually, the casting director, who knew Debbie, suggested her to Pryor as an alternative. When she got the call, she still thought her sister had the part. But Phylicia gave her blessing for Debbie to take it. “She said, ‘Do it, keep it in the family.’” (Coincidentally, Damon Wayans was originally cast to play Richard Pryor in Martin Scorcese’s biopic. Then Eddie Murphy. Then Marlon Wayans. “It’s a hand-me-down role,” Marlon says. “At this rate, probably my son will end up playing him.”) Other families tell similar stories. Rosanna Arquette has referred Patricia for a lot of roles. Patricia recently suggested her brother Richmond for a part.

Chris Huvane’s first job in the business was working for his brother Stephen, and some of the actors he has signed as a manager stem from relationships he inherited from his brothers. Three of the Baldwin brothers were cast in Born on the Fourth of July, because the man it was about, Ron Kovic, had had their father as a high-school teacher, and director Oliver Stone liked the idea of putting them in the movie (albeit in different scenes). There have been situations where producers pursued one Baldwin, then another, “whatever the producer pecking order is,” Stephen says. Of course, the referrals aren’t always reciprocal. “Alec has always been the Vito Corleone for the family; it’s not like I ever said to someone, ‘You really ought to consider Alec for this part.’” Sibling collaborations find their purest form when siblings play siblings. Some of these projects exist merely in the imagination. The Baldwins tried to get a remake made of the W.W. II film The Fighting Sullivans, in which they would have all played the four Sullivan brothers; now there’s a Western they’re trying to get off the ground, in which the four would play four brothers.

Over the last four years, Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad have been developing a script for a suspense feature film in which they’d play sisters. In what would have been the ultimate homage to sibling stardom, the Arquettes’ father wanted the whole family to play another sibling-star family, the Civil War–era Booth theatrical clan. The Arquettes have never all worked together on a single project, but Rosanna’s dream is for them to all put on a production of Story Theater. “For me,” David Arquette says, “the harmony of the Everly Brothers or the Beach Boys, there’s something really unique about that, because you can’t get that instrument anywhere else. It is like part of God’s creation, an interesting pool of DNA, and being able to sort of utilize common vocal cords, you can’t create that, so to be able to act that . . . ” The record holders for siblings playing siblings are surely John and Joan Cusack, who have played brother and sister in Martian Child and Say Anything and brother-sister-ish pairs in a string of other movies, including High Fidelity, Grosse Point Blank, and War, Inc.

“Joanie and I keep thinking: When is the gig up?” John says, on a conference call with his sisters, Joan and Ann. “We keep thinking there will be a moratorium.” “I got to call you an asshole in High Fidelity,” Joan chimes in. Is the on-screen relationship the same as off-screen? John: “I don’t know.” Joan: “It’s exactly the same.” Ann: “I look at those and say, ‘That could be Christmas at our house.’” Other times the sibling connection fuels improvisation. “You write it and don’t have to finish it,” John Cusack says, talking about the part he wrote for his sister Joan in War, Inc. “You know, just get her on set, wind her up, and it will be way crazier than anything you’ve written.” He adds: “And you can get the talent cheap.” Wynton Marsalis experiences a kind of synchronistic mind meld with his brother Branford. “I just stopped in North Carolina and taught his class,” Wynton says, “and at the end, we played together. There were so many ideas going back and forth, such an understanding.

You know you can look at someone, and with a glance know you’re thinking the same thing? And then you look away and think something else, then look back, and you’re thinking the same thing? Me and Branford can play two solos, then play counterpoint to each other, and then reach a point where we play the same five or six notes in a row. That’s almost unbelievable. It’s a fascinating thing.” When you belong to a sibling star cluster, inevitably you look around the universe and get to wondering about rival constellations. Distinctions of talent and success that may stir tensions within your clan look suddenly microscopic next to the yawning disparity between your own massively talented family and the sad aspirations of a pretender family. Questions of nature versus nurture become quaintly academic compared with the Darwinian struggle for ultimate sibling-tribe domination. Armchair bookies post scenarios online like: “Who would win in a gang fight? The Wayans Brothers or the Baldwin Brothers?” Celebrity Deathmatch actually answered the question, pitting Damon and Keenen Ivory Wayans against Alec and Daniel Baldwin in a Claymation free-for-all (it gets ugly: Daniel Baldwin eats Damon Wayans’s prostate gland).

Stephen Baldwin proposes that there could be a good reality show involving multiple sibling-star tribes. David Arquette thinks it would be cool to do a project that linked more than one of these families, like a Hatfields and McCoys with Baldwins playing one family and Arquettes the other. Stephen Baldwin has little doubt who’d prevail in a showdown. “I think it’s accurate to say that never have there been so many immediate siblings who’ve been in so many movies. I want you to count all the movies the Arquettes have done, ’cause I think the Baldwins have them beat.” Share A cheat sheet for the news. April 12 1998 3:30 AM The Baldwin Brothers By Franklin Foer In February, Daniel Baldwin--the second-oldest and least well-known of the four Baldwin brothers--overdosed on crack and was arrested in New York's Plaza Hotel. Before getting hauled off by police, he ran naked through the hotel's halls screaming, "Baldwin!" A month ago, Kim Basinger, wife of eldest Baldwin brother Alec, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in L.A. Confidential.

Last week Alec's new action movie, Mercury Rising, opened to tepid reviews. Which Baldwin is which? How did all four brothers become actors? How are they alike? How are they distinguishable? Advertisement First, a quick review of the Baldwin oeuvre. Alec (age 40) claims the greatest screen success. His critical hits include a lead performance, opposite Sean Connery, in The Hunt for Red October (1990). Last year, he starred with Anthony Hopkins in David Mamet's The Edge. Daniel (37) is derisively referred to as the "TV Baldwin." Aside from bit parts in B movies, his only major role was as Detective Beau Felton in NBC's acclaimed Homicide: Life on the Street. Hollywood always touts 35-year-old William (or Billy, as he abhors being called in the press) as the Baldwin most likely to break through to major stardom. But he has done little since his box office hits Backdraft (1991) and Sliver (1993). Stephen (31) remains consigned mainly to teen flicks (though he won acclaim for his supporting role in The Usual Suspects).

Textbook example: the 1996 comedy Bio-Dome, where he plays opposite ex-MTV star Pauly Shore. (There are two Baldwin sisters: Jane [32], a physical therapist in Syracuse, N.Y., and Beth [42], a Long Island housewife. Both say they will never take up acting.) Profiles chalk up the brothers' success to 1) good looks and 2) on-screen intensity. The Baldwins say they inherited both from their handsome, demanding father, Alexander, a devoutly Catholic social studies teacher from Massapequa, N.Y. (Alexander died in 1983, and the brothers claim still to be driven by their devotion to him.) Because they are Irish-Catholic, tightknit, and play touch football, the Baldwins constantly compare themselves to the Kennedys. It is a Baldwin commonplace to say that either Alec or Billy will become president. The Baldwin matriarch, Carol, sometimes refers to herself in interviews as Rose. Had the Baldwin patriarch lived longer, many speculate, the brothers wouldn't have taken up acting. According to this theory, Alexander was adamant that they become lawyers, and his objections would have stymied their careers. However, Hollywood proved irresistible.

While a student at New York University, Alec was spotted by a talent scout and offered a spot on the soap opera The Doctors. Stephen claims he has always been a thespian, performing in regional theater and singing with the Long Island Philharmonic. But his acting career took off only when an agent spotted him working in a Manhattan pizza parlor. Billy and Daniel say they both got into acting after they saw how easy it was for their brothers to make it. Advertisement Is there a Baldwinian essence? If so, what are its dimensions? 1 The Baldwin Look. Many note similarities in their sinuous, full lips; dimpled chins; and "intense eyes." Profiles also dwell on the Baldwin mane. All but Stephen, who wears a bowl cut, are known to slick back their hair with vast amounts of gel and mousse. (Famous story: It once took two days to shoot a 30 second scene of Billy driving a convertible. Afraid his hair would get out of place, he stopped every few yards to get regelled.) But there are differences too--for example, body hair.

The Los Angeles Times noted that Alec has chest hair "like a gorilla." Meanwhile, Billy has a decorative tuft on his chest, Stephen is baby-smooth, and Daniel has yet to take off his clothes on-screen. 2The Stanislavskian Baldwin. All the Baldwins claim to have been schooled in Method acting, studying under teachers with Russian-sounding names. Alec especially worships Marlon Brando, quoting incessantly from On the Waterfront and playing Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Film critics like to gripe that none of the Baldwins has any range: They're character actors with leading-man bodies. (Each has a niche: Alec is the ideal psychopathic villain, Daniel the hard-drinking cop, Billy the slimy pretty boy, Stephen the screwball comedian.) Several studio executives have jokingly responded that if their talents were combined in a single actor, he would be the next Cary Grant. 3 The Baldwin as Crusader. Alec has been the most outspoken politically. Touted as a potential Democratic senatorial candidate in New York, he was the main attraction of a bus tour in the Northeast, promoting campaign finance reform.

He has also lobbied for funding for the arts. Alec makes news with his caustic condemnations: He called Newt Gingrich "evil" and Alfonse D'Amato "the bozo pool attendant from Island Park." After graduating from the State University of New York at Binghamton, Billy interned for Congressman Tom Downey. Both Billy and Alec have headed the liberal actors' advocacy group the Creative Coalition. Stephen and Daniel are apolitical. Advertisement 4 The Baldwin Bad Boy. With Daniel's arrest, tabloids have dredged up the long history of Baldwins run amok. Only Billy has a reputation as a straight arrow. Most famously, Alec was arrested--and later acquitted--for allegedly punching a paparazzo and spraying shaving cream on the photographer's car windows. On the set, he is known for his temper, smashing cell phones and lobbing insults at colleagues. He once called studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg "the eighth dwarf: Greedy." Post-college, Daniel worked as runner for a big-time bookie. (When his father died, Daniel was in jail for driving a car with stolen tags.) Stephen has abused drugs. 5 Baldwin Babes.

By reputation, Baldwins play the field, sleeping around Hollywood, then settling down with a beautiful woman. Before marrying Basinger, Alec was known as a playboy and heartbreaker. He is most famous for dumping Northern Exposure star Janine Turner weeks before their wedding. Billy married Chynna Phillips of the pop group Wilson Phillips, after flings with Madonna and Jennifer Grey. Daniel's second wife is his Homicide co-star Isabella Hofman. Stephen is married to a Brazilian artist named Kennya Deodato. 6 Baldwin Exhibitionism. Physical modesty is not a Baldwin trait. Alec and Kim Basinger actually did the deed in their sex scenes in The Getaway (1994)--unheard of in Hollywood. All but one of Billy's major movies include shots of his rear, and frontal nudity scenes from his movie Sliver were trimmed at the last minute. In Threesome (1994), Stephen participates in a ménage à trois. (A very Baldwin coincidence: Both Stephen's Threesome and Billy's Three of Hearts [1993] are about bisexual love triangles.) 7 Baldwin Birth Order. No profile makes the obvious application of Frank Sulloway's controversial birth-order theory.

Sulloway contends that firstborn children are moralistic, eager to please their parents, and easily angered. (All of which apply to Alec.) Middle children are compromisers. (Billy is said to be the family peacemaker.) And later-born offspring are rebellious (the case with Stephen). In Sulloway's theory, as in life, Daniel is the category-defying, black sheep Baldwin. Screen Junkies Baldwin Brothers: You Mean There are More Than One? something here If you are a fan of Alec Baldwin , you will know that he is part of an acting family known as the Baldwin Brothers . The four brothers , Alec , Daniel, William and Stephen have all established, with varying degrees of success, their presence in Hollywood, with results both good and bad. Alec Baldwin By far the most successful of the Baldwin brothers has been Alec, who has established himself as a venerable and adaptable actor able to play in both comedies and dramas .

Although he has had his share of personal troubles, Alec has starred in such high-profile films and television series as “The Hunt for Red October,” “The Aviator” and the hit comedy series “30 Rock .” Daniel Baldwin Although not as famous as his brother (and with personal problems such as an addiction to pain killers), Daniel Baldwin has recently established himself as an actor worthy of some amount of respect. In addition to a rather substantial role in the series “Cold Case,” he also played a villainous (but well-received) part as Julius Krug in the acclaimed HBO film “Grey Gardens.” He is also well-known for his recurring spot on the humorous series “The Smoking Gun Presents.” William Baldwin This Baldwin brother has not fared as well as his older siblings and has actually been nominated for two Razzie Awards for Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple. Despite these setbacks, this brother of Alec and Daniel has starred in a number of successful series and films, including a recurring role in the series “ Gossip Girl .” Stephen Baldwin The youngest of the Baldwin brothers has had some successes in his career, including a recurring role in the series “The Young Riders” in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He is also notable for his stance as a born-again Christian, as a result of which he supported the policies and presidency of George W. Bush. Why Should I give to Stephen Baldwin - Videos - Metatube Why Should I give to Stephen Baldwin by McLOVIN 2010-04-24T18:04:32+00:00 Stephen Baldwin of the famous “Baldwin Brothers” Hollywood clan is a veteran actor who has starred in over 60 films and TV shows. He is no stranger to the Hollywood life of glitz, glamour and the public eye. In 2003, he had an experience that changed his life forever. He became Born Again Christian, giving his life to Jesus... Christ. Over the next few years, he became very vocal about his faith, using his spotlight to boldly preach the gospel. However, because of this convictions it has caused him the loss of many jobs and the most recently, a highly publicized bankruptcy. He has been publicly ridiculed and insulted by people who think that he has been abandoned by God. A simple search through the internet will reveal that people not only mock Stephen, but mock God.

In response to this (with the permission of Stephen's ministry President Daniel Southern) we have established RestoreStephenBaldwin.org. A privately funded and managed website. Our vision is to see Stephen Baldwin publicly restored in front of millions. Stephen's platform will increase allowing him to reach even more people with the Gospel and God will get all of the glory. Publicly. Read more So who are the Baldwins? So who are the Baldwins? The Baldwin Family (l.to r.) Jane, William, Beth, Carol, Daniel, Stephen, Alec. (pic from star magazine) At least once a week I get an email asking me about the Baldwin brothers. It seems that people get them mixed up. I hope this information will help you. Thanks to Karen who supplied it all. I have included links where possible. If you see any erroneous information here, let me know and I will correct it. To see some wonderful photos, both new and old, of all the Baldwin family, click here Thanks the the Daniel Baldwin Website for hosting these pictures. First comes Alec (pictured on the right, with brother William on the left). He is the eldest and best-known Baldwin.

You may remember him from such films as THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and THE JUROR. Full Name: Alexander Rae Baldwin, III Born: April 3rd, 1958 Occupation: Actor Claim to Fame: his first romantic lead in the 1988 movie, BEETLEJUICE Lovelife: engaged in 1983 to actress Janine Turner/wedding canceled and Actress Holly Gagnier went together in the mid 1980s Wife: actress Kim Basinger. They met while filming THE MARRYING MAN (aka Too Hot to Handle) in 1990; married on August 19th, 1993 Daughter: Ireland Eliesse Baldwin; a.k.a. Addie; born on October 23rd, 1995, in Los Angeles, weighing 8 pounds, 3 Ozs; father Alec hit a photographer for taking a picture of her as he and Kim were trying to bring her home from the hospital. Awards: 1986; Theater World Award, for LOOT; 1989-90; Obie Award, for Prelude to a Kiss.

Education: Alfred G. Berner High School 1972-1976, Massapequa, N.Y., George Washington University, Washington, D.C., majoring in political science; New York University, New York, New York, majoring in Drama, Bachlor of Arts Degree/B.A.in 1993/studied with Mira Rostova of the Moscow Art Theater Agency: Creative Artists Agency Interesting Facts: Alec is an honorary Chairman of the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund Inc. It is rumored that Alec has a Western in the making and has commissioned a screenplay based on 'The Fastest Guns in the West". It is also rumored that all the Baldwin Brothers will star in this film. Krisch's Confectionery on Central Avenue in Massapequa's downtown shopping district is favorite spot to see Alec and wife Kim. It's one of Alec's favorite places. Alec and Kim live with their daughter Ireland in East Hampton, N.Y. Alec and wife Kim own a total of 11 dogs, 7 cats and a wolf. Kim is heavily involved in animal rights.

Recommended Films:THICK AS THIEVES (it's great!), OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE, THE EDGE, GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPI, MIAMI BLUES, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.. ALEC BALDWIN SITES NEW LINKS Alec Baldwin Online Then comes Daniel. Click here for pic of Daniel from the official Mulholland Falls site. He's a very prolific actor. His most recent theatrical release was John Carpenter's VAMPIRES (with James Woods). He was also in the series HOMICIDE: Life on the Street. Name: Daniel Baldwin Birthplace: Massapequa, N.Y. Occupation: Actor Lovelife:He is currently engaged to Homicide: Life on the Street Co-star/actress Isabella Hofmann. They have a son. He has been married twice before Children: Kahlea, Alexandria (name not confirmed) and Atticus. Education: Alfred G. Berner High School 1975-1979, Massapequa, N.Y. He also studied at Ball State University for a time. Interesting Facts: Daniel suffered from epilepsy all the way through to his early teens. He has been seizure-free since he was 14.

He, Alec, and Stephen are both recovered drug addicts. Recommended Films: TREES LOUNGE, VAMPIRES. There is a website on Daniel Baldwin that is frequently updated and has many articles and pictures. It also has a message board and Daniel himself has been known to post messages. William Baldwin is often referred to as Billy. You may remember him from BACKDRAFT and SLIVER. This pic is from Mr. Showbiz Name: William Baldwin [ Middle Name Unknown] , known as Billy to his family and close friends Born: February 21st, 1963 Birthplace: Massapequa, New York Occupation:Actor Wife: Singer Chynna Phillips; daughter of the famous Mamas and Papas founders, John and Michelle Phillips and half sister of actress Mackenzie Phillips; former bandmate of Wilson Phillips; married William on September 9th, 1995 at the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Roman Catholic Church in South Hampton, New York Education: Alfred G. Berner High School 1977-1981; State University of New York in Binghampton, N.Y. Majoring in political science.

Interesting Facts: Billy is the president of The Creative Coalition and enjoys music by Van Morrison, a swing band called Count Basie, acid jazz, and alternative. Billy worked with actor Keifer Sutherland in Flatliners, and his father, actor Donald Sutherland in the movie, Virus. He co-owns a New York restaurant -Alaia- with brother Stephen. He has been a model for Calvin Klein (as has Stephen) William and Chynna live in Manhattan, N.Y. and are expecting a child. Recommended Films: THREE OF HEARTS, BACKDRAFT, CURDLED (warning, the latter film is not for weak stomachs.) LINKS I'm assuming that since you came from my website that you know who Stephen Baldwin is. He is the youngest in the family. Recommended Films: THE USUAL SUSPECTS, THREESOME, ONE TOUGH COP. FATHER Name: Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr. Born: sometime in 1928 and died of lung cancer at the age of 55 in 1983. He married his wife Carol in 1954, they were married for 29 years before he died (Stephen was 17).

Alexander was of Irish Catholic descent and was recalled by Alec as being ' a tough looking Irish guy,' and mentioned Alexander as being somewhat harder on Stephen and Daniel for being wilder than him and Billy. He coached football and taught history at Massapequa High School from 1971-1983. MOTHER Carol Newcomb Martineau Baldwin was born in 1928. She is a graduate of Syracuse University. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. Carol formed the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, Inc. in 1996. The fund is a sole-purpose corporation to raise money for breast cancer research at University Hospital and Medical Center at Stony Brook. 21 Actors You Might Not Have Known Were Republicans – Celeb Zen - Page 9 Home / Lists / 21 Actors You Might Not Have Known Were Republicans 21 Actors You Might Not Have Known Were Republicans Robin Marchant/Getty Images 9. Stephen Baldwin Alec, Billy, Daniel, and Stephen comprise one of Hollywood’s most notorious acting families, the Baldwins. And while each of the Baldwin brothers is very, very different, the family resemblance and talent among them is undeniable.

No strangers to tabloid news stories, each of the Baldwins has found themselves become tabloid fodder at one time or another. Unlike the rest of us, details about their personal lives tend to make headline news. No subject is off limits, including their political views. One of the more politically outspoken brothers is Stephen. Stephen Baldwin leans in very much the opposite direction of his notoriously liberal and uber-famous brother Alec; Politico reported that Stephen backed the Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the recent Presidential election because he believed Romney would be better able to get the country back on track financially. However, back in 2007, Stephen Baldwin endorsed Sam Brownback until he left the race, and then went on to switch his support over to candidate Mike Huckabee. Stephen Baldwin was then a staunch supporter of the McCain – Palin ticket after Huckabee dropped out of the 2008 presidential race. When Baldwin threatened to move to Canada if Barack Obama won the election and has also challenged him to a boxing match for charity, the public was a bit stunned; however, neither of these things have actually taken place as of this writing.

In June of 2011, Stephen Baldwin actually voiced the possibility of his entering the 2013 New York City mayoral race as an opponent to his brother Alec, who had previously said that he might run as well. However, neither Baldwin brother ended up following through on these proposals. So far, neither Stephen nor Alec Baldwin has thrown their hat into the ring to have a run for a political office of any stripe. Baldwin Brothers Biography Alec, Daniel, Billy and Stephen Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958, in Massapequa, New York, Long_Island, New York) is an American actor who is the oldest and best known of the "Baldwin brothers", with brothers Daniel, Stephen and William. He is of three quarters Irish and one quarter French descent. Baldwin has appeared in movies such as The Cooler, The Hunt for Red October, Beetlejuice, Ghosts of Mississippi, Talk Radio, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (voice), The Cat in the Hat, Pearl Harbor, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Along Came Polly, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and The Aviator. He has also made notable appearances on television.

In particular, Baldwin is one of the most frequent hosts of Saturday Night Live, leading the show twelve times and also making cameo appearances regularly. He played William Barrett Travis in a movie about the Alamo called Thirteen Days of Glory. In 1998, he began narrating the American version of the children's series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. He left the series in 2003. When Baldwin was young, he had a job as a busboy at famous New York City disco Studio 54. He claims he had to quit the job because seeing all of the sex going on around him "was making me too horny." He was married to actress Kim Basinger from 1993 to 2002. They were the subject of much media attention for the bitter divorce and custody fight for their daughter and accusations that Baldwin was an abusive husband, which many believed hurt his career in addition to allegations of him having anger managemeant problems. Baldwin, a liberal Democrat, has always had an active interest in politics and is frequently rumored to be a candidate for public office. He recently revealed in a British magazine interview that he plans to leave acting in a few years to pursue a career in politics.

Daniel Baldwin Daniel Baldwin is an American actor who is a member of the famous Baldwin family. His brothers, Alec, Stephen and William are also actors. William Baldwin William Baldwin (born February 21, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his early starring roles in such films as Backdraft and Flatliners. He also starred alongside Cindy Crawford in the 1995 film, Fair Game. He has continued to act in films and on television, but has not taken many lead roles. His brothers Daniel, Stephen and Alec are also notable actors - see Baldwin brothers. He is married to singer Chynna Phillips. Stephen Baldwin Stephen Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor. He is one of the "Baldwin brothers," with brothers Daniel, William and the most famous Alec. In 2001 and 2002 he was a frequent caller into "The Ron and Fez Show" before they moved from New York City to Washington D.C. He is a born-again Christian in contrast to his leftist brother Alec. He currently resides in the village of Nyack, New York.

He directed and produced Livin' It!, a film that focuses on Christian athletes involved in extreme sports and evangelism. Stephen Baldwin became a born-again Christian shortly after the 9/11 attacks. He frequently talks about his conversion experience, which involves his Portuguese housekeeper. He also currently hosts the television show, Scare Tactics. From Wikipedia,

Question: What Hollywood family has brothers named Alec, Billy, Daniel, and Stephen?
Answer: Baldwin