Born on May 12, 1966 in Massapequa, New York to Carol Newcomb and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., actor Stephen Andrew Baldwin was raised along with his brothers, Daniel, William and Alec in a Catholic family of Irish and French descent.
Upon completing his high school studies, Baldwin entered the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for a year, and was invited to spend another year in the institution. He then played minor parts in shows such as Kate and Allie and Family Ties before he landed a role in the 1988 feature film, The Beast. This was followed by films Last Exit to Brooklyn and Born on the Fourth of July, and a role of William F. Cody on the television series, The Young Riders. In 1995, Baldwin landed his breakout role as Michael McManus in the film The Usual Suspects.
In 2002, Baldwin appeared in the reality show The Mole, in its Celebrity Mole Hawaii edition. He also returned for the Celebrity Mole Yucatan a year later. In 2004, he directed and produced the film Livin' It, which was followed by his bestselling religious book in 2006, entitled "The Unusual Suspect." A born-again Christian, he is currently busy traveling the country as a religious speaker.
In 2007, Baldwin participated in the CMT reality series,
Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge . In the same year, he was cast for yet another reality series, this time on the seventh season of
Donald Trump's The Apprentice: Celebrity Edition, which had him compete against 13 other contestants for the ultimate prize of $250,000 for his chosen charity. He was fired on the eleventh episode of the show despite his earlier efforts. Afterwards, he became a contestant for the NBC reality show, I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!. He quit before he could finish, and soon found himself being one of the contenders for Celebrity Big Brother in 2010. He was soon evicted because he wasn't that popular with fans of the show.