Born on February 19, 1958 in Chicago, Illinois, Leslie David Baker earned a degree in psychology at Loyola University and a degree in human services administration from Spertus College of Judaica. He later made the transition to acting, which gained him fame. He has said that before he took it on as a full-time profession, he “[w]orked in three psychiatric hospitals, and then taught school, went back, got a masters in human services.” While he was working on his masters, he decided to work on commercials (one for AT&T) and plays before he really focused on performing in 1997.
Leslie David Baker was first seen on an episode of Action, which was titled “Love Sucks.” Despite his small role, he continued his career undaunted. He later appeared as a cop on Malcolm in the Middle, before he landed a feature film role in Road to Redemption. In 2001, he was seen on That ‘70s Show before he got the part of a surgery patient on the medical series Scrubs. His next project was Line of Fire, before he got an uncredited role in Elizabethtown. The Cameron Crowe film starred Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Judy Greer, Jessica Biel and Bruce McGill. Leslie David Baker soon landed the part which he became famous for, as Stanley Hudson on The Office.
His agent got him involved in the project, auditioning alongside Phyllis Smith. “I went in and I read the part and [his agent] said 'Great, I want you to go to the callback. It's in two days.' And she said, 'Don't go in as nicely as you're dressed. You wanna look kind of rumpled and kind of wrinkled, like you've been actually working as opposed to...' You try to look nice so I ended up going to the callbacks.” The two of them were cast, working with Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and B.J. Novak. Another of Baker’s appearances was on a 2005 TV commercial for Wendy’s.