Simon Baker

Simon Baker
*Simon Baker
(47 years old)

30 July 1969
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
5' 9¾" (1.77 m)




Spouse*
Rebecca Rigg (1998 - present) (3 children) 


Trivia*
He and Rebecca are very good friends with actress, Nicole Kidman. Rebecca has known Kidman for many years - they met on the audition circuit in Australia. Kidman is youngest child Harry's godmother.

As a teen, he competed on a state level in surfing and water polo.

He was one of the singers/dancers in the music video "Love You Right" by the dance-pop band Euphoria.

Children with Rebecca Rigg: Stella Breeze (b. 8 August 1993), Claude Blue (b. 1998) and Harry Friday (b. 19 September 2001). Nicole Kidman is Harry's godmother.

He, Russell Crowe, and Guy Pearce were all raised in Australia. All three of them also appeared in L.A. Confidential (1997). Baker is the only one of the three who was born in Australia. Pearce was born in England, Crowe in New Zealand.

Voted among People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People (2002).

Named among Fade-In Magazine's 100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know (2005).

Former bricklayer.

One of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People (2009).

Naomi Watts is godmother of his son Claude.

Older sister, Terri, is a doctor. Has three half-siblings.

His parents, drama teacher Elizabeth Labberton, and school grounds-man Barry Baker, split when he was age 2.

He and wife Rebecca met in 1991 on a blind date at the Royal Hotel in Sydney's Paddington.

Nicole Kidman is godmother of his son Harry.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6352 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 14, 2013.


Personal Quotes*
If you can't be proud of what you do, go and sell shoes. Do something else.

I would love to do a rom-com, but they are not good - good and successful doesn't equate to the same thing.

I think this Occupy Wall Street thing is great. I think that is a good thing and that people need to stand up, voice their opinions, and be heard.

I like putting my money into things like food and shelter. I'm probably a bad example of an investor.

A shot is only as every as good as how well it tells the story.

I cut my own hair most of the time. You just do it all by feel.

Every TV show is a crapshoot, really. But every once in a while, a show gets anointed as 'the show.'

As a kid I was always a bit of a clown, a performer.

In general, the problem in a relationship is when the couple stagnate.

I've always been a shy person.

I'm a big fan of Alan J. Pakula's films like 'All the President's Men', 'The Parallax View,' and 'Klute.' I'm a big fan of those movies.

I don't like the idea of talking down to kids. I think I was talked down to, and you rebel against that.

I don't like fancy fiddly girlie stuff.

I do have a lot of Australian friends.

I am very straight-forward and direct. If I disagree with something, I say something about it.

French are what they are without excusing themselves to be.

I try to be straightforward and honest with my kids, and I believe nothing beats good old hard work.

I think my kids are pretty well-rounded citizens of the world.

I need some challenges in love or I'm bored.

I love con-men characters in film.

I don't use deodorant. If you drink enough water, you shouldn't have to. I think I smell pretty good without it.

My kids think I'm old and over the hill.

L.A.'s a better place to live than it is to visit.

It's always difficult when you're on a show that goes for more than a year or a couple of years.

In network TV, you have to present the box before you can step outside it.

I'm pretty good at gardening. It consumes my time, and it feels like I'm doing something constructive.

For an actor working in television or film, I think it's important to understand how the medium works - how the camera and lenses work and how the sound and the editing works.

Time goes a lot quicker when the work is a lot more enjoyable.

My life is pretty hectic, but I'm really into it.

Well, capitalism is going to grow and grow. The nature of it is that the guy who has the most poker chips on the table has more leverage than everyone else. He can eventually outbluff everyone else and outraise everyone else at the table. That's what has happened and it needs to be corrected.

The French have the reputation of being arrogant. I don't think it's arrogance but a certain authenticity.

When I have to play the same role every day, I have the flexibility to play the character in so many different ways. It's almost like playing five different roles.

There's more of a family connection when you're working on a TV show. That's not to say that you don't make great connections when you're working on films, but it's different unless you're there working every day.

Sometimes the intensity and the grind of doing television can wear you down, but at the same time there's something about the repetition, the sheer mass of work that you do that's also liberating.

I've seen the odd tarot reader and had my palm read in various countries and explained to me in many strains of broken English. Did I believe a word? To be honest, I didn't understand much, but I loved watching the presentation.


Salary*
The Mentalist (2008) $250.000 /episode (2009-10)