Adam Baldwin

Playing To Win

Adam Baldwin rises to the challenge in any project, from high school to outer space.

Adam Baldwin made his big-screen debut 25 years ago in the title role of My Bodyguard, the superior coming-of-age film that also helped make a star out of a young actor named Matt Dillon. As Ricky Linderman, Baldwin was the silent but imposing high school kid everyone feared for his size and reputation. Only when a picked-upon student hires him for protection against the local bullies (led by Dillon) does anyone get a glimpse at the secret vulnerability within his character. It’s the type of role the actor would come to excel at—the powerhouse presence who wins you over with his hidden depths.

Take his current role, as mercenary space cowboy Jayne Cobb in Serenity, the big-screen adaptation of the cult sci-fi series Firefly. Baldwin originated the role of the cigar-chomping, gun-toting thug-for-hire on the short-lived 2002 TV show that was resurrected for a motion picture as a result of fan demand and stellar DVD sales. On the surface, Jayne was an easy character to peg, as big on brute force as he was short on brains. He was the kind of dumb lug who named his favorite gun after a woman and believed the chain of command on the ship was "the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who’s in ruttin’ command here." In the hands of some actors, Jayne could have been a one-dimensional creation, a macho schmuck good for the occasional cheap laugh. In the skilled hands of Baldwin and show creator Joss Whedon, Jayne revealed a wicked sense of humor that quickly made him a fan favorite and earned Baldwin the dubious distinction of being named TV Guide’s "Sexiest Newcomer"—after nearly three decades in the business. "Joss and [executive producer] Tim Minear still won’t let me live that one down," the actor says with a groan.

The key to playing Jayne, according to Baldwin, lies in a technique he learned from teachers such as the late Roy London and his current coach, Ivana Chubbuck, who penned The Power of the Actor. "It basically teaches you to play to win," he explains. "Each beat you play, you go after with the intent of winning. And it’s the conflict between two skilled actors who are both trying to win that is dynamic and interesting for the audience to watch." Baldwin applied this approach to Jayne, a character who frequently blurts out precisely what’s on his limited mind. "The trick was, how could I make him not come off too dumb; yet dumb is funny so I still want to play the humor up," he notes. "I just tried to make him practical and simple. Sometimes I would go broad, and Joss would like that because it’s easier to bring it back, and we’d find a happy medium." Also key to playing the animalistic character was keeping his hands busy: In the series, particularly, Jayne can always be seen touching, smelling, and poking at objects. "He’s a man of few words, so he’s a man of multiple actions," elaborates Baldwin. "We’d give him lots of props and things; that made it a lot more specific. If you watch animals, they’re constantly studying and picking at things. Jayne is the same."

In a way, Jayne represents the third breakout in a lengthy and varied career for the actor. He had performed in a few school plays in his hometown of Chicago when he auditioned for My Bodyguard, landing the role at age 17. Though the film was a hit and Baldwin’s performance was hailed, he still found his options limited. "I think I was constrained mostly by my size and the lack of maturity in that size," observes the 6-foot-4-inch actor. "I was a boy in a man’s body and not ready to compete on a certain level, so the roles just weren’t that numerous." He opted to stay in Chicago for a while, where he filmed a supporting role in Ordinary People. "A lot of people were telling me to go to L.A., but I was resistant," he recalls. "I was basically a kid who was given the opportunity to play in a major motion picture, which gave me an opportunity out of my hometown—which was scary and exciting." While college was not an option "for various and nefarious reasons," Baldwin felt he needed to move to New York to study acting—despite having two acclaimed films already to his credit.

After two years in New York, Baldwin "basically went broke," and he and a friend decided to finally make the move to Los Angeles. "My buddy was from L.A., and he said, ’It’s easier to be broke in L.A. than it is to be broke in New York,’" says Baldwin. "So it was the path of least resistance. The competition for stage acting in New York was so stiff, and at such a young age I wasn’t qualified to compete. I wasn’t trained enough, and it was discouraging. Also the film work was more abundant [in Los Angeles]." Baldwin was able to support himself as an actor by "muddling through" bit parts and keeping his expenses low. "I was a single guy, sharing a house with a friend," he says. "When you start getting broke, what do you do? You yell at your agent more."

A lead role in D.C. Cab came along in 1983, casting Baldwin opposite the then-red-hot Mr. T. "I was just a scared kid opposite Mr. T, when he was the biggest star in the world, and a bunch of crazy comedians," Baldwin says. "If you look at that movie now, you see a scared kid who doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing." Parts in films such as Next of Kin and Reckless followed, but the actor admits to being frustrated. "There were times where I was going, ’Who the hell am I?’ But I kept plugging away. And then Stanley Kubrick gave me a job." That "job" was playing the ruthless Animal Mother in his Vietnam classic, Full Metal Jacket, a brilliant and raw performance Baldwin’s still remembered for.

He continued to work steadily, in everything from big-budget spectacles such as Independence Day to straight-to-video fare with titles including Bitter Harvest and Treacherous. Occasionally he had the opportunity to deliver a knockout performance, such as a soldier with divided loyalties in The Patriot. Through it all, the actor continued to study his craft and took every opportunity to challenge himself. "There are two things I wish someone had told me early on," he notes. "One is that if you can appreciate your situation while it’s happening, you can look back on it and consider that you did the best you could. The other is what Spencer Tracy said: to show up, hit your mark, say your lines, and mean them. It’s the journey to be able to accomplish that with simplicity yet profundity that’s important, and it took me a long time to learn that."

Baldwin went on to become something of a fixture among sci-fi fans, having scored regular roles in three beloved series. After Firefly was canceled, Whedon enlisted him for the final season of Angel, and Baldwin also appeared on the final two seasons of The X-Files. The three make up a triumvirate of shows with massive followings. Baldwin credits the fan base of Firefly with making Serenity possible. "It’s unprecedented you would have a canceled TV show be resurrected as a major motion picture," he says. "We have so much gratitude for the fan base, [which] loves the show as much as we do, and we’ve been able to share that love and bring it back, and we’re just over the moon." Unlike some actors who try to distance themselves from certain roles, those on Firefly have embraced the fan community, making frequent convention- and screening appearances. "It’s just the organic thing to do," reasons Baldwin. "It goes back to appreciating what you have in the now and how rare that can be. You’re lucky to get anything on the air, and if there are folks out there who appreciate what you’re doing, I think it’s important to show them appreciation, as well."

Directors and producers seem to be gaining an appreciation for Baldwin; in addition to Whedon utilizing him for Angel, Minear recently cast him without an audition as a regular on FOX’s summer series The Inside. Asked how he makes himself invaluable as a an actor to such people, he says, "You have to: a) be professional and show up on time and be prepared; and b) fulfill the character. As long as you can accomplish those things, you will become dependable. It’s really no simpler than that." Baldwin also didn’t have to audition for his next big project: the TV movie The Poseidon Adventure, a remake of the 1970s disaster flick. Still, he says he doesn’t mind auditioning. "Joss calls me a ’working-class actor,’ and I don’t mind going out for parts to see if I’m right for them," he says. "My wife has a joke where whenever I come home from an audition: She’ll say, ’Did they ask you how tall you are?’ If the answer is yes, she knows immediately I didn’t get the job."

Perhaps the biggest testament to Baldwin’s success is that people no longer ask him if he’s related to the acting clan of Alec, Daniel, Stephen, and William. He’s not. "People don’t ask how my family is; they ask if other people think we’re related," he notes. "I’ve done movies with Stephen and Billy, and I’ve met Daniel and Alec. Nice guys. I don’t get it so much anymore, but I was never uncomfortable with being compared to actors I admire." BSW