A native of Long Island, Alec Baldwin has been hailed as the hottest star in Hollywood. With brothers William, Stephen and Daniel completing the acting branch of the Baldwin clan (Baldwin’s two sisters have managed to resist the lure of stage and screen), his rugged good looks and charm have won the heart of many a leading lady on-screen, as well as notable off-screen conquest Kim Bassinger, his wife since 1993.

The star of such movies as Ghosts of Mississippi, The Juror, Malice, Married to the Mob, Talk Radio, Working Girl and The Hunt for Red October (with fellow-Gael Scan Connery), Baldwin just completed Bookworm with Anthony Hopkins. He is also very well known for his strong association with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). His thoughts on this issue have often been written to his local paper in East Hampton, and got him in trouble with the horse and carriage-drivers in New York, many of whom are Irish, as was reported by Tom O’Neill’s portrayal of the moody actor in the February issue of US.

One thing is for sure, the prophesy of Baldwin’s third-grade teacher has definitely come true. His report card that year read that he would “become famous or the president of the U.S. — one or the other.”

In 1989, a small group of well-known actors, writers, directors and other arts professionals banded together to form The Creative Coalition. Baldwin currently serves as president of TCC (brother Billy is on the board), and helps that organization be a persuasive voice for its platforms, which have included arts advocacy, environmental preservation, gun control, health care reform.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Baldwin described his late father as a “hardworking black Irishman with a rigid set of principles and a deep social conscience.” Baldwin’s Irish roots must run deep in his heart; he and Bassinger named their baby daughter, born in 1995, Ireland Eliesse.