Wow magazine (Australia) Sep 2002 by Eirik Knutzen

The Guardian's Simon Baker loves living in Malibu with his wife and children, but says some of their best times were had when they were broke. The nicest thing about starring in a major US prime-time TV series is that one can become financially independent for a few years after shooting 22 episodes during one back-breaking season. And one can retire in considerable comfort if the show goes on for another five years.

Simon Baker – the hottest Tasmanian actor since Errol Flynn – knows he is on the fast track to monetary security as the star of the legal drama The Guardian, already an international hit after only one year on the air and with no signs of slowing down. Chances are that Simon, who celebrated his 33rd birthday recently, will have to make some tough choices about his personal life in the near future.

Currently residing in the beachside suburb of Malibu near Los Angeles, he engages in frequent discussions on the matter with his wife, Australian actor Rebecca Rigg. After all, they have three children to consider. "My life has changed in an external way and I see myself as incredibly fortunate to be able to do just about anything I want to do," muses the blond actor as he relaxes in his huge trailer at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. "And though I don't think that I've changed, I do know that my personal life has changed in many ways – it's a complicated issue that's difficult to grapple with," he says. "Although I'm only in my early 30s, I've lived a varied existence and experienced a lot. I've enjoyed it all, but there is more."

Now able to take the family – Rebecca and children, Stella, 9, Claude, 3, and Harry, 11 months – wherever he wants, Simon intends to explore the universe. "I'm an Australian citizen who was raised in a certain way," he says. "I'm very patriotic. I love my country. I don't think you'll ever meet an Australian who isn't proud to be an Australian, but I'm not ignorant about the rest of the world. "Do I think Australia is the best country in the world? It is when I'm there at a deserted beach surfing with my mates, then having cold beer at a spot offering an exquisite view of the shore without a single skyscraper or McDonald's. Then I think it's the best country in the world!"

The reality of Simon's daily grind, however, includes a morning surf in front of a rich and famous person's Malibu mansion before a driver picks him up for a 45-minute ride to the studio where he makes a handsome living. "I think it's all relative to where you're at," he continues cautiously. "When I was working in movies, we would pack up the kids and lead a gipsy existence in foreign counties. We loved it because we were able to live in a country for a few months and learn about its culture. I don't know whether we'll wind up in Sydney, Paris or a farmhouse in Tuscany. "At this point we don't want to send the kids to a boarding school in Australia. On the other hand, I don't understand what American values are about. It's a country reflecting many cultures, making things very complex. All I know is that we live in a very capitalist society."

It seems Simon is doing his best to cut a slice of the capitalist pie, but he protests his innocence. He doesn't believe that greed is a universal phenomenon. "There are degrees to where money matter," he says. "It's very healthy to understand when enough is enough and find the level where you function best." Despite the current capitalist trappings of his life, Simon appears unimpressed. "I'm not so motivated by money because some of the best times I've had in my life were when I was completely broke with my wife and kids," he explains. "Everything was an adventure then; the world was left for us to explore.” "That's the way it was when we visited LA in 1995 with a couple of thousand dollars in our pockets," he continues. "I thought it was a good omen when I found a baseball on the first day we were here. It was a lark. We didn't have agents. We didn't have jobs. Our attitude was, 'We can always go back home.'"

Simon was born in Launceston where his parents worked for a time as a schoolteacher and mechanic. Two years later, in search of adventure, the family moved to New Guinea. His parents soon divorced and he was raised by his mother and stepfather, a butcher, in Ballina on the NSW North Coast. At 17, he studied nursing in Sydney; three years later he was "accidentally" cast in a TV commercial and made his legitimate acting debut in E Street in 1991. Following short runs in Home and Away (1994) and Heartbreak High (1995) he pursued a Hollywood career, appearing in a dozen feature films, including LA Confidential (1998) and Red Planet (2000) before The Guardian gave him a serious measure of fame worldwide.

"It's difficult to play the same character day in and day out for months at a time," he says. "Executive producer David Hollander and the writers are doing everything they can to provide complex stories and to reveal more sides of my character. "Nick Fallin is a self-centred individual with an addictive personality, but I don't think he has lost his moral compass. He wants to do the right thing, The trick is to keep him and the stories believable."