Simon Says
By Betsy Model
Featured in: OrangeCoast `The Magazine of Orange County' – October 2003

It can be a little disconcerting, really. For those who have ever had difficulty separating the differences between their favorite actors and the roles they play, rest assured that's not going to be a problem with The Guardian's Simon Baker. Just wait for him to open his mouth.

In his character as Nick Fallin, Baker plays The Guardian's abrupt, often cocky attorney who's torn between the work that he does within a traditional, moneyed law firm run by his father, and the work that he does within the community closer to the street. He delivers his lines with a style and accent meant to convey education at boarding schools and East Coast sensibilities. Constantly running between his two lives—sometimes literally within a show script—Nick Fallin's facial expressions and tone of voice reflect a man who uses his impatience and utter disdain as tools and weapons. In other words, Nick Fallin's not always the happiest camper.

And then there's Simon Baker. Within seconds of delivering a line as Nick Fallin and having a director yell "cut," the Australian in Baker has broken free. The accent is thick and unmistakable, quickly validating the fact-sheets that Baker was born in Tasmania and grew up outside of Byron Bay, Australia's version of Laguna Beach. There's a directness in his approach, a "no bullshit, mate" sensibility and confidence radiating from the 34-year-old actor that is, well, pure Aussie.

And, like almost all Aussies, Baker swears. A lot. It's the anti-Fallin side of Baker and that same personal shift that allows for a sudden bark of laughter, a quip, a tease, or the sudden flash of a
grin that gained the strawberry blond a position on last year's People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful list.

Coincidentally, this is also a man who's been known to announce that he doesn't wear deodorant, prefers a neoprene wetsuit for surfing over the well-cut suits and ties usually found on Nick Fallin, and has a pet chicken.

And then there's his trailer on the set of The Guardian. While the trailer itself might be standard issue, the surrounding environment speaks volumes about the trim, 5-foot-10 star of the show, and former competitive surfer and water polo player.

The front of the trailer is fenced off, and stands of bamboo and lawn chairs fill the mock patio that he's created. Inside, all remnants of character Nick Fallin are thrown to the scented wind.

There's incense and a lighted candle burning, an Australian folk band drums out from the stereo, and a plate of organic strawberries lies on the countertop. A laptop vies for space with vinyl record albums, ethnic throws cover leather couches, there are pillows scattered on the floor, and sheathes of beads hang in lieu of a door on the trailer. An Aussie surfer dude's version of Woodstock, maybe, which then has you wondering about trailer décor on other projects and during other phases.

Baker's first movie role after arriving in the States was the critically acclaimed L.A. Confidential, followed by other big-screen opportunities in Red Planet, The Affair of the Necklace, Judas Kiss,
and Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil.

Not bad for a guy whose first acting role involved slobbering over an ice cream cone.

"First acting job that I ever did, if you can call it such, was a Drumstick ice cream commercial which was… well, I was a natural," laughs Baker. "I had to eat [an expletive] chocolate ice cream! It was a piece of cake, and I was being paid a ridiculous amount of money comparative to anything I'd ever earned in my life, so for me I was [expletive] good at it!"

Baker also professes to be a good bartender—his pre-Drumstick fame days—and credits the profession, along with gigs as a bricklayer and salesman, with his ability to channel Nick Fallin, et al today.

Moving from a pub to acting, Baker says, was "a natural progression. It's just who I am. I've always been someone that liked to observe and entertain people, and I've done that most of my life. When you work 10 hours in a pub—a real pub, particularly in Australia—you don't get any better acting. You just don't. I mean, it's all there in front of you, and you have every conceivable character in that pub. You get to watch a lot of stuff, see a lot of stuff, and that's kind of been my approach."

Within months of his Drumstick success, Baker was landing roles in other commercials and, ultimately, an Australian television series. Although he learned his new craft well enough in his home country to win the Australian Logie Award for most popular new talent in 1992, that first television show, Baker admits, was tough.

"I was like a rock… tense and nervous," muses Baker. "I didn't feel like I was worthy of the responsibility, and I think, now, that that was a healthy thing because I've been trying to make up for it ever since."

It was during this same time frame that Baker met his wife, Australian actress Rebecca Rigg, and it was a few years later that they considered checking out Southern California.

"We didn't have great expectations," says Baker. "We just sort of thought we'd come over and stick our head in and have a look. And, at that stage, there really weren't a lot of Australian actors here. There were a couple, maybe Nicole [Kidman] was here, and she was doing quite fine. Russell [Crowe] was here but hadn't taken off, hadn't done L.A. Confidential yet, which was what put him on the map here.

"There was Mel Gibson, of course, but Hugh Jackman… no one knew him from a bar of soap then, nor Heath Ledger, nor any of these people. Naomi [Watts] had been here a long time but hadn't cracked it quite yet, had just been quietly working. In fact, we sublet her apartment when we first got here."

To this day, Watts and Kidman remain great friends with the entire Baker family—Simon, Rebecca, and their three children—with Kidman serving as godmother to one of the kids. That closeness between them all, that gathering of "mates," says Baker, helps a bit with being homesick for Australia.

"There's always going to be a culture difference. I'm always going to, I think, feel like an outsider. What do I miss? Oh, God, I miss everything! I went through a `missing Victoria Bitters' phase, and people were bringing it over for me [but] I just miss the place. I miss the people. You know, you move away from your tribe… I moved away from my tribe and my people, culturally, and that's where I fit in."

When pressed to explain why living here feels so different, Baker pauses for a moment and then does his best to explain what is both tangible and not.

"The biggest [misconception and] surprise is to think that Southern California and Los Angeles is like Australia and vice versa. People speak the same language, sure, and there's a lot of Eucalyptus trees around but we're very different culturally. We're a different people. "My biggest shock? The lack of community, especially in Los Angeles. There's a decentralized nature to the city, no focal point… or the focal point is the [film] business. It is very much a city about bigger, faster, stronger, more powerful as opposed to deeper, more enriching, more enduring, if you know what I mean."

Baker struggles trying to explain this, and it's obvious that this is a man torn between loving what he does in one country while missing his native homeland. He takes a deep breath and tries again.

"Australians are very different from Americans. I don't dislike Americans, I like Americans! It's just that my heart's with my people, and I miss them. It's just a very comfortable place, and the people… I can't pinpoint it. Besides it would depress me!"

If Baker can joke about being homesick and depressed, he's dead serious when it comes time to talk about missing time with his family. A devoted family man, Baker agonizes over the amount of time he spends on the set in Culver City versus the amount of time he spends with his wife, his kids, and his friends.

"I do this a lot of hours. All of my waking time pretty much. Monday through Friday, is spent at work. It's a rather huge commitment [and] the difficulty is not just sustaining work-wise but in sustaining as a human being. It takes so much out of you, the workload and trying to balance family and relationships with your family, as well as doing the show," says Baker. "It's incredibly difficult, and it takes its toll.

"You know," adds Baker, "the public and the media often like to dine out on the `whatever happened to this person or that actor from past TV shows,' and I tell you what, you do a television show for a couple of years, especially as the single lead in a show, and you understand why a lot of these people lose their minds. It's pretty grueling."

On the other hand, admits Baker, he chose to do television over movies so that his family wouldn't be shuttled all over the world on movie sets and they'd have more time together. He also credits his wife, Rebecca, with holding the family together.

"My wife is incredibly rich and powerful as a woman," muses Baker, "and her gut at the moment, her instincts, are to nurture her children, given the fact that I'm physically absent most of the time. She's pretty committed to that, she's very good at it, [and] in doing so is very supportive. She's a pillar, the pillar of strength in the family."

Together, both parents have determined that television is something for watching movies on as a family, and the younger children watch education shows on PBS. That, Baker says, is the sole purpose for the television set. Well, that and taping Australian rugby matches for times he feels homesick.

Baker beams when he talks about his kids, and images of each of them line one counter in his trailer. He frets about how much time he spends on the set versus kicking a ball on the beach or surfing with his oldest son, but he also glows when talking about his daughter's accomplishments or the time they spend together being goofy.

"Am I [a] good dad?" That's probably something that my kids can answer, and they can probably answer that better when they're 30 years old! C'mon, you know what it's like… you're [only] able to get perspective when you actually have children. Then you go, "Wow, I was such a prick to my parents for so long,' and you don't really realize how difficult it is until then," says Baker.

"A good dad? I hope I am," he continues. "It's important to me that I am. I think where I fail is that I'm not present enough physically. I'm at work all the time, and I think that that's my downfall, but at the same time I don't think that it's forever. You know, the worst dad in the world probably does the best that he can do. What I'm best at is being a kid with my kids, pretty much. I'm a kid but I'm absolutely not simple. There is absolutely nothing simple about this Simon."