MovieLine- August 2000

 

Excerpt from "The Heat Down Under”

A new wave of Australian actor is sweeping across Hollywood, delivering star wattage, sex appeal, swagger and talent to turn. We dare you to take your eyes off six of the best Aussie imports since Mel Gibson.

 

Simon Baker

The Heat: In Red Planet Baker goes to Mars with Val Kilmer and Benjamin Bratt. Little surprise that people around Hollywood have jokingly dubbed the movie "Studs in Space.”

 

Back here on Earth, Baker has gone to Prague to star opposite Hilary Swank in the period drama The Affair of the Necklace.

 

Back Story: No matter how many times the 31-year-old Baker changes his name (he’s been billed variously as "Denny Baker” and "Simon Baker-Denny”), people follow his career.

 

Heroically outdoorsy, he looks born to gallop across wide open horizons and shred hearts for breakfast. But there’s also something of a wink in his eye that tells you he's on to himself.

 

We Yanks missed him in his breakout role on the Aussie soap "Heartbreak High.’ and we mostly missed him in the art house movie Judas Kiss with Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman.

 

Once he came to L.A. four years ago with his wife (actress Rebecca Rigg) and daughter (they have since added another child to their brood), though, he made an outsized impression in his small role as the too-good-looking, naive gay actor who ends up dead in L.A. Confidential.

 

In a higher-profile role in the less-seen Ride with the Devil, he played a wealthy, long-haired Kansas irregular during the Civil War.

 

Odd But True: As a teen, Baker was a state-level competitor in both surfing and water polo.

 

In His Own Words: Baker laughs off Hollywood’s current love for Australian actors: "People like a new flavor. Next year, it will be Norwegians. Luckily though, we Australians grew up swimming with sharks, so Hollywood is nothing.”