2009 April - The Fabulous Baker Boy - Sixty Minutes (Ninemsn)
Screenshot:
Transcript from ninemsn:
On Logies night 16 years ago, one young soapie star thought he had it made.
Life was oh-so-sweet for the winner of the most popular new talent award. I'll bet no-one in the room thought he'd end up one of the biggest television stars in the world. But that's what happened to Simon Baker.
Now every week, 20 million Americans sit down to watch him in his top-rating show, The Mentalist.
He's been called the sexiest man on TV, the new Errol Flynn, even the new George Clooney. Well, like Flynn he was born in Tasmania, and like Clooney women do swoon over him but Karl Stefanovic found he's still one of the boys.
STORY - KARL STEFANOVIC: Agua Dolce in southern California is rattle snake country but when Hollywood comes to town there's a man on hand to keep them at bay. The only drama that should happen today is in the script. Hi man.
SIMON BAKER: How are you? A bit cold?
KARL STEFANOVIC: Oh, it's a little bit chilly out here in the desert. I'm on location with the Aussie bloke with the charming smile - Simon Baker - star of America's hottest new show 'The Mentalist'. How many hours a day are you working on this?
SIMON BAKER: Yesterday I clocked from my house, back to my house, 17.5-hour day.
KARL STEFANOVIC: In 'The Mentalist', Simon Baker plays Patrick Jane, a former TV psychic turned crime investigator. The show is huge in America - more than 20 million viewers watch each week. This is just one of many quotes - "'The Mentalist' has the goods - "the charming, roguish Baker and his big blue eyes. "Baker is TV's latest heart-throb." How does that sit with you?
SIMON BAKER: Well, it's inaccurate I got small eyes and they're green.
KARL STEFANOVIC: It's part of it, though.
SIMON BAKER: It's all part of the game.
KARL STEFANOVIC: And these days, Simon's part of the main game. There's no doubt that he can act. But it's his dashing good looks that have won over women everywhere. And earned him the title of sexiest man on television.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Did you expect to be named the sexiest man on television?
SIMON BAKER: Of course I expected that.
KARL STEFANOVIC: I thought so, yeah.
SIMON BAKER: No, what do you think? I'm nearly 40!
KARL STEFANOVIC: Was that weird?
SIMON BAKER: It was weird. It was you, you know... I think it's weirder for my daughter, you know, she's 15.
KARL STEFANOVIC: How'd she react?
SIMON BAKER: She just rolls her eyes and shakes her head just, you know, "Dad you're so embarrassing. "
KARL STEFANOVIC: Away from the hype, this is where Simon Baker feels right at home - the Pacific Ocean. He was born in Tasmania but grew up in Lennox Head on the NSW north coast.
SIMON BAKER: You fished, you surfed, you played rugby. It was a very macho kind of place and my step father was a butcher.
KARL STEFANOVIC: I know you wanted to be an actor but were you public with that?
SIMON BAKER: No, I was very private about that.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Why was that?
SIMON BAKER: It was not the environment to have those sorts of dreams and aspirations.
KARL STEFANOVIC: So you did a couple of odd jobs in the meantime?
SIMON BAKER: I helped a guy install ceiling fans, I was a brickies labourer, I worked at Sanctuary Cove Hyatt as a pool boy. I did all of it, mate. I did it all.
KARL STEFANOVIC: And he did do it all, including this music clip. That's Simon as a hip-swivelling back up dancer. Euphoria was the name of the band, 'I want to love you right' was the name of the song.
SIMON BAKER: What happened in the 90s stays in the 90s, you know. Forget about the 90s. Let's see what you were doing in the 90s.
KARL STEFANOVIC: No, you don't want to know that. Have you seen it?
SIMON BAKER: It was a shocker.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Have you seen it since?
SIMON BAKER: Don't even bring it up. Don't you dare show a clip of that.
REBECCA RIGG: You know what? Some people start bagging groceries at Franklins, you know. What are you going to do, you start somewhere.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Of course you do.
REBECCA RIGG: He was cute in the video. He had his shirt off. Pretty good.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Simon met his wife Rebecca Rigg when he was only 22. They appeared together as young lovers on the TV soap 'E Street'. Simon had never acted before but what he lacked in experience he made up for with sex appeal.
REBECCA RIGG: I think he clearly had something that the young public was drawn to and there was, you know, he was gorgeous looking and he had this kind of great quality. There was something there.
KARL STEFANOVIC: You wake up one morning to discover that you are next to the sexiest man on TV, wow.
REBECCA RIGG: He's clearly a very sexy human being. I learnt that 17 years ago but you know he's still me silly old Baker. You know, I don't suddenly wake up and go, "I never thought about you like that before." You know it's all a bit silly.
KARL STEFANOVIC: It was that same star quality that singled him out in a line up of aspiring young soap stars at the 1993 Logies. Simon, then using his stepdad's name of Denny, beat Natalie Imbruglia to win the award for Most Popular New Talent. Do you think that was significant in your career?
SIMON BAKER: Oh, absolutely. So many actors have come through that sort of groundwork, so many. And it's kind of, it's good, you know, I'm kind of proud of that.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Why did you decide when things are going so well in Australia that you would pack up and take a punt on Hollywood?
SIMON BAKER: It was predominantly for Rebecca. You know, when we met she was the actress.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Professional and accomplished?
SIMON BAKER: Yeah, so I was, like, the sort of green kid from the country and she was the old pro I won't say old pro, slightly older than me, but the pro.
KARL STEFANOVIC: But when they arrived in Hollywood it was Simon, who'd never been in a film in his life, who got lucky. And what a film - 'L.A. Confidential'. Simon had a small but memorable appearance. When Simon first auditioned he was hoping for one of the lead roles, but ultimately that went to another Aussie soap star.
SIMON BAKER: I screen tested and it went really well and I got close you know and then when I found out that Guy Pearce beat me for that role I was devastated. I was, like, "Guy Pearce beat me?" I was, like, over the moon thinking, "Here I am." And then I found out that Guy Pearce beat me to the job.
KARL STEFANOVIC: You must have been filthy.
SIMON BAKER: No, it was kind of cool, I was really stoked for Guy.
KARL STEFANOVIC: You're okay with it now right?
SIMON BAKER: Oh yeah, I was totally OK with it in 10 minutes. As soon as they offered me a part, you know, "I'm going to be in a movie."
REBECCA RIGG: Within three or four weeks he had 'L.A. Confidential'. He was being offered pilots. He had William Morris and a number of other agencies knocking on the door and my head was spinning. I was like the scene in 'Fame' when she goes to the audition and the boyfriend gets the gig and gets in the thing. I was, like, "How did this happen?" So it was a bit of a slap in the face for me.
KARL STEFANOVIC: The films kept coming, some of them forgettable. But others hit the mark - And meanwhile, Simon was making his name in television. First came 'The Guardian' and with it a Golden Globe nomination. And now 'The Mentalist', his most successful role ever, playing the quirky but loveable lead Patrick Jane.
SIMON BAKER: I enjoy playing the character. I feel comfortable playing the character now. I didn't at first. It took a while.
KARL STEFANOVIC: It's funny you should say that because it just fits like a glove.
SIMON BAKER: Yeah, it's weird because it's not really me and I could literally feel when we were shooting the pilot I could feel my face getting red. I was embarrassed with how sort of arrogant and cocky the guy was yeah.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Well, you do it so well.
SIMON BAKER: Well, I have a bravado as a person. I've always had a bravado but genuinely I'm pretty shy.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Co-stars Tim Kang and Owain Yeoman have their own take on his success. How is it working with the sexiest man on TV?
OWAIN YEOMAN: Pretty sexy. I tell you, the heat now that's not the heat of the sun that's the heat of Simon Baker.
TIM KANG: And his hair.
KARL STEFANOVIC: It's good hair, isn't it.
OWAIN YEOMAN: It is good hair. I'm in a secret pact with him there to find out what hair products he uses.
SIMON BAKER: Yeah, he's got a bit of a hair obsession that kid he's got some hair envy. Oh well, he's a nice guy. What's the David Bowie song, 'Fame'? Makes a man start to ponder or something.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Today, Simon lives with Rebecca and his three kids in Santa Monica, part of a growing band of Aussie ex-pats in Hollywood. Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are good friends and so too is Anthony LaPaglia. They recently teamed up for a celebrity soccer match to help the Victorian bushfire victims. Have you given yourself a time frame here?
SIMON BAKER: No, no I can't. How can I give myself a time frame? What happens if my kids decide to go to school here? That's, you know, university here. I'm not, mate. It's open ended.
KARL STEFANOVIC: You look over there you can almost feel Australia? Can you touch it when you look back on it?
SIMON BAKER: Oh, it's a long way. It's a long paddle.
KARL STEFANOVIC: There's still a lot of the Aussie surfer in Simon Baker - laid back and down to earth. But after 14 years away from home, he's proven he has the talent and determination to achieve success on his terms.
SIMON BAKER: The weirdest thing about being an Australian and coming over here is Australians always look at their entertainers somewhat like sportsmen, it's like you're representing the country, which you are. But there's an enormous pressure to succeed on the world stage and I genuinely feel like the fact that I'm able to provide for my family and be a father and a husband and pay the bills, that's success to me.
| 
