Simon Baker.

Simon Baker (born Simon Denny 30 July 1969) is an Australian film and television actor.


Baker was born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, the son of Elizabeth Labberton, a high school English teacher, and Barry Baker, a groundskeeper and mechanic. Baker, then known as Simon Denny, grew up in the Northern NSW village of Lennox Head and attended Ballina High School, graduating in 1987. He moved to Sydney to study nursing; however, didn't complete his degree as he caught the acting bug when he tagged along to an audition with a friend. Baker was raised Catholic. He emigrated to the United States in 1995.


Baker was a champion sportsman who competed at state level in surfing and water polo. He began acting on Australian television during the late 1980s using the name "Simon Baker Denny". He first appeared in music video clips for Melissa Tkautz ("Read My Lips") and Aussie dance outfit Euphoria ("Love You Right") in 1991 before appearing in the successful series E Street, Home and Away and Heartbreak High. Baker relocated to the U.S. where he was occasionally known by his stepfather's surname (as Simon Baker-Denny or Simon Denny).

He was cast in a small but important part as a young would-be actor in L.A. Confidential, which led to further opportunities in supporting roles in films. In 2000 he played an astronaut in Red Planet with Val Kilmer, Carrie Anne Moss and Benjamin Bratt. He played the male lead in the television series The Guardian for three seasons beginning in 2001, and also appeared in The Affair of the Necklace. He played a distressed husband in 2004's Book of Love. In 2005, he starred as an altruistic hero in George A. Romero's Land of the Dead.

In 2006, he played Brian Kelly in the film Something New, writer Christian Thompson in The Devil Wears Prada and had a leading role as Jeff in the short-lived television series Smith. That following year, he was cast as Roderick Blank in Sex and Death 101.

In 2008 Baker received the lead role in the CBS television series The Mentalist in which he plays a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), skilled in picking up the details of body language and visual clues of suspects' appearances. His character is further darkened by a history of mental trauma following the murder of his wife and child, which drives him in his work.


Baker is married to Australian actress Rebecca Rigg, and they have three children: Stella Breeze, Claude Blue and Harry Friday. According to a recent interview with David Letterman on the Late Show with David Letterman, Baker made mention of the fact that fellow Australian actors, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are godparents to two of his children. Until recently Simon and his family resided in Malibu, California, before temporarily moving back to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They have since returned to Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1997	L.A. Confidential	Matt Reynolds
	Most Wanted	Stephen Barnes
1998	Restaurant	Kenny
	Judas Kiss	Junior Armstrong
	Love from Ground Zero	Eric
1999	Ride with the Devil	George Clyde
2000	Sunset Strip	Michael Scott
	Red Planet	Chip Pettengill
2001	The Affair of the Necklace	Rétaux de Villette
2004	Book of Love	David Walker
2005	The Ring Two	Max Rourke
	Land of the Dead	Riley
2006	Something New	Brian Kelly
	The Devil Wears Prada	Christian Thompson
2007	Sex and Death 101	Roderick Blank
	The Key to Reserva	Roger Thornberry	Short film
2009	The Lodger	Malcolm
	Not Forgotten	Jack Bishop	post-production
	Last Man		pre-production
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Midnight Magic		CHCH-TV Television movie
1989	E Street	Stewart Waterman
1994	Home and Away	James Healey
1995	Naked
1995–1996	Heartbreak High	Mr. Thomas 'Tom' Summers
1996	Naked: Stories of Men	Gabriel	Episode: Blind-Side Breakaway
	Sweat	Paul Steadman	Episode: 1.3
1999	Secret Men's Business	Andy Greville	ABC TV-Movie
2001-2004	The Guardian	Nick Fallin
2006-2007	Smith	Jeff Breen
2008-present	The Mentalist	Patrick Jane