Contemporary American actor Alec Baldwin is equally at home playing leads and character roles. He was born in Amityville, New York, the second in a family of six children. Before becoming an actor he studied political science, at George Washington University with the intention of becoming a lawyer and politician. He later studied drama at NYU and at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York. Early in his career, Baldwin was a busy man, simultaneously playing a role on the television daily serial The Doctors and playing in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night Dream on stage in the evening. He made his Broadway debut in 1980 and later moved to Los Angeles where he landed a role in the television series Knots Landing. In 1986, Baldwin made his feature-film debut with Forever Lulu, which led to several supporting roles in major films. In one year, 1988-89, Baldwin appeared in seven films. In 1989, he played ace CIA agent Jack Ryan in the undersea thriller, The Hunt for Red October. The film was popular and won him much acclaim, so it was surprising when he forewent the opportunity to reprise Jack Ryan in the sequel Patriot Games (he was replaced by Harrison Ford, and like the first, it was a major hit) so he could return to Broadway to play Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire; for this role he received a Tony nomination. In addition to playing in action films and thrillers, Baldwin has shown that he can also handle himself well in comedies, straight dramas, and fantasy films. Three of his other brothers, William, Daniel and Stephen, are also actors.