Dylan Baker is an American actor, known for playing supporting roles in both major studio and independent films along with regular work in television and on stage.
Baker's Broadway theatre credits include Eastern Standard, La Bête, Mauritius, and God of Carnage. He won an Obie Award in 1986 for his performance in the off-Broadway play Not About Heroes. The next year, he made his motion picture debut in the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Baker's first recurring TV role was on Steven Bochco's highly acclaimed Murder One. Since then, he has appeared in such TV series as Northern Exposure, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Without a Trace, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The West Wing, and the short-lived sitcom The Pitts. He garnered major critical attention in 1998 with his performance as a tormented pedophile in Todd Solondz's Happiness. He also gained notice for his portrayal of Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. In 2000, he portrayed Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in Thirteen Days, a historical drama about the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also held a small role in Requiem for a Dream, where he played a doctor who sees Jared Leto's character with a severely infected, rotting arm. In 2002 he portrayed Alexander Rance, an accountant for the Chicago Outfit, in Road to Perdition. During the short-lived 2007 series Drive, Baker played the role of John Trimble, a father suffering from a terminal illness. In 2009, Baker played William Cross in NBC's Kings, in which his wife Becky Ann Baker played Jessie Shepherd, the mother of protagonist David Shepherd. Baker also guest starred in an episode of Monk, playing a theater critic in "Mr. Monk and the Critic". Baker guest starred in the November 2010 House episode "A Pox on Our House". Baker guest starred in the season four finale of Burn Notice as Raines, an old spy friend of Michael's. He reprised the role in the season five premiere, and also permitted his likeness to be used in the Burn Notice graphic novel "A New Day". In 2010, Baker played Hollis B. Chenery in Secretariat. Baker played Pashto-speaking CIA agent Jerry Boorman in season 4 of Damages. In 2012, Baker guest-starred in "Upper West Side Story", an episode of the TV series White Collar; he also has a recurring role as the father of Katharine McPhee's character Karen Cartwright on the NBC TV series Smash. He appeared in the USA Network miniseries Political Animals which aired in summer 2012. For his performance as Colin Sweeney on The Good Wife, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. In November 2014 it was announced that Baker will join Helen Mirren on Broadway in The Audience. The play depicts meetings between Queen Elizabeth II and important historical figures. Baker will play former Prime Minister John Major. The play opened on March 8, 2015.
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