A versatile and appealing actress who has excelled in both film and television, Kathy Baker (sometimes credited as Kathy Whitton Baker) began acting at age ten but didn't make her professional debut until she was in her 30s. Born in Texas and raised in New Mexico, Baker was brought up following the peaceful tenets of the Quakers, and found it difficult to accept the violence and emotional warfare prevalent in her CalArts acting training, so she dropped out to study French at Berkeley. Following this alternate path, she earned Le Grande Diplome, studying haute cuisine at Paris' famed Cordon Bleu and returned to the USA to work as a pastry chef. While in San Francisco, she tried out at the Magic Theatre and eventually landed a starring role in their production "The Man Who Killed the Buddha". Her impressive performance and Sam Shepard's presence in the audience combined to make this a most auspicious debut. Struck by her abilities, Shepard cast Baker opposite Ed Harris in his play "Fool For Love", which premiered in San Francisco and had a celebrated Off-Broadway run in 1983 that earned the actress an OBIE. 1983 also marked Baker's film acting debut, playing the wife of Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn) in the film "The Right Stuff".
1986 saw the actress take on her first starring feature role in the thriller "My Sister's Keeper", but it was the following year's "Street Smart", alongside Christopher Reeve and Morgan Freeman, that would garner the up and comer more attention. Here her turn as a tough but charming prostitute showcased her remarkable magnetism. Baker's career hit an upswing and a powerful cameo role as a woman whose seemingly perfect teenage son inexplicably commits suicide in the teen tearjerker "Permanent Record" preceded her co-starring turn in the recovery drama "Clean and Sober" (both 1988). Taking a role initially intended for a twentysomething Hollywood knockout in the latter, Baker wowed audiences with her less obvious allure, playing the woman who Michael Keaton becomes smitten with while kicking his drug habit. The following year she solidified her reputation as an exceptional performer with a co-starring turn with Robert De Niro and Ed Harris in "Jacknife", adding a realistic longing to her character, a schoolteacher who puts her own life on hold to look after her alcoholic Vietnam vet brother (Harris).
Not often considered for comedic roles due to the long-suffering world-weariness she somewhat evinces, Baker proved a wise choice for the part of Joyce in Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), stealing nearly every scene that featured her flirty, ambrosia-salad toting frustrated housewife. She stayed busy on the big screen, with turns in 1992's "Article 99" and "Jennifer 8" and a reteaming with De Niro in the 1993 comedy "Mad Dog and Glory". Baker also played the sister-in-law of a man (Peter Gallagher) who can't get over his late wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) in "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday" (1997). That same year she had a pivotal role as the strong and sensitive matriarch of a family with a secret in the period drama "Inventing the Abbotts". 1999 saw her take a supporting role in Lasse Hallstrom's Oscar-nominated feature "The Cider House Rules".
Although film was the medium that launched Baker's career, television would bring her a great deal of fame and acclaim. With very few previous small screen credits, the actress was cast as Dr. Jill Brock on the David E. Kelley CBS drama "Picket Fences" (1992-96). A somewhat quirky show, more in the tradition of "Northern Exposure" than "Twin Peaks", "Picket Fences" didn't capture a very large audience, but its overwhelming critical acclaim kept the award-winning show on the air for a decent four-season run. Portraying the unfalteringly professional and unapologetically maternal Dr. Brock earned Baker three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Actor from the Screen Actors Guild.
During and immediately following the run of "Picket Fences", the actress did extensive television work, including a memorable turn as a community activist seeking to calm the rising tide of white supremacy in her community in the fact-based TV-movie "Not in This Town" (USA Network, 1997). That same year she was featured in the HBO original film "Weapons of Mass Distraction", and in 1998 she gave an emotionally affecting performance as a survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing who must deal with the resulting psychological turmoil in the Lifetime TV-movie "Oklahoma City: A Survivor's Story". She played a woman accused of murdering a baby with a morally challenging recurring role on Kelley's legal drama "The Practice" (ABC), and played the embattled head of the "ATF" in the hard-hitting 1999 ABC TV-movie. An accomplished player who was uniquely able to bring added dimension to her portrayals, Baker elevated the sentimental holiday TV-movie "A Season for Miracles" (CBS, 1999) with her multifaceted portrayal of a social worker whose idea of the right thing to do doesn't jibe with an easy happy ending. Baker added spark to her dual role as a pampered soap opera star/plain shopkeeper in the impressive Showtime children's fantasy film "Ratz" in 2000. The following year, the same network premiered "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her" (which debuted at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival). In this episodic romantic drama, Baker essayed a single mother and children's book author who finds love with a dwarf. Additionally, Baker picked up back-to-back Emmy nods in 2000 and 2001 for her guest turns on CBS' "Touched By an Angel" and Fox's "Boston Public" respectively.
Copyright © Baseline 2007.