Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Northern Rescue is the latest buzzworthy Netflix drama, a sleeper hit that’s catching on with fans more and more each day. The show focuses on a family mourning the loss of its matriarch and moving to the small Canadian town of Turtle Island Bay. It’s a comforting family drama about life in a small town and the trials of growing up and moving on, and it also features plenty of search and rescue action and one catchy theme song. The series is also notable for featuring the comeback for actor William Baldwin, who plays father and search and rescue commander John West. But if you know anything about Billy Baldwin’s career, you actually know that this isn’t a comeback at all. Dude’s been working nonstop since his ’90s heyday–and in pretty big projects!
I can’t blame you for sleeping on William Baldwin all these years, as he’s been overshadowed by his brothers (he’s the middle kid, after all). His older brother Alec racked up a bunch of Emmys and Golden Globes for his work on 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live, and his younger brother Stephen keeps making headlines as an outspoken conservative and Donald Trump supporter. While all of that’s been going on, William has been doing what a working actor does even if it doesn’t win him awards or grab headlines: he’s been working!
William Baldwin’s initial rush of fame came way back in the early ’90s, when he starred in three huge zeitgeist-y hits: 1990’s Flatliners, 1991’s Backdraft, and 1993’s Sliver.
After starring alongside Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, and Kevin Bacon in Flatliners, Baldwin got a massive boost when he starred in the mega hit firefighter drama Backdraft, where he played Kurt Russell’s brother. The film was a huge hit, earning $152 million worldwide and propelling Baldwin to the A-List. He followed Backdraft up with Sliver, one of the steamiest erotic thrillers of all time (even if Baldwin did not get along with his co-star Sharon Stone).
All that success led to Baldwin headlining 1995’s Fair Game, a film featuring the acting debut of world famous supermodel Cindy Crawford. Unfortunately, Fair Game broke Baldwin’s box office streak, becoming one of the biggest bombs of the year.
Considering how high his profile was for a few years and the high-profile failure of Fair Game, this might be where you thought William Baldwin’s story ended. You’d be wrong!
He popped up again in 1998’s Bulworth and appeared in the critically-acclaimed 2005 dramedy The Squid and the Whale.
And then after that, he had a part in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That’s one movie directed by Warren Beatty, another produced by Wes Anderson, and another produced by Judd Apatow. That’s an impressive lineup for any actor.
While still working regularly in feature films, Baldwin’s found even steadier work on TV. He was a series regular on Dirty Sexy Money, and then had major recurring gigs on Gossip Girl, Parenthood, Hawaii Five-0, Hot in Cleveland, and also the currently-airing MacGyver and The Purge. If you watch network TV, and a lot of people watch network TV, you’ve probably seen Baldwin regularly over the past decade.
All that leads us to Northern Rescue, surprisingly Baldwin’s first ever series lead TV role.
That’s why it may feel like a comeback; Baldwin’s been doing the recurring thing for a while and is finally taking the spotlight. But when you think about everything he’s done in the almost 30 years since his big breakthrough opposite Richard Gere in Internal Affairs, William Baldwin never went anywhere. He’s an actor, and an actor keeps on acting.
