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Capital One Financial Corporation

249px
Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: COF S&P 500 Component
Industry	Financial services
Founded	Richmond, Virginia (1988)
Founder(s)	Richard Fairbank Nigel Morris
Headquarters	McLean, Virginia, U.S.[1] Tysons Corner, Virginia
Key people	Richard Fairbank (Chairman, President and CEO)
Products	Retail banking Credit cards Loans Savings
Revenue	US$16.171 billion (2010)[2]
Operating income	US$4.330 billion (2010)[2]
Net income	US$2.743 billion (2010)[2]
Total assets	US$197.503 billion (2010)[2]
Total equity	US$29.666 billion (2011)[2]
Employees	27,826 (2010)[2]
Website	capitalone.com

Capital One Bank in Wake Village, Texas

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) is a U.S.-based bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking and savings products. A member of the Fortune 500, the company helped pioneer the mass marketing of credit cards in the early 1990s, and it is now the fourth-largest customer of the United States Postal Service^[3] and has the fifth-largest deposit portfolio in the United States.^{[clarification needed][4]}

It has its corporate offices in Tysons Corner, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near McLean.^[5]

History[link]

Capital One was founded in 1988 by Richard Fairbank and Nigel Morris^[6] as a spin-off of Richmond, Virginia-based Signet Banking Corp (which was subsequently acquired in 1997 by First Union Corporation, which merged with Wachovia in 2001 and is now part of Wells Fargo).

Capital One entered the retail banking market with its acquisition of New Orleans, Louisiana-based Hibernia National Bank in 2005 and Melville, New York-based North Fork Bancorporation in 2006. North Fork Bank and Superior Savings of New England, both subsidiaries of North Fork Bancorporation, began using the branding of Capital One Bank on March 10, 2008.^[7][8] On December 4, 2008, Capital One announced it would purchase Chevy Chase Bank for US$520 million.^[9]

Capital One responded to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis by jettisoning its mortgage platform, GreenPoint Mortgage, due in part to investor pressures.^[10]

On November 14, 2008, Capital One Financial Corporation was the recipient of US$3.56 billion of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Federal bail-out in the form of a preferred stock purchase.^[11] On June 17, 2009, Capital One completed the repurchase of the 3,555,199 shares of the preferred stock the company issued to the U.S. Treasury.^[12]

February 2012, Capital One acquired ING DIRECT, USA.

Divisions[link]

Capital One Auto Finance[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Capital One Financial Corporation is the parent company of Capital One Auto Finance, or COAF, based in Plano, Texas. After buying PeopleFirst, it became the largest Internet auto lender, as well as one of the top US auto lenders overall.

The company, which previously sold auto loans only through direct mail and auto dealerships, lets auto owners refinance existing auto loans and shoppers apply for new auto loans online. A decision usually comes within 15 minutes, after which the buyer receives a "blank check" for up to the approved auto loan amount, which the buyer uses to purchase a car. To the dealership, it is as if the buyer were paying cash. The checks can be used to purchase a new or used vehicle, or to refinance an existing auto loan with another lender.

COAF originates auto loans across the credit spectrum.

International operations[link]

Capital One commenced operations in Canada in 1996. Its head office is located in Toronto, Ontario. Unlike its diversified American parent, the Canadian business does not currently operate outside of the credit card market. Similar to the US Parent, Capital One Canada is Canada Post's second largest customer. In October 2008, Capital One Canada was named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper.^[13]

The UK headquarters of Capital One is in Nottingham Trent House, Station Street, England. The company was once active in Spain, Italy, France and South Africa, but has since withdrawn from these markets.^{[citation needed]}

Unusual growth[link]

Unlike other diversified financial services firms, Capital One began as consumer lending "monoline".^{[note 1]} Remaining a monoline is precarious because of the often-cyclical nature of consumer lending; it can be very profitable industry in good times and markedly unprofitable in bad, such that a monoline company will go out of business or be acquired fairly cheaply during hard times.^{[note 2]} Most consumer-lending monolines in the past twenty years have either gone out of business (e.g., The Money Store, NextCard, Royal Acceptance) or have been acquired (e.g., MBNA, Beneficial, First USA); Capital One is notable for having experienced neither.^[14][15]

Prior to this the company experienced tremendous growth as a monoline which it credited to its Information Based Strategy, a strategy it pioneered to use customer data to help tailor its products to customers, particularly subprime consumers.^[15] The company had one of the largest databases of consumer data at one time: over three terabytes of data by 1998.^[16] It attempted to leverage this strategy outside of the finance industry, most notably in the cell phone market as AmericaOne which it eventually sold to Sprint.

While many monolines were acquired by larger, diverse banks, Capital One adopted the opposite strategy by expanding into retail banking in 2005. This was accomplished through the acquisition of Hibernia, North Fork and Chevy Chase Bank, three large regional banks.

On June 16, 2011, ING Groep N.V. announced it reached an agreement to sell ING Direct USA for a total consideration of US$9.0 billion (€6.3 billion) to Capital One Financial Corporation. The deal would make Capital One the fifth-largest depository in the United States.^{[clarification needed]} Under the terms of the agreement, ING will receive US$6.2 billion in cash and US$2.8 billion in the form of 55.9 million shares in Capital One. With its pro forma 9.9% stake, ING will become the largest single shareholder in Capital One. After closing ING has the right to be represented by one member of the Board of Directors of Capital One.^[17]

On August 26, 2011, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors announced it would hold public hearings on the Capital One acquisition of ING Direct, as well as extend the public comment period previously slated to end August 22 to October 12, 2011.^[18] The move came amidst rising scrutiny of the deal on systemic risk, or "Too-Big-to-Fail," performance under the Community Reinvestment Act, and pending legal challenges. A coalition of national civil rights and consumer groups, led by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, were joined by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to challenge immediate approval of the deal. The groups have argued that the acquisition is a test of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, under which systemically risky firms must demonstrate a public benefit that outweighs new risk before they are allowed to grow.

Other skeptics of the deal include Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank head Thomas M. Hoenig,^[19] and columnist Steven Pearlstein.^[20] The acquisition was approved by regulators on February 14, 2012.

A June 2011 bid by Capital One to acquire the US credit card operations of HSBC is currently in review.^{[citation needed]}. The deal would be a US$30 billion credit card portfolio to Capital One, and make the company the fourth-largest credit card issuer in the country.^{[citation needed]}

Sponsorships[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The company is a major sponsor of sports teams. In 2001, it became the principal sponsor of the Florida Citrus Bowl, an annual college football game played in Orlando, Florida, renaming it the Capital One Citrus Bowl and then eventually the Capital One Bowl. In the UK, the company sponsored Football League Championship football clubs Nottingham Forest from 2004 to 2009 and Sheffield United from 2006 to 2008.

In 2008 and 2009, the company sponsored several curling events all across Canada.

It sponsors a mascot challenge every year. The winner is announced on the day of the Capital One Bowl.

On June 1, 2012, it was announced that Capital One had entered into a 4 year agreement to sponsor the English Football League Cup.^{[citation needed]}

Decoupled debit card[link]

In May 2007, the company began an experiment that came to be known as a decoupled debit card.^[21][22] This card is novel in that prior to this launch, a debit card was always tied to a traditional financial institution, such as a bank or credit union.

CapitalOne's Mastercard-branded decoupled card did not require an account be opened with a "retail" financial institution, and was made in partnership with the Ukrop's Super Markets, a Richmond-based grocery-store chain, and Sheetz, a regional gas-station and convenience-store chain. The Ukrops card was also tied to the grocer's reward program.

That one-year experiment ended in May 2008,^[23] and was followed up with a national rollout of its own version of a decoupled debit card tied to its own reward program.^[24]

See also[link]

Companies portal

• Capital One Tower
• Chevy Chase Bank (acquired in 2009)
• Hibernia National Bank (acquired in 2005)
• North Fork Bank (acquired in 2006)

Notes[link]

1. ^ A company whose sole business is consumer lending.
2. ^ Such companies are extremely vulnerable to consumer borrowing behavior, which decreases (or ceases) during such hard times.

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (September 2011)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Capital One

• Capital One's web site
• Capital One Canada web site
• Capital One's UK web site
• COF Profile from Yahoo Inc.

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (June 2009)

Nathan Barnatt (born on February 2, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, dancer and filmmaker.^[1] Barnatt appeared on Comedy Central's The Gong Show with Dave Attell in 2008, on Comedy Central's GHOSTS/ALIENS pilot in 2009, and on This Show Will Get You High in 2010. Currently (2012) developing a show with Adult Swim based on his Keith Apicary character.

Barnatt is a performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Hollywood California. He is also an amateur dancer, as displayed in his videos including a Kimberly Cole audition session.

Keith Apicary discography[link]

• Neo Geo: Four Bright Buttons and Two Joysticks (a.k.a. Neo Geo or Four Bright Buttons and Two Joysticks)
• Classic Gaming Wiz
• Sonic the Hedgesong
• Virtual Boy Song
• Dreamcast 2 (first excerpt featured in the Talking Classics episode "Keith Dreams of Dreamcast")
• T.M.N.T.S.O.N.G.

See also[link]

• Talking Classics

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.nathanbarnatt.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/user/nathanjbarnatt
• http://www.youtube.com/user/nathanjamesbarnatt

Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon, 2010
Birth name	James Thomas Fallon, Jr.
Born	(1974-09-19) September 19, 1974 (age 37) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1990–present
Genres	Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy, musical comedy, surreal humor, awkward
Subject(s)	American culture, American politics, pop culture, current events, mass media/news media
Influences	Dana Carvey, Robin Williams
Spouse	Nancy Juvonen (2007–present)
Notable works and roles	Saturday Night Live Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (host, 2009–present)

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. (born September 19, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC. Prior to that he appeared in several films, and was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004.

Early life[link]

James Thomas Fallon, Jr., was born in Brooklyn, New York. Jimmy is the son of Gloria and James Fallon, Sr.,^[1] who is a Vietnam War veteran.^[2] His family later settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent.^[3] As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the “clean parts” of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him.^[4] Fallon was such a fan of Saturday Night Live that he made a weekly event of watching it in his dormitory during college. In his teens, he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney.^[5][6] He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to mix comedy and music in contests and shows.^[6]

Education[link]

Fallon attended St. Mary of the Snow, a Roman Catholic parochial school, and Saugerties High School, from which he graduated in 1992. He attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. He was a Computer Science major, but switched to Communications in his senior year, dropping out a semester shy of a degree.^[7][8] "I was a Computer Science major. I got out once it got really hard. I made it up to C++. Then I couldn't do the math – it got really confusing. I switched to Communications, which is a ridiculous major – let's be honest," he recalls.^[9] On May 9, 2009, Fallon received a B.A. in Communications and^[10] an honorary doctorate degree from The College of Saint Rose after presenting college officials with his portfolio, which satisfied all requisites for his degree.^[7] In addition to receiving a BA, Fallon spoke at the school's 86th commencement. That night, on Saturday Night Live, he held up his diploma during the closing of the show. Additionally, he showed excerpts from the ceremony on his late night show May 11, 2009.

Career[link]

Stand-up[link]

Fallon gives credit to troll dolls for his big break. He was given a troll doll with a graduation cap in his senior year of high school. His mother heard about an impression contest at Bananas Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie, NY. Fallon came up with a stand-up routine that was a commercial for troll dolls. He would impersonate various celebrities auditioning to be the spokesperson. He won the contest and after college he began to do stand-up tours across the country. When he was in Los Angeles, he took improv classes with The Groundlings.^[5]

Early work[link]

Fallon appeared in the feature film The Scheme (originally entitled The Entrepreneurs). His one line in Father's Day was cut but he can still be seen in the background. In 1998 Fallon appeared briefly on the show Spin City in the second season as a man selling photographs. By late 1998, Fallon was studying at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles, making $7.50 a set at The Improv Theater, when he was summoned to New York to audition for the long-running late night sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Fallon did his impersonations of Jerry Seinfeld,^[11] French Stewart, Pat O'Brien, Chris Rock, Hilary Swank, Gilbert Gottfried, Enrique Iglesias, Adam Sandler, Jeff Foxworthy, Eddie Murphy, Larry the Cable Guy, many of which drew laughter from producer Lorne Michaels, which is generally unheard of. Fallon also did musical impersonations of Bono of U2, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, and Robert Smith of The Cure.^[4]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Fallon's impersonations helped land him on Saturday Night Live as a featured player in the 1998–1999 season,^[12] and he was promoted to full cast member in the summer of 1999.^[4] Among his signature bits were his song parodies, which he performed when Colin Quinn was doing Update and continued to showcase on special occasions after he had replaced him. He became co-anchor of Weekend Update with Tina Fey with the October 7, 2000 season premiere.^[13] Fallon left SNL in 2004 and began pursuing a film career.

Fallon returned to SNL, hosting the December 17, 2011 episode, having made several cameos in episodes in the years since his departure.^[14]

Recurring characters[link]

• Dave, a young man in the Will Ferrell/Rachel Dratch recurring sketch, "The Lovers", often used as a pawn in Roger and Virginia's matchmaking.
• Jarret (from Jarret's Room), a stoner who hosts his own Internet webcam show.
• Jeffrey's clerk, one of the clerks (the other being a male host for the show) of an upscale department store.
• Joey Mack, an obnoxious radio DJ who mocks his celebrity guests.
• Kip Bloder, brother to Chris Parnell's Wade Bloder.
• The Leather Man, an intense man who owns a shop filled with leather clothes.
• Nick Burns, a sarcastic tech support representative who helps office workers with computer problems (and is almost always exposed as not knowing as much as he should by one of the workers). He frequently used the catchphrase "Moooooove!" when ousting people from their desk so he could fix the problem.
• Pat Sullivan, nicknamed "Sully", one of the Boston Teens, boyfriend of Rachel Dratch's Denise character.
• Patrick Fitzwilliam, a surly Irishman who hosts a show called Top O' The Morning with his friend, William Fitzpatrick (played by Seth Meyers)
• Randy Goldman, from "Wake Up Wakefield", Megan's (Maya Rudolph) crush who does not know she exists.
• Rodney "The Zipper" Calzoun, the MC at the Rialto Grande
• Señor Guadalupe Ramirez, one of the guitar players on the recurring sketch, "The 'How Do You Say, Ah, Yes' Show"
• Wade, one of the members of the boy band 7 Degrees Celsius
• Barry Gibb, in the skit called "The Barry Gibb Talk Show", he hosts along with his brother Robin Gibb (played by Justin Timberlake).
• Carson Daly, whom he impersonated with the catch phrase "I am a massive tool."^[15]
• Pat O'Brien, who "doesn't breathe through his nose ever!"

[edit] Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Fallon succeeded fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus Conan O'Brien as the host of NBC's Late Night after O'Brien left the show to prepare to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009.^[16] The deal for the long-expected succession was confirmed April 24, 2008, with an official announcement made on May 12, 2008 at NBC's upfront presentation.^[17][18] The official press conference was released on Hulu.com.^[19]

The show, titled Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, first aired on March 2, 2009 with guests Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, Nick Carter, and musical guest Van Morrison. Guests on the show's first week included Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Donald Trump, and Drew Barrymore.

"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" sometimes features parodies by Fallon impersonating various musicians, and he has been praised for his ability to pull off spot-on impressions. Fallon often changes the lyrics to honour a recent event in popular culture and videos of these performances tend to go viral. In one segment, on May 26, 2011, Fallon impersonated Neil Young, singing along with guests Graham Nash and David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Recent victims include Fallon making parodies of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam performing "Jeremy (Lin)" in light of the hysteria surrounding New York Knicks shocking standout Jeremy Lin, the Doors singing the theme song to the PBS children's show "Reading Rainbow", Neil Young's version of the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song, and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" with inspiration by Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. First appearing in January 2012, and dubbing himself as "Tebowie", Fallon's impersonation of the famously-religious quarterback went viral. Due to overwhelmingly positive acclaim from the public, Fallon revived the act on March 20, 2012 after the Denver Broncos acquired superstar and future hall of fame quarterback Peyton Manning, and revealed their intentions to trade Tebow. Fallon continues to do impersonations, in some of the show's comedy segments, especially impersonations of famous singers.

To celebrate the second anniversary on March 2, 2011, Ben & Jerry's launched a personalized "Late Night Snack" ice cream. This was immediately parodied on The Colbert Report the next day and the two show hosts engaged in a brief ice cream personality war. Colbert used numerous "fecal matter" jokes to describe the flavor of the ice cream named after Jimmy Fallon.^[20]

On November 21, 2011 U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, who was active in the Republican Presidential Primaries at the time, appeared as a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. As she walked onto the stage, the band played a funk song titled "Lyin' Ass Bitch," without any lyrics. Hours earlier, the band's drummer Questlove had sent a tweet about the song choice: “late night walkon song devotees: you love it when we snark: this next one takes the cake. ask around cause i aint tweeting title.” After a prominent Democratic Congress woman complained, Fallon made a general apology by tweet.^[21] Fallon began his tweet with the words: "I'm honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I'm so sorry about the intro mess."^[22] Fallon also used his Twitter account to tease his Roots bandleader Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson that he was "grounded".^[22]

Fallon in April 2007

Fallon has appeared in Taxi, Anything Else, Almost Famous, Fever Pitch, Band of Brothers, Doogal, Factory Girl and Whip It. He occasionally does stand up comedy at the Comedy Club in New York City and has also performed at the House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts on occasions.

In 2002, Fallon released the comedy album The Bathroom Wall. In a mixed review, Rolling Stone praised the album's songs, calling the album the "second-best Prince parody ever, after Beck's 'Debra'." However the magazine panned the album's comedy routines, ultimately giving it two-out-of-five stars.^[23] The album was nominated for a Grammy in 2003 for Best Spoken Comedy Album. Fallon co-hosted the 2001 MTV Movie Awards with Kirsten Dunst on June 7, 2001.^[24] Fallon has played Neo in Sex and the Matrix, a comedic two-in-one parody of Sex and the City and The Matrix.^[25] He hosted the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards alone that year.^[26] His opening number included parodies of videos by Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews and Enrique Iglesias.

Also in 2002, Fallon appeared in The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch as the son of Melvin Hall, and constantly pesters his father, often stealing his mike, claiming that the film is "his documentary."^[27]

Fallon also hosted the 2005 MTV Movie Awards and played Anakin Skywalker in comedic parody of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's Mustafar scene, in which Anakin and Padme have their last conversation. Fallon was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2002, an honor Fallon found embarrassing.^[28]

Following the Boston Red Sox's World Series clinching game over the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, Fallon ran onto the field at Busch Stadium with Drew Barrymore to film a scene for their movie Fever Pitch.

In 2006, Fallon starred in "Spontaneous Combustion", a Traktor-directed Pepsi television commercial with actress Parker Posey. In the ad, Fallon and Posey can be seen dancing and jumping around to the song Streamline by Newton. In October of that year, Fallon appeared on stage in The Secret Policeman's Ball, a charity gig filmed to raise awareness of Amnesty International at the Royal Albert Hall. Fallon made three appearances during the show, the first in a sketch in which he performed impressions of people such as David Bowie, Jerry Seinfeld and David Blaine in order to get past a doorman (Shaun Williamson) who claims Fallon is not on the list. The doorman finally recognizes him for his role in Taxi, but still will not let him in. He later masqueraded as Russell Brand before being led off by Williamson, and made one final appearance in a cameo role as the front of a pantomime horse in the Al Murray "pub landlord" routine. He also provided the voice of Dylan in Doogal.

In 2007, Fallon wrote the song "Car Wash for Peace" and donated all proceeds to charity. He performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The View and dedicated a MySpace page to the cause. Around the same time, a video circulated on various Internet sites called lonelyfallon32, in which Fallon parodied YouTube celebrity Jessica Rose (a.k.a. lonelygirl15) and later performed the song.

Fallon, along with his sister Gloria, wrote I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life for TV Books in 1999. A second book is anticipated but has not yet been released, to be titled "I Hate This Place 2: Tokyo Drift."^[4] Fallon has also written a children's book, illustrated by Adam Stower, entitled Snowball Fight.

Fallon also appeared on Diggnation's 185th show.^[29]

On May 4, 2010, NBC announced that Fallon would host the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.^[30] With Fallon as host, viewership of the 2010 Emmy Awards increased by over 200,000 viewers from the year before.^[31]

On April 24, 2012, Jimmy Fallon filmed his live show in Chapel Hill, NC on the campus of the University of North Carolina. His guest was President Barack Obama, who spoke primarily about Congress potentially doubling the interest rates of student loans. His musical guest was Dave Matthews.

Personal life[link]

Fallon married Nancy Juvonen on December 22, 2007.^[32] Juvonen and Drew Barrymore own the production company Flower Films.

On February 22, 2011, Fallon was on The Dr. Oz Show. He had a mole removed from his left hand in front of a live studio audience by visiting cosmetic surgeon Arthur Perry.^[33][34]

Television[link]

• Saturday Night Live (1998–2004)
• Spin City (1998)
• Band of Brothers as 2nd Lt. George C. Rice in "Crossroads"(2001)
• 30 Rock (2009)
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009–present)
• The Electric Company (2009)
• Family Guy (2009)
• Saturday Night Live (December 17, 2011)
• Silent Library (2011)
• 30 Rock (2012) - Young Jack
• iCarly (2012) - As Himself

Filmography[link]

• Almost Famous (2000)
• The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2002)
• Anything Else (2003)
• The Entrepreneurs a.k.a. The $cheme (filmed in 1998, released in 2003)
• Taxi (2004)
• Fever Pitch (2005)
• The Magic Roundabout (2006) (voice)
• Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) (voice)
• Factory Girl (2006)
• The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)
• Whip It (2009)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• The Bathroom Wall (2002)
• Blow Your Pants Off (2012)

Singles[link]

• "Idiot Boyfriend" (2002)
• "Car Wash for Peace" (2008)
• "Drunk On Christmas (feat. John Rich)" (2010)

Further reading[link]

• Baldwin, Kristen (2002-05-10), "Update with Destiny". Entertainment Weekly. (653):26
• Thank You Notes (Jan 2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2011)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jimmy Fallon

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jimmy Fallon

• Jimmy Fallon at the Internet Movie Database
• Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
• Jimmy Fallon with Popular Radio Personality Rich Stevens
• JimmyFallon.net – Bathroom Wall
• NBC's Official Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Site
• Interview of Jimmy Fallon for New Beacon Theatre Documentary

Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin with fiance, Hilaria Thomas in 2011.
Born	Alexander Rae Baldwin III (1958-04-03) April 3, 1958 (age 54) Long Island, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1980–present
Spouse	Kim Basinger (m. 1993–2002; divorced)
Partner	Hilaria Thomas (engaged)
Children	1
Website
http://www.alecbaldwin.com/

Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.

Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work, for two seasons (6 and 7), on the soap opera Knots Landing, in the role of Joshua Rush. He has since played both leading and supporting roles in films such as Beetlejuice (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Marrying Man (1991), The Shadow (1994), Notting Hill (1999), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). His performance in the 2003 film The Cooler garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Since 2006 he has starred as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, receiving critical acclaim for his performance and winning two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work on the show, making him the male performer with most SAG Awards ever.

He is the eldest of the Baldwin brothers working in Hollywood.

Early life[link]

Baldwin was born on Long Island, New York, the son of Carolyn Newcomb (née Martineau) and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach.^[1] Baldwin was raised in a Roman Catholic family of Irish, English, and French descent.^[2][3] He has three younger brothers, Daniel, William, and Stephen, who also became actors. Baldwin has two sisters, Beth Baldwin Keuchler (born 1955), and Jane Baldwin Sasso (born 1965).^{[citation needed]}

Baldwin attended Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa, Long Island, and played football there under Coach Bob Reifsnyder, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame. He worked as a busboy at the famous New York City disco Studio 54. Baldwin attended George Washington University from 1976 to 1979. He then transferred to New York University to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute under Elaine Aiken and Geoffrey Horne.^[4] He returned to NYU in 1994 and graduated with a BFA that year. On May 12, 2010, he gave a commencement address at New York University and was awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.^[5]

Career[link]

Stage[link]

Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986, in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot alongside theater veterans Zoë Wanamaker, Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher and Charles Keating.^[6] This production closed after three months. His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious Money with Kate Nelligan and a highly acclaimed revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. His performance as Stanley Kowalski in the latter garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John Goodman and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at the Public theater alongside Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in a production directed by George C. Wolfe. In 2004, Baldwin starred in a revival of Twentieth Century with Anne Heche.

On June 9, 2005, he appeared in a concert version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific at Carnegie Hall. He starred as Luther Billis, alongside Reba McEntire as Nellie and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile. The production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006. In 2006, Baldwin made theater news in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane. In 2010, Baldwin starred opposite Sam Underwood in a critically acclaimed revival of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Tony Walton at Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY.

Television[link]

Baldwin's first major acting role was as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap opera The Doctors from 1980 to 1982. In fall 1983, he starred in the short-lived television series Cutter to Houston. He then co-starred in the television series Knots Landing from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray, a four-hour made-for-television miniseries, as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered gay classmate.^[7] The film was adapted by Gore Vidal from the novel by Lucian Truscott IV.

Between 1998 and 2003, Baldwin was the U.S. narrator for the children's show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, narrating all 52 episodes of Series 5 and Series 6. He portrayed Arnold Pagani in a Goosebumps episode, "Bad Hare Day". Baldwin appeared in a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in November 2000, competing against Jon Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Vivica A. Fox and Norm Macdonald. He won $250,000 for PAWS, and used Kim Basinger as one of his "phone-a-friend" partners. He voiced Blue Barron in Teen Titans.

In 2002, Baldwin appeared on two episodes of Friends as Phoebe Buffay's overly enthusiastic love interest, Parker. He also portrayed a recurring character in a number of episodes in seasons 7 and 8 of Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm – a "top secret agent" and the lover of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). He also guest-starred in the first live episode of the series. Baldwin wrote an episode of Law & Order entitled "Tabloid", which aired in 1998. He played the role of Dr. Barrett Moore, a retired plastic surgeon, in the series Nip/Tuck.

On July 7, 2007, Baldwin was a host at the American leg of Live Earth, which was broadcast on NBC.^{[citation needed]}

Baldwin stars in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which first aired October 2006. Baldwin met his future co-stars Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan while appearing on Saturday Night Live. He has received two Emmy Awards,^[8] two Golden Globe awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role. Baldwin received his second Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical as Jack Donaghy in 2008, marking his seventh Primetime Emmy nomination and first win. He won again in 2009. Since season 3, Baldwin has been credited as producer of the show.

Baldwin joined TCM’s The Essentials Robert Osborne as co-host beginning in March 2009.^[9][10]

Baldwin co-hosted the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin in 2010.^[11] He has hosted Saturday Night Live sixteen times, the most recent being the Season 37 premiere on September 24, 2011. He currently holds the record for most times hosting Saturday Night Live, eclipsing Steve Martin.^[12]

Film[link]

Baldwin made his film debut with a minor role in the 1987 film Forever, Lulu. Also in 1988, he appeared in Beetlejuice and Working Girl. He gained further recognition as a leading man with his role as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990).

Baldwin met his future wife Kim Basinger when they played lovers in the 1991 film The Marrying Man. He appeared with Basinger again in The Getaway, a 1994 remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the same name. Next, in a brief role, Baldwin played a ferocious sales executive in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a part added to the film version of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play (including the monologue "Coffee's for closers"). Later that year, he starred in Prelude to a Kiss with Meg Ryan, which was based on the Broadway play. The film received a lukewarm reception by critics and grossed only $22 million worldwide.^[13]

In 1994, Baldwin made a foray into pulp fiction-based movies with the role of the title character in The Shadow. The film made $48 million. In 1996 and 1997, Baldwin continued to work in several thrillers including The Edge, The Juror and Heaven's Prisoners.

Baldwin shifted towards character acting, beginning with Pearl Harbor in 2001. He played Lt. Col. James Doolittle in the film, which, with a worldwide box office of $449,220,945, remains the highest grossing film Baldwin has appeared in his acting career.^[14] Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler.^[4] He appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006).^[4] In 2006, he starred in the film Mini's First Time, alongside Nikki Reed and Luke Wilson. Baldwin performed opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the 2007 romantic comedy, Suburban Girl. In 2009, he co-starred in the hit romantic comedy It's Complicated with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin. In 2001, he voiced Butch in Cats & Dogs.

Baldwin directed and starred in an all-star version of The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001.^[15] The then-unreleased film became an asset in a federal bank fraud trial when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud while the movie was in production. The film eventually was acquired by The Yari Group without Baldwin's involvement.^[16]

In 2003, he served as the antagonist in the live-action film The Cat in the Hat.

In 2007, the Yari Film Group announced it would give the film, now titled Shortcut to Happiness, a theatrical release in the spring and cable film network Starz! announced they had acquired pay TV rights for the film. Shortcut to Happiness was finally released in 2008. Baldwin, displeased with the way the film had been cut in post-production, demanded that his directorial credit be changed to the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick".^[17]

In 2009, Balwin appeared in a series of commercials for Hulu that premiered during the Super Bowl broadcast.

In 2010, Baldwin made a 5-second cameo appearance with comedian Andy Samberg in a musical video titled "Great Day" featured on the bonus DVD as part of Lonely Island's new album "Turtleneck & Chain". In this video, Samberg plays an enthusiastic, upbeat cocaine addict who believes that Tom Petty (who also co-stars) and Alec Baldwin are his very best friends--only to be quickly rejected by both. After finding out the hard way they are quite the opposite and feeling heartbroken, the addict then briefly sings about losing them.

Baldwin has also worked as voice actor in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. As of March 2011 Baldwin has signed on to star alongside Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julianne Hough, and Mary J. Blige in the film adaptaion of the jukebox hit musical Rock of Ages. Baldwin will play Dennis Dupree, the aging owner of a Sunset Strip rock club, when production begins in May 2011.

Radio[link]

On January 12, 2009, Baldwin became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week, the nationally broadcast radio series of the New York Philharmonic.^[18] He has recorded two nationally distributed public service radio announcements on behalf of the Save the Manatee Club.^[19]

On October 24, 2011, WNYC public radio released the first episode of Baldwin's new podcast Here's the Thing, a series of interviews with public figures including artists, policy makers and performers. The first two episodes featured actor Michael Douglas and political consultant Ed Rollins.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Baldwin with Kim Basinger at the 1994 César Awards ceremony in Paris.

In 1990, he met his future wife, actress Kim Basinger, when they played lovers in the film The Marrying Man.^[21] They married in 1993^[22] and had a daughter, Ireland, in October 1995.^[23] On January 12, 2001, Basinger filed for divorce,^[24] which was finalized in February^{[citation needed]} 2002.^[25]

Since summer 2011,^[26] Baldwin has been dating Hilaria Thomas, an instructor with Yoga Vida in Manhattan.^[27][28] As of April 2012, Baldwin and Thomas are engaged.^[29] In August 2011, Baldwin moved from the Upper West Side and to SoHo,^[30] where they live together.^[31]

Baldwin is a Catholic.^[32][33]

Runway Incident[link]

In December of 2011, Alec was waiting on an American Airlines flight at LAX, and playing Words with Friends on his phone. When instructed to put away the "electronic device" by the stewardess, he reportedly became belligerent, and was eventually removed from the plane. He later publicly apologized, though only to the passengers so delayed, not the airline or Federal regulators.^[34]

In 2012, a commercial for Capital One credit cards (for which Alec is a spokesman) made a humorous reference to this event: A viking character from the famous ad series asks about the phone Alec is using, and Baldwin replies, in a very facetious way, that it is not to be used on the runway, ending with a very chiding "no!" A commercial for Best Buy, also humorously referenced the event in which the Words With Friends co-creators are on a plane and are interrupted by a stewardess looking down at them, clearing her throat and signaling them to put their phones away while saying, "we created Words With Friends."

Baldwin also made a guest appearance on SNL's Weekend Update posing as the captain of the plane he was removed from in a bit poking fun at the situation.

[edit] A Promise to Ourselves

In 2008 Alec Baldwin and Mark Tabb published their book, A Promise to Ourselves, which chronicles Baldwin's seven-year battle to remain a part of his daughter's life.^[35][36]

Baldwin contends that after their separation in December 2000, his former wife, Kim Basinger, endeavored to deny him access to his daughter by refusing to discuss parenting,^[37] blocking visitation,^[38] not providing telephone access,^[39] not following court orders,^[40] not dropping their daughter off for reasons of it being inconvenient,^[41] and directly lobbying the child.^[42] He contends she spent over $1.5 million in the effort.^[43]

Baldwin called this parental alienation syndrome.^[44] Baldwin has called the attorneys in the case "opportunists" and has characterized Basinger's psychologists as part of the "divorce industry". He has faulted them more than Basinger, and writes, "In fact, I blame my ex-wife least of all for what has transpired. She is a person, like many of us, doing the best she can with what she has. She is a litigant, and therefore, one who walks into a courtroom and is never offered anything other than what is served there. Nothing off the menu, ever."^[45]

Baldwin wrote that he has spent over a million dollars,^[46] has had to put time aside from his career,^[47] has had to travel extensively,^[48] and needed to find a house in California (he lived in New York),^[49] so he could stay in his daughter's life.^[35]

Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and on April 11, 2007, left an angry voicemail message in response to another unanswered arranged call in which Baldwin called his daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig".^[50] He contends that the tape was sold to TMZ, which released the recording despite laws against publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents.^[51] Baldwin admitted he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad moment.^[52] He later admitted to Playboy in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the voice mail that leaked to the public. Of the incident, he said "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, [ex-wife Kim Basinger's side] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."^[53]

During the autumn of 2008, Baldwin toured in support of the book, speaking about his experiences related in it.^{[54][55][56][57]}

Political views[link]

Baldwin serves on the board of People for the American Way. He is an animal rights activist, and a strong supporter of PETA,^[58][59] for which he has done work that includes narrating the video entitled Meet Your Meat.^[60] Baldwin also lent his support to the Save the Manatee Club by donating his time to record several public service announcements for the group, which had contacted him following his role in "Bonfire of the Manatees", an episode of The Simpsons in which he was the voice of a biologist working to save the endangered mammals.^[61]

During his appearance on the comedy late night show Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 12, 1998, eight days before President Bill Clinton was to be impeached, Baldwin said, "If we were in another country ... we would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families, for what they're doing to this country."^[62] Baldwin later apologized for the remarks, and the network explained it was meant as a joke and promised not to rerun it.^[63]

Baldwin said in a 2006 interview with the New York Times that if he did become involved in electoral politics, he would prefer to run for Governor of New York. When asked if he was qualified for the office, Baldwin responded that he considered himself far more qualified than California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.^[64] In June 2011, The Daily reported that Baldwin was mulling a 2013 run for Mayor of New York City, in the wake of a potential early race shakeup after candidate Congressman Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal.^[65] However, on December 21, 2011, Baldwin said he was abandoning plans to run for the office and would instead continue in his role on 30 Rock.^[66]

In February 2009, Baldwin spoke out to encourage state leaders to renew New York's tax break for the film and television industry, stating that if the "tax breaks are not reinstated into the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse and television production is going to collapse and it's all going to go to California".^[67]

During the 2011 Emmy Awards, Baldwin was slated to appear in a taped skit. However, the producers of the show cut a portion of the skit containing a reference to Rupert Murdoch and the News International phone hacking scandal. Baldwin told Access Hollywood Live that he asked them not to air his performance. Producers complied and he was replaced with Leonard Nimoy.^[68]

Filmography[link]