HOWDY, LITTLE LADY
Paul Giamatti. Eileen Atkins. Tom Wilkinson. Alec Baldwin. Bryan Cranston. Zeljko Ivanek. A list of veteran actors who have graced stages and screens around the world for decades, winning countless accolades in the process. Giamatti, the youngest at 41, has been at it for almost 20 years; Atkins is celebrating 50 years in the business. Beyond their talent and work ethic, they all share another rewarding milestone: Last year marked a first Emmy win for each of them.
Giamatti won for lead actor in a movie/miniseries as John Adams and Wilkinson won for supporting actor as Benjamin Franklin, in HBO’s “John Adams.” Atkins’ supporting turn as Miss Deborah Jenkyns in the “Masterpiece Classics” miniseries “Cranford” was honored.
Baldwin, Cranston and Ivanek won for series work, two on cable programs and one on a network. The three took some time recently -- here and on the following page -- to consider how winning has changed their careers, in ways both subtle and overt.
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ALEC BALDWIN LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES, “30 ROCK”
Alec Baldwin has been nominated for six Emmys over his 29-year career, winning for the first time last year. He also acquired two Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guild awards and the TV Critics Assn. award for his portrayal of Jack Donaghy, a conservative broadcast company exec with a heart of some kind of gold-related substance.
Calling in from the set of the latest untitled Nancy Meyers film, in which he stars with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin, he says of the win, “I think of it more cumulatively, how great it is for the show.”
And not just his own show. “When Bryan won, I was beside myself, because I love ‘Breaking Bad,’ ” Baldwin, 51, says. He’s also a longtime friend and fan of Ivanek. (The two first performed together in the play “Loot,” Baldwin’s Broadway debut, in 1986.) “In my case, and I’m sure the other guys feel the same way, you want this run to go on.”
He adds that his NBC program didn’t get much in the way of promotion initially. “We never thought we would last after the first season; we thought we were dead,” he recalls. “The ratings weren’t awful, but they were one micron away from awful.” All the awards have served as promotion for the show, he says.
And validation. After finishing its third season, Baldwin hopes the show’s winning streak will continue. “I’ve never had a bad day at work, ever. It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” he declares. “Winning all these prizes, we go to work and we know now that it’s working and that people like the show.” He pauses. “Discerning people.”
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ZELJKO IVANEK
OUTSTANDING
SUPPORTING
ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES, “DAMAGES”
The award may not help people learn how to pronounce the name Zeljko Ivanek (Zhel-ko Ee-Vah-nek), but it has aided his career in other ways. “I’m doing two jobs that I think are pretty much a direct result of the Emmy,” he says by phone from his apartment in New York. Recurring roles on the NBC series “Heroes” and HBO’s “Big Love” came up within just a couple of weeks after he won. “I don’t think I’d quite be in this position if that hadn’t happened.”
Now 51, he has been working in theater and on screens large and small for almost 30 years, garnering three Tony nominations in the process. But this wasn’t just Ivanek’s first Emmy win, it was his first nomination.
He took the role of unscrupulous attorney Ray Fiske on the FX series “Damages” because he thought the pilot script was great, and “I figured my character would have to be fairly central to the story line because I was Ted Danson’s lawyer, and they’re going to want Ted around.” He was pleasantly surprised that the role became juicier. But winning the Emmy came as a shock. Just before his award was announced, suddenly terrified at the prospect of standing on stage in front of everyone, he started praying, “Please, please don’t let me win.” Fortunately for him, his prayers went unanswered.
“I think it gives you a little temporary glow. People probably think, ‘Somebody else is probably going to want him now; maybe we should want him now.’ ”
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BRYAN CRANSTON
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES,
“BREAKING BAD”
Bryan Cranston has also been a working actor for 30 years and is probably best known as the befuddled paterfamilias on the Fox sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.” In the dark AMC series “Breaking Bad,” his Walter White is also a husband and father, but the two characters otherwise couldn’t be more different.
A science teacher in Albuquerque who barely makes ends meet, Walter learns that he has terminal cancer. To provide for his family for after his death, he decides to use his lab skills to make crystal meth. While “Malcolm in the Middle” garnered him three Emmy nominations, “Breaking Bad” gave Cranston the Emmy win.
“I hope that it has brought attention to our little show on our little network,” he says of the award.
Since winning the Emmy, “I certainly have met with more people who are doing projects that sound great and that I want to be a part of,” Cranston, 53, says. He’s heading to Prague, Czech Republic, soon to work on “Red Tails,” a film about the Tuskegee airmen that George Lucas is producing.
“The whole point for every actor is to try to get more known within the industry so that your opportunities increase,” Cranston says. “It has nothing to do with fame in that sense; it has everything to do with being able to get into a room and audition, or meet with people that you want to work with and get scripts that you want to work on,” and for that, he’s extremely grateful. “And,” he says of the statuette, “she is pretty.”
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