Stephen Baldwin, the brother of actor Alec Baldwin, stepped away from Hollywood while his career was on the rise, after returning to Christianity in the early 2000s.
According to Page Six, the actor discussed his decision to retreat from the spotlight shortly after appearing in the 1995 Oscar-winning thriller The Usual Suspects, even though he was, by his own account, on a path that could have made him a major star.
Baldwin told People in an interview published on Sunday that the Hollywood trajectory was not who he was. He said he did not want to become Tom Cruise and have to deliver $100 million at the box office, and that he would rather be a regular guy from Massapequa, New York.
The turn to religion and the calling that pulled him from Hollywood
The 60-year-old actor explained that his interest in religion grew after a housekeeper who worked for him and his wife, Kennya Baldwin, predicted that they would become born-again Christians and start their own ministry.
The star of Bio-Dome admitted he was skeptical at first. His outlook changed in the early 2000s, when he began attending church events with his sister, Beth Baldwin, who was a born-again Christian. Among those events was a Christian skateboarding gathering in Florida.
He recalled that organizers had built a plywood skate park on the sand at the beach, drawing unconventional, fully committed, tattooed and pierced skaters. He said the skaters would ride, stop, pick up a microphone and begin preaching in an evangelical style, and that around 5,000 kids would gather to watch because they were drawn in by the skaters.
It was there, Baldwin said, that he felt a calling to make a video combining skateboarding, Christian punk rock music and an evangelical message, which became known as Livin It.
The project found success almost immediately, with 10,000 copies distributed within six months. He recalled that one of the largest churches then reached out and asked how much it would cost to bring the skaters from the video to their church for a live event, and said that was the moment he left Hollywood.
Touring churches and a new creative mission
Baldwin said he toured with the skate team and visited 125 churches over four years, adding that Jesus and the Holy Spirit fascinated him during that period. In the years since, he has starred in and produced several projects with Christian themes.
He described his devotion to God as simple now. He said he had asked God to give him the platform and resources to tell stories in the way filmmaker John Hughes did, referencing the director behind The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink.
His life, family and faith today
Baldwin also hosts the podcast One Bad Movie, in which he invites other actors to discuss the worst films they have appeared in. He said he had made more money than he could have ever imagined and was married to the most impressive woman he had ever seen in his life.
He said Jesus was his rock and his wife was his anchor, adding that he had lived an amazing life and was only 60. He said he felt incredibly blessed and was simply waiting for more doors to open that he was destined to walk through.
Stephen and Kennya Baldwin married in 1990 and went on to have two daughters, Alaia Baldwin, now 33, and Hailey Bieber, now 30.
