On CBS’ breakout hit “The Mentalist,” Simon Baker stars as a former fake psychic who lends his expertise to murder investigations. Not even a tarot card reader, however, might have been able to anticipate Baker’s status as one of the hottest faces in all of television.

The Australian-born thesp had previously appeared on the Eye series “The Guardian” and “Smith,” but didn’t pop in viewer minds until portraying Patrick Jane, a man whose bravado led to the murder of his wife and child by a mysterious serial killer known only as Red John. Despite his tragic past, Jane exhibits a lot of cheeky wit as he tracks down bad guys.

“He’s essentially a dark character, but instead of choosing to indulge in that dark torturous side, he has an optimistic take on life,” Baker explains. “From the pilot, the key to the character is that through his tragedy he has been freed. He’s not desperately hanging on to anything material and physical things, just living moment to moment. Read the rest of this entry »

Gone are the days when being a leading man on television meant being the most likable guy onscreen. TV actors now get to show their skills with dark, complex characters — even on broadcast network shows. The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Richmond and Matthew Belloni gathered six fine examples of TV’s new actor elite — Simon Baker (CBS’ “The Mentalist”), Bryan Cranston (AMC’s “Breaking Bad”), Laurence Fishburne (CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s “Dexter”), Denis Leary (FX’s “Rescue Me”) and Bill Paxton (HBO’s “Big Love”) — to discus the grind of series work and the good fun in playing bad guys.

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Simon Baker has come a long way since his soap opera days on E Street. The laid-back star of hit US show The Mentalist reveals the devil inside to David A. Keeps.

Simon Baker is on all fours, sniffing for clues. Literally. As The Mentalist’s unconventional investigator Patrick Jane, the 39-year-old actor is often called to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong. Today, he’s stuck it into the palm of a bloodied, dismembered hand. “It smells like almond moisturiser and tobacco,” he announces.

Relax. That hand is as fake as Jane’s old gig: conning people that he could speak to the dead.

It’s the opening scene of an episode entitled – what else – Red-Handed, in which Jane and the team from the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have to figure out how a man’s hand ended up on a desert highway near the California-Nevada border.

Actually, they are in Palmdale, California, an hour and change from Los Angeles, and there’s a small sandstorm brewing. After finishing a take, Baker returns to his folding chair, slips on his specs (he’s short-sighted) and describes today’s acting challenge. “It’s like talking on the back of a motorcycle with a helmet on,” he says. “The wind was so strong that the dead man’s hand was waving at me.” Read the rest of this entry »

Simon is on Regis and Kelly on May 18th at 9am so tune in and watch or set your DVRs!

Simon was on 60 Minutes Australia for an interesting interview. Check it out below!

Simon was on Ellen yesterday and I have the video here.  I’ll have screencaptures up ASAP!

Simon will be on both “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “The Bonnie Hunt Show” to discuss his hit show, “The Mentalist,” this Monday, Feb 16^th!

Check your local listings or visit www.ellentv.com or www.bonniehunt.com for more information.

The CBS freshman drama The Mentalist is the biggest break-out hit of the current TV season. Simon Baker plays Patrick Jane, an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation. Although he is greatly valued by his fellow agents, no-nonsense Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) alternates between reluctantly acknowledging Jane’s usefulness and blasting him for his theatrics, narcissism and dangerous lack of boundaries. Lisbon’s team includes agents Kimball Cho (Tim Kang), Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and rookie member Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti), who all think Jane’s a loose cannon, but admire his charm and knack for clearing cases.

On a recent visit to the set of the new procedural, Aussie star Simon Baker, along with co-stars Robin Tunney, Tim Kang and Owain Yeoman, and creator/executive producer Bruno Heller, spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about why they think their show is such a hit.

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