Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in Full Metal Jacket (1987) as Animal Mother, as well as in the television series Firefly and its continuation film Serenity as Jayne Cobb. His roles include Stillman in Ordinary People (1980), Colonel John Casey in Chuck, and Mike Slattery in The Last Ship.

Early life :

Baldwin was born in Winnetka, Illinois, and studied at New Trier Township High School East in Winnetka.

Career :

Appearing in a large number of films since 1980, Baldwin rose to prominence as the troubled outcast Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard (1980) and moved on to bigger roles in D.C. Cab (1983), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Next of Kin (1989), Predator 2 (1990), Deadbolt (1992), Independence Day (1996), The Patriot (2000), and Serenity (2005)—in which he reprises his role as the mercenary Jayne Cobb from the television series Firefly.

His other work includes Radio Flyer (1992), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), The X-Files (Knowle Rohrer), The Cape, Men in Black: The Series, Stargate SG-1, Angel, The Inside, NCIS, and the 2005 remake of The Poseidon Adventure. He also starred in the ABC series Day Break as Chad Shelten in 2006.

Baldwin parodied the Ricky Linderman character in the 2008 film Drillbit Taylor. He is also known for NBC's Chuck, in which he played John Casey, a hard-nosed Marine Colonel working for the N.S.A.

In season four of Castle, Baldwin was reunited with former Firefly castmate Nathan Fillion. He played Detective Ethan Slaughter in the 21st episode called "Headhunters" which aired April 16, 2012. He returned to Castle in season eight, episode six "Cool Boys".

Baldwin won a SyFy Genre Award in 2006 for Best Supporting Actor/Television for his role as Jayne Cobb in the television series Firefly.

Baldwin was cast as Superman in Superman: Doomsday, which is based on DC Comics' The Death of Superman. He also voices the character in the massively multiplayer online game DC Universe Online.

Baldwin has a role as a voice actor in the Xbox 360 games Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, the latter putting him in the role of Corporal Taylor "Dutch" Miles. Baldwin also appears as a voice actor in Half-Life 2: Episode Two for various resistance soldiers and citizens. Along with his Chuck co-star, Yvonne Strahovski, he also appeared in Mass Effect 2, playing the role of Quarian Marine squad leader Kal'Reegar.

Personal life :

He has three children with his wife, Ami Julius.

He is a supporter of Ride 2 Recovery, a bike-riding organization set up for the rehabilitation of wounded veterans. He participated in the 2009 "Don't Mess With Texas Challenge" bike ride.