Christopher James Baker

Christopher James Baker is an Australian actor known for his work as Henry King Sr. / Brainwave in the DC Universe series Stargirl.^[1]

Baker grew up in Australia. Raised by parents Maggie Baker and John Baker. In his early life, he lived in the United Kingdom before returning to Australia.^[2] After finishing high school, Baker did some travelling before studying a three-year drama course in Sydney.^[3]

After graduating from his acting studies, Baker spent his early career working in theatre. He co-founded the stage company 'Urban Tales' together with other alumni from his acting course, and spent his early career performing more than 14 seasons of theatre works. He was also a member of Nick Enright's theatre company 'State of Play'.^[4]

He also played small parts in Australian and locally filmed American films,^[5] including comedy Kangaroo Jack (alongside Jerry O’Connell) and Ned Kelly (alongside Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom) (both 2003), Hell Has Harbour Views and war film The Great Raid (alongside Benjamin Bratt and James Franco) (both 2005). Further films made while in Australia war film Kokoda (2006), action film The Condemned (2007), adventure film Nim's Island (alongside Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler in 2008) and action-thriller film Sanctum (2011).

After relocating to the States, he initially featured in numerous Off-Broadway theatre roles, before landing the role of Cyril in the Warner Bros. television pilot Deliverance Creek in 2014.^[6] Shortly following, he scored the regular role of Blake Churchman, a secondary character in the second season of HBO's True Detective, playing the assistant of Vince Vaughn's character. He also had a recurring role in 2016 crime series Shades of Blue, alongside Jennifer Lopez. In 2019, Baker played Boyd Langmore in Netflix's hit series, Ozark (alongside Jason Bateman and Laura Linney), and Chronicom Hunter Malachi in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..^[7] In 2020, he was cast as Brainwave in DC series Stargirl. Other television credits include Gotham, Bull, The Blacklist, The Good Cop, and The Rookie.

Baker's film credits while in America included Deliverance Creek (2014), Kieran Darcy-Smith's The Duel (alongside Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson) and The Purge: Election Year (both 2016).

Since moving back to Australia, Baker has featured in Stan drama series Eden as Lou Gracie, and as an Irish immigrant Patrick Thomas in murder mystery miniseries New Gold Mountain (filmed back to back in 2021).

He returned to the US to film the fourth season of Ozark, the second season of Stargirl and the thriller film Unit 234 in the Cayman Islands.

Back in Australia, Baker starred as Ivan Kroll in Netflix miniseries Boy Swallows Universe, based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Brisbane author Trent Dalton (alongside Simon Baker, Travis Fimmel and Bryan Brown),^[8] and as Mitch Leeway in drama series Prosper (both 2024).

Baker moved to New York City in 2009 with his wife Hannah, to further his career. They have two children who were born in Manhattan.^[9]

In 2020, after eleven years in the States, Baker returned to Australia to live, to escape "the COVID situation" and because he wanted his kids to grow up in Australia.^[10]

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• Christopher James Baker at IMDb