Stephen Baldwin logs onto Zoom like a neighbor who has a good story ready. He is warm, quick with a joke, and happy to drift between family memories, faith, and flowers. Within a minute, he is recalling smoke-filled rooms from his Long Island childhood and a Jim Morrison soundtrack that still rings in his ears.
He is also tying it to his own family tree. The Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek once cited Brazilian jazz great Eumir Deodato as an influence. Deodato is Baldwin’s father-in-law. In other words, Baldwin’s personal history has always had a little High Times energy humming in the background.
By now, Baldwin’s a familiar face from the golden age of Gen-X and Millennial cinema: The Usual Suspects, Bio-Dome, Half Baked, Threesome, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. He’s played cult icons, comic relief, and more than a few wildcards—the kind of actor who seems equally at home in chaos or comedy. That same blend of mischief and discipline carries straight into how he talks about cannabis, faith, and family today.
Over the next hour, we covered it all: his first encounters with cannabis, what “Cali Sober” means to him at 59, and how New York’s green rush collides with old ideas about sobriety. The conversation also wound through the Baldwin Fund—the nonprofit his late mother founded to fuel breast-cancer research—and his newest creative kick, a hilariously honest podcast called One Bad Movie. And, naturally, there’s a classic Baldwin family story in the mix, complete with Rosie O’Donnell and a dose of stubborn love.
From Smoke-Filled Rooms to Cali Sober
Everyone has a High Times origin story. Baldwin starts as the youngest of four brothers in a house that never sat still.
“I’m the youngest of the Baldwin …
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Author: Kyle Rosner / High Times
