‘Blue Bloods’: Fans Think This Actor is Being Seriously Underutilized
Any storyline be it a book, television show, or movie has several secondary characters. They and their interactions with various lead personas enrich the story. In television, they are called character actors, and while you may not know their names, you do, no doubt, know their faces.
In the TV show Blue Bloods there are several. The parts of Garrett Moore (Gregory Jbara), Lieutenant Sid Gormley (Robert Clohessy), Detective Abigail Baker (Abigail Hawk), Sean Regan (Andrew Terraciano), and his brother Jack Regan (Tony Terraciano) are just a few. Each is valuable to the show, and while we know quite a bit about them, we seldom delve into their lives.
Blue Bloods‘ fans want that changed, at least with regard to one character. Some feel that Abigail Hawk who portrays Detective Baker is being underutilized.
The role of Detective Baker
Detective Baker has been on the show since the first season in 2010 and has appeared in almost every show since. She serves as NY Police Commissioner Frank Reagan’s (Tom Selleck) primary assistant, and he relies heavily on her advice. She rarely appears in uniform, but generally dresses in regular professional clothing.
We know Detective Baker is married and we believe she has two children. During the 2017 season, Hawk was pregnant in real life, and therefore also pregnant on the show. Fans complained then that there was little mention of it on the show and they didn’t even know if her character was married.
During Season 9, we learned a bit more about Baker’s personal life. She is married to Brian Baker, who himself is an NYPD officer. He is shot in the neck by a drug dealer and is fighting for his life. After time spent in a coma with her sitting at his side, he pulls out of it with a long healing period to come.
Hawke’s own personal life
Abigail Hawk leads a private personal life. She was born on May 4, 1985. In 2009, she married Bryan Spies, an NYFD medic in real life. Together they have one son.
Hawk attended the North Springs Charter School of Arts and Sciences in her home state of Georgia and graduated from the University of Maryland in College Park with a degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts.
Having appeared on Blue Bloods for the past decade, the show has been the bulk of her career.
“I’ve grown up on that show. I cut my teeth doing that show,” Hawk said in an interview. “I’ve learned everything from watching behind the scenes and working alongside some giants in the industry, Whoopi Goldberg, Bebe Neuwirth, Treat Williams… to name a few. And those are just the guests.”
What former roles has Abigail Hawk portrayed?
While her role on Blue Bloods is no doubt her biggest part to date, Hawk started her career portraying Sam Bonner in the TV series Reality Check. She made an appearance in episodes of Law and Order: SVU and Body of Proof. She has also appeared on the big screen, most notably for her role as Ellie in the 2016 film, Almost Paris.
For her work in the film Hawk was nominated for Best Actress in a Movie at the Hill Country Film Festival and the Beaufort International Film Festival. In 2016, she received the Linda Dano Award named after Emmy Award-winning actress Linda Dano, a long-time advocate for HeartShare Human Services of New York.
What’s next for Abigail Hawk?
Earlier this year, Hawk portrayed the lead in an independent pilot, Distemper, based on the real-life story of Louise Pearce, a pathologist and LGBT advocate, who is credited for having saved millions of lives from sleeping sickness (African Trypanosomiasis) in the Belgian Congo during the 1900s.
The pilot aired at the North Fork TV Festival this past October. When Hawk was asked to play Pearce by director Elias Plagianos, she jumped at the opportunity.
“Having roles like this, I call her ‘Fierce Pearce.’ I feel privileged to bring her story to the public because I knew nothing about her, and I’m pretty sure most people don’t,” Hawk said in an interview last September. “It’s a wonderful challenge, but I feel like I’m up for it.”
Will we learn more about Baker in future episodes of ‘Blue Bloods’?
It does seem like Blue Bloods has been exploring Detective Baker more in-depth as of late, and Hawk hopes the show continues on, well into the future. Following the taping of the show’s 200th episode, she said, “I hope we get to continue doing it for another 200. I’m game.”
She has commented that she rarely gets to see Donnie Wahlberg, let alone appear with his character of Danny Reagan on the show. And while she has shown up at the Reagan family dinner for work-related business, she has not sat down at the dinner table. That is something Hawk would like to see her character do.
