Baker was born in Midland, Texas, the daughter of French-born Helene Andree "Lany" (nee Whitton) and John Seawand Baker, who was a geologist and educator. She was raised a Quaker. She studied acting at the California Institute of the Arts in the early seventies. She later earned a B.A. degree in French in 1977 from UC Berkeley. Baker lives in southern California with her husband, Steven Robman.

Baker has appeared in numerous films including Edward Scissorhands, The Right Stuff, Street Smart, Jacknife and Cold Mountain. As a small-town doctor in the David E. Kelley television series Picket Fences she won Emmy awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series three times in the show's four-year run (1993, 1995 and 1996).

Baker began her career at San Francisco's Magic Theatre, performing in several of Sam Shepard's plays before getting her break in an off-Broadway production of Fool for Love opposite Ed Harris. Her recent projects include the 2006 remake of All the King's Men and 2007's The Jane Austen Book Club.

• Last Chance Harvey(2008)
• The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
• Law & Order: SVU(2007)
• Gilmore Girls(2007)
• All the King's Men (2006)
• Nip/Tuck(2005)
• Spring Break Shark Attack(2005) (TV)
• Medium(TV series) (2005, 2008)
• Nine Lives(2005)
• 13 Going on 30(2004)
• Cold Mountain (2003)
• Assassination Tango (2002)
• Door to Door(2002)
• The Glass House (2001)
• Ten Tiny Love Stories (2001)
• Boston Public(2000) (TV series) (2001 - 2002)
• Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000)
• Ratz(2000)
• The Cider House Rules (1999)
• Inventing the Abbotts (1997)
• To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)
• Picket Fences (1992) (TV series)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990)
• Mister Frost(1990)
• Jacknife(1989)
• Clean and Sober (1988)
• Street Smart(1987)
• A Killing Affair(1986)
• The Right Stuff (1983)
• Jennifer Eight(1992)
• Problem Child 2(1991)

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