Simon Baker's Mom Reacts Shockingly to His New Role in Scarpetta

Simon Baker, the Australian actor known for his role in The Mentalist, recently shared a heartwarming story about his mother's excitement regarding his new TV show, Scarpetta. According to Baker, his mother, Elizabeth Labberton, is one of the biggest fans of the series. She was so thrilled when she heard he had landed the role that she "nearly jumped out of her skin."

Baker discussed this on the Today show, revealing that his mother has always been a devoted reader of the Scarpetta book series, which was written by Patricia Cornwell. The series consists of 29 books and follows the life of forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

"My mom's a huge fan of the books. She'd read all of them. And so when I mentioned it, she kind of…she nearly jumped out of her skin, her voice went very high," Simon recalled.

He added that since he started filming the show, his mother has re-read all the books, which he finds incredible. "She sort of quizzes me constantly about like, 'Well, how are they dealing…' and I'm like, 'Mom, please.'"

Despite the constant questions, Baker emphasized that his mother has always been supportive of his career. "She watches it. I mean, she's my mom," he said.

"She gave notes on my projects in the past. The first job I ever did, the only critique she had was about the woman that played my mother in the show…she thought there could've been someone else that could've played that role better."

Elizabeth, who was just 19 when Simon was born, moved with her family from Tasmania to New Guinea when he was nine months old. She raised Simon and his older sister with her then-husband, Barry Baker. However, the couple separated when Simon was two years old, and Barry had little contact with the family afterward.

On the show Who Do You Think You Are?, Simon shared that his parents went on an adventure together but didn't return together. "They went on this incredible adventure – and they didn't come back together," he said. "I didn't know he was my dad. He was a family friend, Uncle Barry. I've struggled with that." They reunited when Simon was 18.

"Families have many different forms, and I think if you can look at your own past and the past of your ancestors with compassion, you can carry that forward with you with a little bit more wisdom," he added.

In Scarpetta, Simon plays FBI profiler Benton Wesley, alongside Nicole Kidman as Dr. Scarpetta and Jamie Lee Curtis as her sister, Dorothy Farinelli.

Baker adopted a Virginian accent for the show, which he admitted took a lot of time to perfect. "It's reasonably hard, but it's just practice. It's like learning a song, you know, hitting certain notes and certain sounds, and it's muscular, so it's in your mouth," he said on Today.

He also praised his co-stars, calling working with Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis a "wonderful" experience. "You're talking about consummate professionals. Jamie produced the show, Nicole's company produced the show as well, everyone's invested in doing the best work that they can do, so you get to work, and there's absolute focus," he said.

"That doesn't mean you don't have fun. It's important to have a good time, it brings the best out in people, but it's great, it's really wonderful."