Simon Baker born 30 July 1969 height 5 9¾ 177 m is an Australian actor and director In his television acting career he is best known for his lead role in the CBS television series The Mentalist as Patrick Jane and as Nicholas Fallin in The Guardian In his film acting career he is best known for the lead role of Riley Denbo in Land of the Dead and Christian Thompson in the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada based on the 2003 novel of the same name Simon Baker was born to a high school English teacher Elizabeth Labberton and a groundskeepermechanic Barry Baker on 30 July 1969 in Launceston Tasmania He was raised as a Roman Catholic His parents divorced while he was still young His mother later married Tom Denny a butcher Simon Baker also has a sister currently a doctor in Australia and three younger half brothers By 1972 the family had moved from Launceston to Ballina New South Wales where Bakers parents hoped to secure better paying jobs In 1986 he graduated from Ballina High School as Simon BakerDenny after completing his primary school education at St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School also in Ballina