Want to congratulate Simon Baker on his first Emmy nomination for his work on The Mentalist? Well, you should forget about champagne.
The Aussie actor is much more about a nice ice-cold one.
"Our show runner brought me a case of beer," Baker told us at the Life Rolls On Foundation's "They Will Surf Again" event at Zuma Beach in Malibu. "I got into my trailer after lunch, and there was a big esky—you guys call them coolers, but we call them eskies in Australia—filled with beer and ice."
He actually didn't have one until they finished the day's 15-hour shoot. "I didn't touch them," he said. "I couldn't."
Baker said he believes his chances of taking home the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama series are pretty narrow. He's up against Hugh Laurie of House, Gabriel Byrne of In Treatment, Michael C. Hall from Dexter, Mad Men's Jon Hamm and last year's winner, Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad.
"It's just the way I was brought up—to always assume I'm the underdog," Baker explained. "I think it's a cultural thing."
—Reporting by Dahvi Shira
__________
For more on this year's Emmy race, check out today's Gossip Guru videoblog, plus E! Online's very fab Red Carpet blog.